My Crays - a few questions and comments

[dblondfemme]

First I have to say sorry to Raul, who I bombarded with questions concerning my blue crays.
Secondly...I was wondering if medical Iodine (it's mixed with something that starts with a "p") is the kind I can add to my cray tank to make their molting so more smoothly?
Third, I was witness to my crays attempting to continue their grouping last night.... it lasted a long long time and since she had just molted AND lost her one front claw, I was worried.  Hopefully she will berry up.  The "Den" is already built.  It is a large A-Frame made out of broken floor tile.  Do I need to provide anything else for them?
I love my crays.... I have one at school, two in my 45 grow out tank, and two in a tank shared with golden wonder killies lol.
I would love to show the picture but I must delete some others first :-)

[JStrider]

Re: My Crays - a few questions and comments

my understanding is you are supposed to use iodine made for salt water tanks.  also you are supposed to use a much much smaller dosage then what the bottle says for a salt water tank.

[dblondfemme]

Re: My Crays - a few questions and comments

update: he grabbed her again for a 2 hour stint and now she only has two legs and is not looking too good....according to Berni.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: My Crays - a few questions and comments

Jstrider is right.....iodine is suppose to aid molting but in the same sense overdosing kills them.

I have some if you need a few drops....

[JStrider]

Re: My Crays - a few questions and comments

If she's suffering that kind of abuse I would seperate them

it'd prolly be tough for her to take care of the eggs if shes just a head, body and tail rolling around the bottom of the tank!

[dblondfemme]

Re: My Crays - a few questions and comments

could you bring it to the meetin Friday Ek?  I would greatly appreciate it.

[Spot86t]

Re: My Crays - a few questions and comments

If she just molted recently, separate them until her shell hardens.  when she's ready to berry she'll make her own den if there's not one available.  And she will stay there almost the entire time.  I had a pair once that mated, then before she could berry up, she molted and he killed her.  I think their appetite for food overwhelms their appetite for hanky-panky.

[dblondfemme]

Re: My Crays - a few questions and comments

I pulled her out....she had already made a den, but he was insistant on making out ;-)
I had Berni put her back into their old tank and turn the filter back on until I can figure out what to do....
I had moved their caves and everything into a long rather than high tank.  I'm sure that some alone time would be better than being mated to death (trying to word it nicely) ;-)
So...if she molted yesterday and they have um.... mated off and on since then, does that mean she will probably berry up? Or does she have the ability to choose not to??

[rrocket2002]

Re: My Crays - a few questions and comments

IMO she is is prolly aready fertilized.  With the recent molt and stress its anyone's guess.  You will just have to wait and see.

[nacra99]

Re: My Crays - a few questions and comments

IMO iodine is not necessarily. In fact, it may even be fatal.
In my experience, iodine definitely induces molting, sometimes even before it is required.
This causes issues with the shrimp/crayfish not being able to shed it's old shell effectively and dying in mid molt.

They should be able to get all the iodine they need through the food they get. Feed them commercially available food with fish / shrimp meal (which is pretty much most fish foods) and it should suffice.

When i started out with inverts, i used to dose iodine a lot, nowadays i don't ever dose and my stock seem to be doing fine.
I'd say save the iodine for the reef tank.

[dblondfemme]

Re: My Crays - a few questions and comments

*whimpers* I just got the text..... my female is dead
They were about 4" long..... I'm sad.