crayfish

Hmm, for a long time now one of my fish (the Sunburst Wag Platy) has been acting a little lot sickly. Sometimes laying on his side in the gravel, sometimes floating aimlessly, always lethargic and slow.

The other day when I got up I noticed that I couldn't see the fish any more. Totally disappeared. I guess my crayfish had a good snack that night.

Bummer. When I got up today I saw that my largest crayfish had died. Just yesterday it looked fine and was zipping around the tank. Today, nothing. It just lay on its side not moving and looking way too pale.

As I was scooping it out of the tank Elliot was asking me about what I was doing and why. I told him about how sometimes when pets get old they die. I stayed away from mentioning Yoshi.

Of course Elliot being a boy wanted to see it up close and personal.

Last night when I was feeding the fish I discovered that I don't have one baby crayfish, I actually have two baby crayfish's. Each one is now about 1.5 inches long and look exactly like miniature versions of their parents minus the blue color. The babies are more of a brown color and still blend in with the surroundings quite well.

I will have to keep on top of the population. My co-worker who gave me the 4 crayfish still has too many of them and I don't want a repeat of my snail problem.

Last weekend I was out at PetSmart getting a few supplies for around the house, and I decided to get another fish. I only had one Cory left, and I wanted another cleaner fish so I looked through their stock a bit before I found what I was looking for.

I chose an Otocinclus. This fish attaches itself to the side of the tank and eats the algae. Occasionally it swims around to another location, but most of its time is attached to the tank.

I also cleaned the tank this week. After moving one of the decorations, I caught a glimpse of a teeny, tiny crayfish. It is still alive. Cool. Hopefully it makes it. Right now the crayfish is about a centimetre long and dark like the rocks in the tank. When it doesn't move, you can't tell it is a living creature.

Last night as I was closing up the house before bed I noticed the tank light wasn't on. I had forgotten to feed the fish.

Right after I turned the light, out the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of movement. A tiny speck was hanging on to the back wall of the tank.

Looking closer I saw it move. It was a very, very tiny crayfish. At least one of the babies has hatched.

I fed the fish then watched as this tiny crayfish tried to blend in with the rocks and other decorations. I guess it was less than 5mm long. Very, very hard to see. I'm curious what happened to the rest of the eggs in the sac. After seeing one crayfish with some eggs, I later saw a second carrying eggs and making a bit of a nest under the rocks.

Curiosity is strong though. I want to move the tank decor to see what is going on underneath, but I also don't want to disturb them tiny creatures. When they are ready they will make their way out. I'll have to be careful next time I clean the tank though.