Marmorkrebs as Axolotl snacks

[Cynth]

This spring I purchased some baby Marmorkrebs to see if they would be suitable as axolotl food. Some arrived with their shipping bag open and were dead. I fed them to the axolotls and they seemed to enjoy them.

I kept 2 of the Marmorkrebs and they are now mature and reproducing. The first 2 batches of babies are about 8 weeks old and are the perfect size for the axolotls to eat.

Last night I put 10 of them in the axolotl tank and this morning there were 2 smart ones up on the filter tube, the rest were presumably eaten.

Tonight I dumped in 6 more and saw some of them being eaten right away, so at least for some of the axolotls they are acceptable.

Marmorkrebs are self cloning crayfish, they are all female and they reproduce on their own. They are pretty entertaining in their own right. Now that the baby crays are a suitable size I am going to freeze them and then hand feed them to the axolotls.

Both of the adults I have are both berried again so this looks like it could be a pretty good source of food for my 6 axolotls.

I thought I'd post about this since I had not seen anyone else mention them.

Here is Alice with some of her babies when they were about a week old.

 

[dragonlady]

I love this idea, personally. No problems with the claws or the exoskeletons?

I never considered using these...My problem would be that I'd become too attached and I'd have more pets!! lol

 

[Cynth]

I love this idea, personally. No problems with the claws or the exoskeletons?

I never considered using these...My problem would be that I'd become too attached and I'd have more pets!! lol

Since they are all female they have small claws and the babies at 8 - 9 weeks don't really have a thick shell yet or big claws. Some of them have even been de-clawed by siblings.

I did see the first axolotl to snap one up spit it right back out, presumably when she got "pinched". However this evening that same axolotl ate one and swallowed it.

Timing I think is probably everything on the age of the babies to feed or freeze.

They are easy to get attached to, my two adults; Alice and Other have their own personalities and have been fun to watch. But I told myself these babies cute as they are MUST go to the freezer, axolotl tank or new homes. They live about 3 years so I can't save any replacement models for quite some time.

I like the idea of something different for the axolotls to eat now and then. If I run into any issues feeding the crayfish will post them.

 

[dragonlady]

Another question since you posted this...Don't you have cherry shrimp too? If my memory has not failed me here - Do you keep these with your cherry shrimp? Would a 10 gallon be suitable? I think these could be really interesting for the kids too...I would love it if I could try both of these.

 

[Cynth]

Another question since you posted this...Don't you have cherry shrimp too? If my memory has not failed me here - Do you keep these with your cherry shrimp? Would a 10 gallon be suitable? I think these could be really interesting for the kids too...I would love it if I could try both of these.

Yes I do have cherry shrimp. A 10 gallon would be suitable for the cherries or the Marmorkreb and possibly both.

I did have some cherry shrimp in with the crays when the crays were younger and they did not bother the shrimp. There are a few shrimp in my crayfish tanks now because I feed the crays duckweed, extra plants and broken leaves etc from my aquarium that houses my cherry shrimp so of course there are always hitchhikers that are too small for me to see. The adult females threaten the shrimp if they try to get inside their hides but that's about it.

If you were going to have a Marmorkreb and the shrimp share the 10 gallon it would be a good idea to find an outlet for the extra shrimp that will be produced and of course get rid of the baby crays at a young age. Cherry shrimp reproduce fairly fast and before you know it there are 100's of them. If you keep the population in check and keep good filtration and tank maintenance I think its very possible to keep them both in the same 10 gallon tank.

 

[JWERNER]

Hand feeding babies wouldn't be that bad of a idea but I wouldnt push to many on them yet or allow them to free feed on them until you know what impact such a exoskeleton as that of a Crayfish will have on a Axolotl.

Thats just me.

 

[dragonlady]

Cynth said she was using the babies with the soft shells. I imagine at that point they'd be similar to a scud or shrimp. Cynth can definitely correct me if I'm off. I mentioned the exoskeleton in my first post too so I'd definitely keep that monitored.

I'm planning this as a supplement and not as a staple. I think it would be good for my lazy brood to have to chase the meal for a change!

 

[Mac Myers]

I keep a couple of Species of Crays but I wouldn't be able to use them as feeders. I like them too much. Right now I'm sticking to earthworms with pellets and bloodworms as supplements.
I'd worry that with the nutritional value and exoskeleton issues would be a problem.
Plus did I say I like them too much?

