The Puffer Forum

I recently learned of the marbled crayfish, the one that literally clones itself at a ridiculously fast rate. I was wondering if it would be practical to setup a reasonably sized tank/tub with one or more marmorkrebs and then use the offspring as feeders for a puffer, such as a Figure 8. Also, at what point would the marmorkreb young become too large for an F8? Other puffers?

I likely won't attempt this myself unless someone with experience reports great success, but I think it's an interesting thing to consider.

I think one 10 gallon (well filtered) with a single marmorkreb would be a nice experiment. I believe they have around 300 offspring every 2-3 months, and when the offspring reach the optimal size for puffers, you could gut-load and freeze for usage at a later time. It would be a potentially ideal source of cheap puffer food. I'm not sure on the thiaminase content, the nutritional value (I'd guess LOTS of fiber, probably pretty poor otherwise), or potential dangers of feeding. That's why I don't see myself trying it.

I've done so a few years. I used to feed crayfish with a maximum length of about half the puffer's length. Not because the puffer could not handle more, but to avoid overfeeding or rotting crayfish parts. As long as you feed the crayfish a varied diet, I don't think you'll get any thiaminase problems. A larger breeder or two would be better, because the crayfish can kill each other if they are to numerous on a small space.

Did you feed them live or frozen? And as for breeding, I've seen some setups of people breeding them for bait and they literally used large plastic tubs with a large sponge filter. Crude, but I think it'd be effective. 80% or even 100% waterchanges shouldn't be a problem for them, I hear they're hardy little critters. I might experiment with one marmorkreb sometime, but for now I'm going to try and master the art of ghost shrimp breeding. My snail supply has already doubled without any work, to bad shrimp aren't that easy...

I fed the crayfish a big variety of foods, mostly plant matter (cucumber, various aquatic plants), flake food and some protein such as mussel or small pieces of fish I had left over from moray eel feeding. The crays themselves were mostly frozen prior to feeding, unless I had wild caught fishes (I was importing fishes at that time) that needed to be trained to take dead food. I started with live ones only in that case. I never developed a joy in feeding live foods and preferred dead food.

In my opinion the marbled crays are easier to breed than snails and especially ghost shrimps. And quite entertaing.

I keep them for my Fahaka and Ceylon. I have them in a 55 gallon. i think that a bigger setup is better. I had a few in a 10, but they seem to kill each other off. They tend to like their space (albeit inches around them). There are seriously hundreds in my 55 gallon amongst all types of fake plants and rocks. I've fed them:

Potato
Sweet potato
Carrots
Lettuce
Cucumber
Spinach
pellets (of many varieties)


IMO they are the best food for puffers. Crunchy and full of nutrition (as long as they're fed well). I feed my puffers an assortment of food along with the krebs.

Breeding ghosts are hard. They berry up nice and quick but if the eggs do hatch that are very hard to grow out. One of mine hatched about 15 (the best I could count) and I know for a fact that 3 made it to maturity. I kept them in a breeder net in a very low flow area of my tank and sprinkled the water over the net with small bite fry food (powder). I never vacuumed the net out and they seemed to feed on the crud in the bottom. Too much to deal with and very little in return. Red Cherry Shrimp on the other hand are very prolific!!! I started with 6 about a year ago and have 100's now. Read up on those. I've always wanted to do crays and blackworms as well, but I just don't have the time for anymore tanks than what I have. I have to travel an hour+ each way 2 times a month for black worms...it's getting old

I have beed breeding marmokrebs for about a year now. They only seem to reproduce about every 45 days, and the fry are highly cannabilistic, but the adults are great. Since they don't need a mate to breed, you could start with just one. Keep the water quality high, and you'll get about 100 or so fry every other month. They don't fight, attack fish, or harm my plants. They do like to eat my ramshorn snails though. Feel free to ask any questions you want. Hope it helps.

Only one variety of Ghost shrimp which I have tried will breed readily in captivity. It seens to be the only one of the locally available types which has largely suppressed the pelagic stage of those shrimp's life cycle.

For me, I can only get fry reared successfully by moving berried females into established heavily planted tanks, and removing her after the eggs are hatched. Otherwise, she may cannibalize the fry. The fry are infusoria eaters at first, so will not give high survival except in well established tanks. To me they are not worth the effort to rear for food as they require too much space and time. They are fascinating to rear just as as specimens, but impractical as feeders. Buying the shrimp and conditioning them a few weks is better use of your time and equipment.

Although they are quite small, red cherry shrimp are the most productive shrimp I have worked with.

For larger meals, go with the crays. They are territorial and cannibalistic when crowded. Do not release any to the wild - they are potentially dangerous to the ecology where they might survive.