Electric blue crayfish

Care at a glance

Overview

Keep one per tank. It is very territorial and cannibalistic, especially around molts, so two in the same tank will fight until one is eaten. It is a bottom dweller that needs at least 75 liters, water from 20 to 27 C, and a pH between 6.5 and 8. It will catch and eat small fish, shrimp, and snails, so the only reasonably safe tankmates are fast mid and top water fish that stay out of reach. Give it a secure lid, since it will climb out, and feed sinking pellets, blanched vegetables, and the occasional meaty food.

In the wild

Procambarus alleni comes from the slow streams, ponds, swamps, and ditches of Florida, where it digs into soft bottoms and shelters among roots and debris. To match that, give it a tank of at least 75 liters with a sand or fine gravel bottom it can burrow into, plenty of caves and hides, and driftwood or rockwork to break up sight lines. Keep the water between 20 and 27 C with a pH from 6.5 to 8. Hard water with calcium in it supports clean molts, so do not strip the minerals out.

Good to know

This is a crayfish in the family Cambaridae, reaching about 12 cm as an adult. It breeds easily in the tank, with the female carrying eggs and then tiny crayfish under her tail until they drop off and fend for themselves. With good care it lives several years. The bright blue is a selectively bred form, not the wild coloration.

Did you know

A molt is the most dangerous time in this crayfish's life. It sheds its whole shell to grow, then sits soft and defenseless for a day or two until the new shell hardens, which is why it hides and why tankmates can turn on it. It often eats the cast-off shell afterward to reclaim the calcium for the next one.

Related species

• 

  Marbled crayfish

  Procambarus virginalis

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

• 

  Orange dwarf crayfish

  Cambarellus patzcuarensis

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