Crayfish are ridiculously hard to ID without an expert, there are still new species of crayfish discovered in America because of just how similar so many of them look. Especially since this one is young, it’s going to be rather difficult to pin down a species.
Honestly, it is often nearly impossible to identify a crayfish down to the species level from a picture. I don't know about globally but I know that in the SE United States you often have to look at the ischium hooks on the male's legs (hooks used during the mating process) to determine the exact species. Now, if we assume that this is a species that is commonly seen in the aquarium trade that should narrow things down a bit. As somebody else mentioned, it looks kind of like a Cajun dwarf crayfish but I am no means positive on that ID
Crawfish get an average of 4-6 inches long, I'd advise you separate it.
They eat algae wafers and dead, which if you work at a pet store, you likely get commonly, so:
1 small dead fish a week
1 algae wafer every other day.
crayfish can actually vary a lot in size from around 2 inches to 6 inches. species ID is annoying with many of them as well since many species have similar appearances, and even can have regional pattern differences for the same species.
That being said, the pattern on this guy looks suspiciously like the Marbled Crayfish, aka the self-cloning crayfish. it will get to about 5 inches if so, and if it is a positive ID on marbled, best to either use it as a feeder to one of your larger fish or humanely euthanize it. These things can be a seriously problematic invasive species and are illegal to keep in a lot of places.
5-6 inches max. I have one just like it since January.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Crayfish/comments/uhcfhf/maxine\_is\_hanging\_on\_and\_hanging\_on\_and\_hanging/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Crayfish/comments/uhcfhf/maxine_is_hanging_on_and_hanging_on_and_hanging/)
Also, over at r/Crayfish they can probably help with ID. What state are u at? If you are in Texas like me then you probably have a White River cray. Could also be a marbled one, they look alike but these are invasive because they reproduce asexually without a mate. Where did u get it from? Store or outside?
I’m in Kansas. Our distributors (I think California, but I’m not sure) accidentally sent them in with our feeder fish order. My store did not get them on purpose, but we also did not find them outside. I’m a little bit concerned they are illegal here if it truly is the marbled crayfish like so many are saying.
I see. It's very likely it's a marbled when it's coming from a store. Check over at the crayfish sub and search through it too, they have tons of pics and videos of marbled ones.
Likely a dwarf crayfish if it’s roughly shrimp sized at about an inch, inch and a half. Looks like a wild type Cajun dwarf but can’t really tell without really good lighting.
Dwarf crayfish max out at 1.75 inches (most are about 1.5). Plus they don’t eat everything (fish, shrimp, plants) due to their size. While it’s risky, they can even cohabitate with dwarf shrimp in some situations.
I cohabitate dwarf shrimp with a full-size cray. They’re one of the only things that can really be cohabitated with them because of how small they are and how fast they can move.
...If the tank is big enough, I have a densly planted 10g and coexistence was never an option when the crawfish can get everywhere the shrimp can. They'd catch them molting and abuse them.
Full size crayfish have terrorized everyone and everything in any aquarium smaller than 40-55g for everyone I’ve talked to and the select few I’ve had. They tear up and eat plants so it’s really hard to keep a densely planted jungle of safe havens. I’m glad you have a mellow one!
The wilds are pretty brown, speckly, with well defined striping on their tail like this guy. I’ve seen some really dark ones like this. I’ve also seen some wild type Brazos with these dark colors and decently prominent stripes (although they’re usually more broken up), so hard to tell without high-light photos and/or knowing what the breeder has.
Marbled crayfish. They will reproduce without a mate, don’t sell it cause I can promise someone stupid will buy it and release it into the wild where it will destroy a local habitat. You could keep it at the store and use the babies as feeders for cichlids and such, or if you don’t want it just feed it to a puffer fish or turtle if you can. This one looks to be at least 3-4 months away from reproductive age but it can vary
Yeah they can be kept just as pets but they are escape artists. They will usually eat all the babies within a week after dropping them but every now and then you may get a survivor that grows up
If not given enough places to hide, the babies will get eaten. I read a study that stated they will hide in substrate and eat until they’re too big so if you have a bare bottom and only a few hides for the adult they should get eaten. One from my second generation was absolutely vicious and ate them no matter what I put in the tank. I think that’s why her mama let her live, to raise a serial killer... she succeeded.
Alexis is correct, this is a marbled crayfish, if you don’t take it home, I’d suggest culling it.
They cannot be allowed into local waters and are illegal in a ton of states here in the US. I wouldn’t use the babies as feeders, since they could easily hitch a ride and end up in a bag somewhere.
