Breeding Marmorkrebs/Marbled Crayfish

[Reaperpilot2014]

This post is an attempt to highlight what I've learned about breeding Marmorkrebs, or marbled crayfish. I am frequently asked about them, and want all lovers of puffers to be aware of the possibilities. I do not claim to know everything about breeding them, and welcome additional information or questions, but have successfully done so for a number of years.

Marmorkrebs/marbled crayfish are all female, and reproduce asexually, usually every month and a half to two months. From my experience, they are usually around 2" when they start berrying.

While I know crayfish in the wild live in a variety of water conditions, I have had the best results with breeding at a ph between 7.2-7.6, and in cooler water around 72-74 F. The tank needs to be fully cycled of course. They love hiding in plants and caves. Once way to provide these for them without much expense is to create a honeycomb or beehive out of pvc pipe. Cut it 2-3" long and stack them in a sort of pyramid. The crayfish choose one and live in it. Another option is to spread a sandy substrate and put the pipe sections here and there. I have a friend who does that and it seems to work well for her.

They eat fresh veggies, hikari algae wafers, bottom feeder pellets, and like to eat any meat they can get their pincers on too, like crushed snails or a silverside. They LOVE live or frozen bloodworms.

You really only need one to get started, but their first few batches of eggs are usually small and dont produce many young. Simply put, it takes a few months for these gals to really get going with their egg laying. That being the case, starting with 4 or 5 in a breeder tank would be a good idea. Like other crays, Marmorkrebs can be cannibalistic to their offspring, although I personally haven't had a problem with this. The fry may need to be separated upon hatching.

I started with 5, and now have about 100, which isn't bad considering I feed one or more to each of my puffers 6 days a week lol.

Be prepared to dispose of some of them if necessary. They have the potential (and have been in some places) a highly invasive species as they don't need a mate, and should never be released into the wild. In my opinion, the best solution to this is to take some out until you feel the tank is no longer overcrowded, place them individually on waxed paper, and freeze them for later.

What I have listed so far has been my own research. Research was also done last year at the University of Texas on Marmorkreb breeding, and the paper contains some additional interesting information. Feel free to take a look. The paper can be found at http://inverts.info/sites/inverts.info/ ... _10-18.pdf

[xrayjeeper83]

awesome write up thanks

[zfaulkes]

Research was done in Canada last year on Marmorkreb breeding, and the paper contains some additional interesting information.

I'm glad you found the paper interesting, but for the record, the research was done in South Texas, not Canada! (I'm Canadian, but that has no bearing on where the research was done.)

[Reaperpilot2014]

You are right my friend. Good eye. They kept calling them Canadian Marmorkrebs so I wrote it wrong. I'll fix it now.