# Dwarf Crayfish



## msjinkzd (May 12, 2007)

Dwarf crays are plant safe. Full sized will destroy plants, fish, etc. Dwarf crays can be a little aggressive to each other, especially during mating. I have kept C. shufeldtii, C. texanus (I have tons of these right now), and C. patzcuarensis. Tank size, hiding places, etc wil determine how great they do with shrimp, but for the most part it works out well. They all have similar care and breeding. here is the current species I am working with, C. texanus (Brazos dwarf cray):


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## n25philly (Dec 12, 2013)

I got one for my tank at work around three weeks ago. For the first two weeks I was hugely disappointed. He hid under a piece of driftwood and wouldn't come out. This past week he decided to start coming out (probably after I went 4 days without feeding the tank due to the holiday) and he is quickly becoming my favorite.

I don't have any shrimp so I can't comment on that but he is peaceful with the fish. I think I saw him try to sneak up on some cory cats once but they saw him coming a mile away (they are slow) He didn't even get too mad when one of the cory cats decided to sit on him.

SO much personality! The other day I was feeding the tank and he grabbed a bottom feeder wafer like it was a pizza in his claws eating it while wondering around the tank backwords. He doesn't really back down from any of the fish despite mostly of them being bigger than them. (the fish basically ignore him though. If I put my finger in front of him he will start attacking my fingernail. If I put my finger anywhere near him he puts up his claws ready to fight.


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## Fishnshrimp2 (Sep 13, 2013)

Well I am getting ready to move some of my shrimp into a larger tank so I may get some more rocks and try a couple of the C. shufeldtii or possibly the C. patzcuarensis. Is one smaller than the other or do they max out at about the same size?

If they don't work in the shrimp tank I have plenty of fish tanks I can put them in.


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## cjstl (Mar 4, 2013)

I just ordered three CPO's. They aren't here yet. I'm planning to put them in with my yellow neos. I ordered a couple of those black ceramic cave tube thingies, and I'm going to put them up against my Xmas moss wall and hope the moss just grows over them.

I had to order mine online, as it is now illegal for Missouri stores to sell any non-native crays. As if the CPO is going to somehow become an invasive pest in Missouri waters. The bright little guys would be gobbled up in a second!


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## Gravistunn (Aug 8, 2014)

So it's legal in MO but just can't be sold? I have been thinking about picking up one of these and now I get why I haven't seen any in my LFS


~Travis


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## cjstl (Mar 4, 2013)

Gravistunn said:


> So it's legal in MO but just can't be sold? I have been thinking about picking up one of these and now I get why I haven't seen any in my LFS
> 
> 
> ~Travis


I can't speak to the legality of owning them. But it definitely isn't legal to sell them. Based on the law that I read, it only applied to Missouri pet and bait shops. It didn't say anything about mail order. There's a thread on this in the Missouri forum, where I think I posted a link to the law.


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## Codzilla (Aug 26, 2013)

IME, you need to have more hiding places than there are crays or enough space and obstructions so that the crays don't always see eye to eye. I made that mistake when I first bought them and lost 2 out of 4. The first was a female that was harassed by an overly aggressive male (she died while mating), and then the overly aggressive male died, leaving me with 2 smaller and timid crays. And they will fight from time to time and will lose their claws in the process. I keep mine with cherries, bamboo, and amanos in a 25 gal planted.


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## westerlies (Mar 16, 2014)

Not to highjack the thread, but it seems superfluous to make another one for a CPO question since this is still on the first page. Can I keep a single CPO in a fluval spec III? I've read a lot of conflicting info wrt minimum tank size.


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## Lonestarbandit (Feb 7, 2013)

Interesting. So I can catch one of these in the brazos? Live near this river.....


Sent from my VS930 4G using Xparent Red Tapatalk 2


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## cjstl (Mar 4, 2013)

westerlies said:


> Not to highjack the thread, but it seems superfluous to make another one for a CPO question since this is still on the first page. Can I keep a single CPO in a fluval spec III? I've read a lot of conflicting info wrt minimum tank size.


I would say definitely so. My LFS used to keep a couple in a Spec V along with some shrimp and CPD. They still had one in there last time I visited, but can no longer sell her 

Bump:


Lonestarbandit said:


> Interesting. So I can catch one of these in the brazos? Live near this river.....
> 
> 
> Sent from my VS930 4G using Xparent Red Tapatalk 2


I wonder if you could buy some at a bait shop? That would be nice and easy (and inexpensive).


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## pucksr (Jan 27, 2011)

Lonestarbandit said:


> Interesting. So I can catch one of these in the brazos? Live near this river.....


This should help:
http://iz.carnegiemnh.org/crayfish/country_pages/state_pages/texas.htm

There are some, but dwarf species are harder to find. There are a few Cambarellus dwarf species. I would give it a shot


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## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

msjinkzd said:


> Dwarf crays are plant safe. Full sized will destroy plants, fish, etc. Dwarf crays can be a little aggressive to each other, especially during mating. I have kept C. shufeldtii, C. texanus (I have tons of these right now), and C. patzcuarensis. Tank size, hiding places, etc wil determine how great they do with shrimp, but for the most part it works out well. They all have similar care and breeding. here is the current species I am working with, C. texanus (Brazos dwarf cray):
> View attachment 366098


How do you find them to be with fish? Namley things like pygmy cories and bumblebee gobies? Also, how readily do you get them to breed and are there any tricks?

I had some cajun dwarf crays a while back but lost them after doing a rescape. They never did breed for me though.


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## msjinkzd (May 12, 2007)

i have kept them with aspidoras and had zero problems. I have not tried them with gobies. I tend to keep things separate, for my applications.


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## n25philly (Dec 12, 2013)

HybridHerp said:


> How do you find them to be with fish? Namley things like pygmy cories and bumblebee gobies? Also, how readily do you get them to breed and are there any tricks?
> 
> I had some cajun dwarf crays a while back but lost them after doing a rescape. They never did breed for me though.



I can kind of answer this. I don't have pygmy corys but I had habrosus which are similar in size. If they come at the cpo he usually backs away from them. I've seen a few times where it looked like he was trying to hunt some of my corys and I can safely say you have nothing to worry about as it was the most pathetic hunting display I've ever seen. (He basically very slowly walked in front of them and then waved his pincers at them until they noticed and swam away)

I don't have bumble bee gobies but I do have an empire goby. The goby checked the cpo out when I put him in the tank and they have ignored each other ever since.


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## FishWeaboo (Feb 27, 2019)

*I'm curious...*

I've been considering adding one of these to my 29 gallon, it's a low hiding place setup, and I'm worried about a CPO clashing with my corydoras, hillstream loach or maybe my Rhinogobius goby. I've also got a wrestling halfbeak in there, by he's pretty calm and I don't think he's be a problem for a CPO. Any information is greatly appreciated.


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