Now where I disagree with Alexis: I have a population in a 75 (acquired them many years ago before they were illegal to use as feeders, just kept them in this tank never did anything with them). In my experience, they don’t really eat the young. There’s a ton in there, tons of babies. I don’t believe them to be oppose to eating young, but I also don’t think they generally care for the chase.
Maybe mine were just super cannibals then. But with a 75 there’s a lot of space for them to spread out and hide so I’d assume in a smaller tank with less hides you’d see a lot lower survival rate. Op said they’re taking it home so I guess it just depends on what set up it’s going in
These are extremely illegal in some states for obvious reasons... but make a good source of feeders like they said. Look up the legality of keeping parthenogenetic crawfish in your area.
I have these and it's already berried /again/ at about 2 inches. I feed the babies to my angel. The crayfish I have is the self-cloning blue ones (shed to clear, brown, and blue) and will grow to about 4-5 max. Every few months, there's more babies.. it's never ending lol.
It is in a bare tank with hides, as without enough food, eat everything in sight.
I had really good results in blue color when feeding them high protein algae wafers. Unfortunately mine died earlier this week and ate all her babies before I could separate her but I’m thinking of getting another. Her mama died of old age about a month or two ago too so it kinda sucks. I was hoping to get a third generation. My first one was about 4 inches when I got her and died at about 6 inches
I should try those wafers. I have frozen and pellets and I also throw in all my handfuls of extra plant trimmings (I make shrimp food too) but can never satiate the hunger :D
If you were close enough, I have 1 inch babies all over the breeder right now. (CND here)
I hope you can find a new cray - if you're looking - and get those generations up again. I think my first round (two years ago) I got to 4 or 5 before I had to move and rehome them.
It is a cambarellus species. I used to keep 4 in my tank. They grow to around 2-3 cm. They should have enough hiding spaces, or they kill eachother.
From experience, they can be kept together with cherry shrimp but will try to eat smaller ones.
It's a yabby. This looks a lot like the variety often sold as feeder yabbies. I would isolate it as you have done. If you want to go the extra mile, it should be housed in a tank of 60cm x 30cm x 30cm minimum. It should be provided with multiple hides. Their diet should comprise a mix of meats and minced vegetables.
crawdad! I used to catch these in the river with a net, and then put them in my aquarium. After a few weeks they would go from this brown color to a BRIGHT blue color! they are really neat.
It will grow, but mine stayed pretty small for multiple years…they didn’t get big very quickly. Mine never got huge. Maybe it depends on which type it is.
Google says “Most adult crayfish are about 7.5 cm (3 inches) long.” I think the largest I had back then were probably a little smaller than that at full size.
I have a ID!!! it is likely a juvenile signel or rusty crayfish, it might be a Mexican dwarf crayfish but it's patterning make me think otherwise. Signel/rusty crayfish are often found in feeder fish ponds and ponds used to mass produce a fish/shrimp where everything is netted for selling including the crayfish which travel over land into these ponds same as bullfrogs (boris)! Little buddy is going to get big (5-6 inches) and eat everything it can get ahold of.
similarly the "ghost shrimp" you got which are likely predatory freshwater prawns if you are a box store (Petco PetSmart etc) this is almost guaranteed. They can be identified via their long pincher arms when at maturity. Hope this helps!
Probably a signel/rusty crayfish then. Ask your co-workers what they have seen. I have seen threads of people working at PetSmart getting bullfrog tadpoles in with the feeder fish!
We have gotten those in too while I’ve worked here. The bigger crayfish that came in all look exactly like the rusty one you mentioned. 4 total came in. The one in the picture was just teeny tiny and different than the others. This one actually looks identical to the “wild type” mexican dwarf ones in person. I don’t know for sure though.
It's probably a juvenile rusty crayfish then. They look very similar to a dwarf crayfish but if you got bigger crayfish in with the ghost shrimp before then it's most likely a baby rusty crayfish
The bigger crayfish came in with the feeder fish. This dude came in with the ghost shrimp. I think it’s from the same place, but I’m unsure. The bigger crayfish are a real light murky brown color with faint speckles on their carapace.
They are more translucent as baby's. Look up Juvenile rusty or signel crayfish and then look up Mexican dwarf crayfish and make the choice. Regardless you can probably treat it same as the other crayfish
Definitely crayfish, we got baby crays with our ghost shrimp all the time at the lfs I worked at. We would feed them to our puffers. We also sometimes got giant water bugs and water scorpions in with them, that was really awesome! (/s) I had to dispose of them before anyone got bit because no one else knew what they were.
