Cajun dwarf crayfish

Care at a glance

Overview

The Cajun dwarf crayfish is a tiny, busy crayfish that stays active through the day and, unlike big crayfish, rarely harms plants or healthy fish. Each animal is essentially solitary, but this dwarf species is peaceful and small enough that several can share a planted tank as long as every one has its own hiding place among wood, rock, and leaf litter. A small colony does well in a tank of around 20 liters or more. It will scavenge for anything edible and may grab a very weak or newly molted tankmate, so keep it with small, quick fish rather than slow or delicate ones. Feed sinking pellets, wafers, and frozen foods, and keep the water cool to moderate.

In the wild

This crayfish is native to the lower Mississippi valley and the Gulf coastal plain, where it lives in sluggish bayous, ditches, swamps, and weedy pond edges. That water is often cool for part of the year, so it does not need a heater in a normal room and prefers moderate temperatures from about 18 to 26 C. Keep the pH neutral to hard, roughly 6.5 to 8.0, with enough minerals in the water to support molting. A densely planted tank with fine substrate, wood, leaf litter, and many small caves matches its home and gives it the cover it wants.

Good to know

Cambarellus shufeldtii is a North American dwarf crayfish in the family Cambaridae, reaching only about 4 centimeters, with a grey body marked by dark blotches or broken stripes. It is one of the most widespread of the continent's dwarf crayfish. Breeding is easy: it develops directly with no free-swimming larval stage, so the female carries her eggs and then her miniature young beneath her tail until they are ready to fend for themselves. Blue and other color forms appear in the hobby.

Did you know

It is so common in the ditches and roadside swamps of the Gulf south that most people there walk right past it, never noticing the little grey creature is a fully formed crayfish barely longer than a thumbnail.

Common questions

Related species

• 

  Brazos dwarf crayfish

  Cambarellus texanus

  Freshwater

  1.4 in (3.5 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)

• 

  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)

• 

  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)