Page 28 - lukhaup_pekny_invertebrates

Cambarellus patzcuarensis

Orange Crayfish, CPO

Female

This is the most frequently kept dwarf cray- Brown colour morph
fish in our aquaria, and especially its orange col-
our morph, in short called CPO (for Cambarellus fertilised. They can easily be discerned from good
patzcuarensis “orange”), can be found in almost ones by their yellowish-orange colour, whereas vi-
every well-sorted local fish store. In some countries able eggs are dark brown. Usually, the females will
though, these Crayfish are illegal! Its wild form is remove unfertilised eggs in order to prevent the
more of a light to dark brown. Many specimens – of entire batch of eggs from developing a fungal in-
both sexes – have darker stripes on the upper side fection.
of their bodies, some have light and dark spots, and
some everything in between. In the orange colour Body size: 2 to 4 cm (0.8 to 1.6")
morph, these patterns will occur, too. Temperature: 15 to 30 °C (59 to 86 °F)
pH value: 7.5 to 8.9
These crayfish are frequently found in dense wa- Tank size: 30 cm (12") and more
ter plant populations near the shore of Lake Patzc- Distribution: Mexico, Lake Patzcuaro
uaro in Mexico. The females grow a bit larger than Reproduction: no cold phase required
the males and also somewhat older. Under good
conditions, they can reach two years of age. Dur-
ing this time, they can get berried up to four times,
thus producing large numbers of offspring. De-
pending on the size of the female she will carry 25
to 50 eggs under her pleon. The reason for fungal
infections of the eggs is often found in a high sili-
cate reading of the water in the tank. In the trade,
there are remedies against this problem.

In almost every batch of CPO eggs, some are un-

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