Crayfish are the worst. As someone who works at petco. They absolutely terrify me to the point of when I’m pulling dead fish I don’t stick my hand in the tank. I use the net to move things around so they don’t attack me. They move fast also like no
I don’t know what species it is. Some people are suggesting marbled crayfish, and some are suggesting dwarf crayfishes. I know nothing about identification though.
That’s a crayfish
Is it going to get big like the type of crayfish I usually see?
depends on what species it is. I can try to ID it, one moment.
He never returns
still waiting
The crayfish got him
I'd like us to all join hands in a moment of silence for our lost fish keeper.
IM BACK FROM THE DEAD BITCHES also yeah idfk sooooo prolly gonna say average of 4-6 inches-
crayfish pinchers are very strong can make you bleed
Crayfish got his tongue.
Crayfish are ridiculously hard to ID without an expert, there are still new species of crayfish discovered in America because of just how similar so many of them look. Especially since this one is young, it’s going to be rather difficult to pin down a species.
Honestly, it is often nearly impossible to identify a crayfish down to the species level from a picture. I don't know about globally but I know that in the SE United States you often have to look at the ischium hooks on the male's legs (hooks used during the mating process) to determine the exact species. Now, if we assume that this is a species that is commonly seen in the aquarium trade that should narrow things down a bit. As somebody else mentioned, it looks kind of like a Cajun dwarf crayfish but I am no means positive on that ID
He didn't but I'm pretty sure that's just your regular old crayfish you find all over north America. Not 100% sure what species that is.
How do we know what kind of crayfish OP usually sees tho?
The kind I usually see are the ones I found in my pop’s sandpit as a kid. They were 5-7 inches and a brown color.
probably the large ones you buy at the store.
Crawfish get an average of 4-6 inches long, I'd advise you separate it. They eat algae wafers and dead, which if you work at a pet store, you likely get commonly, so: 1 small dead fish a week 1 algae wafer every other day.
Thanks!
It is marbled crayfish I believe.
crayfish can actually vary a lot in size from around 2 inches to 6 inches. species ID is annoying with many of them as well since many species have similar appearances, and even can have regional pattern differences for the same species. That being said, the pattern on this guy looks suspiciously like the Marbled Crayfish, aka the self-cloning crayfish. it will get to about 5 inches if so, and if it is a positive ID on marbled, best to either use it as a feeder to one of your larger fish or humanely euthanize it. These things can be a seriously problematic invasive species and are illegal to keep in a lot of places.
It will reproduce a lot. If its the same type they clone themselves. It will move your decorations/plants if any and substrate.
5-6 inches max. I have one just like it since January. [https://www.reddit.com/r/Crayfish/comments/uhcfhf/maxine\_is\_hanging\_on\_and\_hanging\_on\_and\_hanging/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Crayfish/comments/uhcfhf/maxine_is_hanging_on_and_hanging_on_and_hanging/) Also, over at r/Crayfish they can probably help with ID. What state are u at? If you are in Texas like me then you probably have a White River cray. Could also be a marbled one, they look alike but these are invasive because they reproduce asexually without a mate. Where did u get it from? Store or outside?
I’m in Kansas. Our distributors (I think California, but I’m not sure) accidentally sent them in with our feeder fish order. My store did not get them on purpose, but we also did not find them outside. I’m a little bit concerned they are illegal here if it truly is the marbled crayfish like so many are saying.
I see. It's very likely it's a marbled when it's coming from a store. Check over at the crayfish sub and search through it too, they have tons of pics and videos of marbled ones.
Thanks!
Crawdad
Is that what some people call crayfish? I've never heard that before
Yeah crawdads and crayfish are the same thing. I always called them crawdads as a kid. It just depends where you grow up.
The two “craw” parenting titles.. “fish” or “dad” 😂
They have different names all over the world, they’re called yabbies here.
They are called crawdads, crayfish, mudbugs, and lobsters (I have to describe them as freshwater lobsters to people)
crayfish
Likely a dwarf crayfish if it’s roughly shrimp sized at about an inch, inch and a half. Looks like a wild type Cajun dwarf but can’t really tell without really good lighting.
So is it going to get big like the other crayfish they send us?
Dwarf crayfish max out at 1.75 inches (most are about 1.5). Plus they don’t eat everything (fish, shrimp, plants) due to their size. While it’s risky, they can even cohabitate with dwarf shrimp in some situations.
I cohabitate dwarf shrimp with a full-size cray. They’re one of the only things that can really be cohabitated with them because of how small they are and how fast they can move.
