Brazos dwarf crayfish

Care at a glance

Overview

A dwarf crayfish small enough to keep in groups and calm enough for a planted tank. It needs no heater in a normal room, which makes it an easy species to house. Give it a 20 liter tank with plants, leaf litter and enough small caves that each animal can claim one. It breeds readily. Feed sinking pellets, blanched vegetables and the occasional frozen food, and keep it away from long-finned fish.

In the wild

Cambarellus texanus lives in the Brazos and neighboring coastal drainages of Texas, in vegetated ditches, swamps and slow backwaters. Keep it at 18 to 26 degrees Celsius and pH 6.5 to 8.0. The seasonal temperature swing it experiences is why it does well unheated.

Good to know

Cambarellus texanus reaches about 3.5 centimeters. Dwarf crayfish of this genus stay small enough to be genuine community animals, unlike the larger North American crayfish sold alongside them. Females carry eggs and then young under the tail. Like all crustaceans it molts to grow and needs calcium in the water to harden the new shell.

Did you know

Whole colonies live in roadside ditches that dry out most summers; the dwarf crayfish life is short and fast.

Common questions

Related species

• 

  Cajun dwarf crayfish

  Cambarellus shufeldtii

  Freshwater

  1.6 in (4 cm)5 gal (20 L)64–79°F (18–26°C)

• 

  Swamp dwarf crayfish

  Cambarellus puer

  Freshwater

  1.2 in (3 cm)5 gal (20 L)64–79°F (18–26°C)
• Least dwarf crayfish

  Cambarellus diminutus

  Freshwater

  1 in (2.5 cm)5 gal (20 L)64–79°F (18–26°C)

• 

  Orange dwarf crayfish

  Cambarellus patzcuarensis

  Freshwater

  2 in (5 cm)10 gal (38 L)64–77°F (18–25°C)

• 

  Marbled crayfish

  Procambarus virginalis

  Freshwater

  3.9 in (10 cm)20 gal (75 L)64–77°F (18–25°C)

• 

  Electric blue crayfish

  Procambarus alleni

  Freshwater

  4.7 in (12 cm)20 gal (75 L)68–81°F (20–27°C)