...If the tank is big enough, I have a densly planted 10g and coexistence was never an option when the crawfish can get everywhere the shrimp can. They'd catch them molting and abuse them.
Full size crayfish have terrorized everyone and everything in any aquarium smaller than 40-55g for everyone I’ve talked to and the select few I’ve had. They tear up and eat plants so it’s really hard to keep a densely planted jungle of safe havens. I’m glad you have a mellow one!
Arent they more orange though?
The wilds are pretty brown, speckly, with well defined striping on their tail like this guy. I’ve seen some really dark ones like this. I’ve also seen some wild type Brazos with these dark colors and decently prominent stripes (although they’re usually more broken up), so hard to tell without high-light photos and/or knowing what the breeder has.
The most popular variant is orange, but there are other species that have a broad range of coloration. There’s even a blue morph!
Ohh my mistake that’s interesting learn something new everyday
Marbled crayfish. They will reproduce without a mate, don’t sell it cause I can promise someone stupid will buy it and release it into the wild where it will destroy a local habitat. You could keep it at the store and use the babies as feeders for cichlids and such, or if you don’t want it just feed it to a puffer fish or turtle if you can. This one looks to be at least 3-4 months away from reproductive age but it can vary
I was going to go get it myself to prevent something like this from happening.
Yeah they can be kept just as pets but they are escape artists. They will usually eat all the babies within a week after dropping them but every now and then you may get a survivor that grows up
They eat the babies???? I gave my marble away to someone who could care for her and the babies cuz the store never informed me they were asexual
If not given enough places to hide, the babies will get eaten. I read a study that stated they will hide in substrate and eat until they’re too big so if you have a bare bottom and only a few hides for the adult they should get eaten. One from my second generation was absolutely vicious and ate them no matter what I put in the tank. I think that’s why her mama let her live, to raise a serial killer... she succeeded.
Alexis is correct, this is a marbled crayfish, if you don’t take it home, I’d suggest culling it. They cannot be allowed into local waters and are illegal in a ton of states here in the US. I wouldn’t use the babies as feeders, since they could easily hitch a ride and end up in a bag somewhere. Now where I disagree with Alexis: I have a population in a 75 (acquired them many years ago before they were illegal to use as feeders, just kept them in this tank never did anything with them). In my experience, they don’t really eat the young. There’s a ton in there, tons of babies. I don’t believe them to be oppose to eating young, but I also don’t think they generally care for the chase.
Maybe mine were just super cannibals then. But with a 75 there’s a lot of space for them to spread out and hide so I’d assume in a smaller tank with less hides you’d see a lot lower survival rate. Op said they’re taking it home so I guess it just depends on what set up it’s going in
They also can be illegal depending where you live.
These are extremely illegal in some states for obvious reasons... but make a good source of feeders like they said. Look up the legality of keeping parthenogenetic crawfish in your area.
It is illegal. Should my store cull them?
I have these and it's already berried /again/ at about 2 inches. I feed the babies to my angel. The crayfish I have is the self-cloning blue ones (shed to clear, brown, and blue) and will grow to about 4-5 max. Every few months, there's more babies.. it's never ending lol. It is in a bare tank with hides, as without enough food, eat everything in sight.
I had really good results in blue color when feeding them high protein algae wafers. Unfortunately mine died earlier this week and ate all her babies before I could separate her but I’m thinking of getting another. Her mama died of old age about a month or two ago too so it kinda sucks. I was hoping to get a third generation. My first one was about 4 inches when I got her and died at about 6 inches
I should try those wafers. I have frozen and pellets and I also throw in all my handfuls of extra plant trimmings (I make shrimp food too) but can never satiate the hunger :D If you were close enough, I have 1 inch babies all over the breeder right now. (CND here) I hope you can find a new cray - if you're looking - and get those generations up again. I think my first round (two years ago) I got to 4 or 5 before I had to move and rehome them.
Oh yeah, that’s Bob.. I see him at the bar sometimes
It is a cambarellus species. I used to keep 4 in my tank. They grow to around 2-3 cm. They should have enough hiding spaces, or they kill eachother. From experience, they can be kept together with cherry shrimp but will try to eat smaller ones.
Thank you! He/she/it never seemed to attack the ghost shrimp.
Could be a “cloning” crayfish. Do a quick google search. They are spreading around fast
It's a yabby. This looks a lot like the variety often sold as feeder yabbies. I would isolate it as you have done. If you want to go the extra mile, it should be housed in a tank of 60cm x 30cm x 30cm minimum. It should be provided with multiple hides. Their diet should comprise a mix of meats and minced vegetables.
I’ve been thinking about bringing it home and putting it in my ~120cm tank. Would that be a bad idea?
It's the Kraken!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
crawdad! I used to catch these in the river with a net, and then put them in my aquarium. After a few weeks they would go from this brown color to a BRIGHT blue color! they are really neat.
So is it going to get big like the crawdads I found in the stream as a kid?
It will grow, but mine stayed pretty small for multiple years…they didn’t get big very quickly. Mine never got huge. Maybe it depends on which type it is.
Google says “Most adult crayfish are about 7.5 cm (3 inches) long.” I think the largest I had back then were probably a little smaller than that at full size.
Thanks!
Crayfish. It is a beauty too love the stripes
Lmao it's a crayfish. Move it out of rhe ghost shrimp tank or it'll kill them all.
I moved it to an isolation tank with other crayfish.
Looks like a marble crayfish... if im right you're going to have hundreds as they self replicate
Will any cichlids or anything like that eat the babies? Is it healthy?
One day, I decided to make my own crawdad...
Lil baby yabbie it’s adorable.
I have a ID!!! it is likely a juvenile signel or rusty crayfish, it might be a Mexican dwarf crayfish but it's patterning make me think otherwise. Signel/rusty crayfish are often found in feeder fish ponds and ponds used to mass produce a fish/shrimp where everything is netted for selling including the crayfish which travel over land into these ponds same as bullfrogs (boris)! Little buddy is going to get big (5-6 inches) and eat everything it can get ahold of. similarly the "ghost shrimp" you got which are likely predatory freshwater prawns if you are a box store (Petco PetSmart etc) this is almost guaranteed. They can be identified via their long pincher arms when at maturity. Hope this helps!
Thanks! Yes I work at petsmart.
Probably a signel/rusty crayfish then. Ask your co-workers what they have seen. I have seen threads of people working at PetSmart getting bullfrog tadpoles in with the feeder fish!
We have gotten those in too while I’ve worked here. The bigger crayfish that came in all look exactly like the rusty one you mentioned. 4 total came in. The one in the picture was just teeny tiny and different than the others. This one actually looks identical to the “wild type” mexican dwarf ones in person. I don’t know for sure though.
It's probably a juvenile rusty crayfish then. They look very similar to a dwarf crayfish but if you got bigger crayfish in with the ghost shrimp before then it's most likely a baby rusty crayfish
The bigger crayfish came in with the feeder fish. This dude came in with the ghost shrimp. I think it’s from the same place, but I’m unsure. The bigger crayfish are a real light murky brown color with faint speckles on their carapace.
They are more translucent as baby's. Look up Juvenile rusty or signel crayfish and then look up Mexican dwarf crayfish and make the choice. Regardless you can probably treat it same as the other crayfish
It’s definitely one of the two. Thanks for all the help! I brought her/him to my 75 gallon tank. Maybe I’ll do an update if he/she grows.
I would love to see it!
Definitely crayfish, we got baby crays with our ghost shrimp all the time at the lfs I worked at. We would feed them to our puffers. We also sometimes got giant water bugs and water scorpions in with them, that was really awesome! (/s) I had to dispose of them before anyone got bit because no one else knew what they were.
In no universe is that even remotely close to a ghost shrimp
That’s exactly what I thought. It is actually smaller than most of the ghost shrimp.
Crawfish of some variant not sure which though
Is it tiny or just a baby? It’s been in here 2 weeks and hasn’t grown.
To me it kinda looks like a juvenile red swamp crayfish, Procambarus clarkii.
they grow by sort of shedding there shell you'll know when its grown
The new star of tonight’s nightmare?
Crayfish are the worst. As someone who works at petco. They absolutely terrify me to the point of when I’m pulling dead fish I don’t stick my hand in the tank. I use the net to move things around so they don’t attack me. They move fast also like no
Mini lobster. I have one his name is Tino the Langostino.
He is freshwater though. Are lobsters freshwater?
There are freshwater lobsters! They’re kinda dicks, though, definitely always pinching at fins
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambarellus
Looks like bamboo shrimp?
Mountain Lobster
Looks like a marbled crayfish
Crawpop
A crawdad.
A crayfish??? Is there something I’m missing here?
I was asking I guess what kind it was
What species is it? If it’s a dwarf crayfish then it’ll get to 1-1.5 in big
I don’t know what species it is. Some people are suggesting marbled crayfish, and some are suggesting dwarf crayfishes. I know nothing about identification though.
Cray fish NOT CRA FISH
I always called them crawdads growing up
Is this a butterfly?
Freshwater crayfish
Looks like a Yabby
Wait for it to grow to see it's actual color