 

[Cynth]

Cynth said she was using the babies with the soft shells. I imagine at that point they'd be similar to a scud or shrimp. Cynth can definitely correct me if I'm off. I mentioned the exoskeleton in my first post too so I'd definitely keep that monitored.

I'm planning this as a supplement and not as a staple. I think it would be good for my lazy brood to have to chase the meal for a change!

The baby crayfish shells are not very hard at this age. They are shedding often right now.

If the exoskeleton causes problems I'll let everyone know asap, but when I first got this batch of axolotls I had plants and what not in the tank and one of the axolotls; Jude was a snail eating machine. She was even eating trumpet snails and their shells are very hard and pointy. I worried then but I never saw any problems with her snail snacking. The trumpet snails are way harder than these baby crays so I am hoping for a similar happy outcome.

Baby crays consumed so far: 30 by 6 adult axolotls. The axolotls have learned to "hunt" them now they know the crays are hiding up on the filter intake tube and the axolotls stand on their back legs under the intake waiting..... and waiting....

 

[Cynth]

I keep a couple of Species of Crays but I wouldn't be able to use them as feeders. I like them too much. Right now I'm sticking to earthworms with pellets and bloodworms as supplements.
I'd worry that with the nutritional value and exoskeleton issues would be a problem.
Plus did I say I like them too much?

I hear ya Mac. I have grown very attached to my adult cray females and it is kind of hard to take the babies and do them in. But at the rate Marmorkrebs multiply they have to be food for something.

 

[Cynth]

Hand feeding babies wouldn't be that bad of a idea but I wouldnt push to many on them yet or allow them to free feed on them until you know what impact such a exoskeleton as that of a Crayfish will have on a Axolotl.

Thats just me.

I'm keeping a close eye on them. I have been dropping a few crays in daily but for 6 adult axolotls they really are just a snack. An actual feeding consists of 18 medium sized night crawlers or most of a hand sized thin fish fillet. I also give some of the pellets on Mondays for their "light feeding". Currently there is no lack of droppings in the tank or change in their texture.

 

[Mac Myers]

You speak truth. I don't have any Marmorkrebs at the moment (though I have my eye on a couple). Maybe a "couple" is 1 too many. Maybe 1 is one too many!

 

[dragonlady]

I'm keeping a close eye on them...Currently there is no lack of droppings in the tank or change in their texture.

Ah yes...the glamorous life of a keeper...lol

I just saw a really nice blue variation of the cloning crays on ebay...Blue crays...cherry shrimp...sounds like a winner to me!

Thanks for all the info, Cynth...I think a see another tank in my future...

 

[Cynth]

You speak truth. I don't have any Marmorkrebs at the moment (though I have my eye on a couple). Maybe a "couple" is 1 too many. Maybe 1 is one too many!

One will get you hundreds! I have read that the older they get the more babies they produce in each batch.

 

[Cynth]

Ah yes...the glamorous life of a keeper...lol

I just saw a really nice blue variation of the cloning crays on ebay...Blue crays...cherry shrimp...sounds like a winner to me!

Thanks for all the info, Cynth...I think a see another tank in my future...

Well ya know, I bought my 2 from someone who said their mother was blue and all of her offspring turn blue. You see what color mine are.

I have read they can be turned different colors depending on the water parameters and their food. Beware the promise of blue unless your water conditions are exactly like the water they are coming from and you see actual photos (Pictures or it didn't happen! lol)

 

[Mac Myers]

Well ya know, I bought my 2 from someone who said their mother was blue and all of her offspring turn blue. You see what color mine are.

I have read they can be turned different colors depending on the water parameters and their food. Beware the promise of blue unless your water conditions are exactly like the water they are coming from and you see actual photos (Pictures or it didn't happen! lol)

All of that is true. I am getting a"blue" one on the cheap so it'll be interesting. I can play with the parameters and test it out myself. :happy:

 

[Cynth]

All of that is true. I am getting a"blue" one on the cheap so it'll be interesting. I can play with the parameters and test it out myself. :happy:

Mac I'd love to know how your testing goes. I've read that very soft water turns them blue. If I could ever get my aquarium habit under control I want to slowly change one of my crays water from liquid rock (from the tap) to soft water just to test it out myself. The pictures I see of blue ones are so pretty.

 

[Cynth]

All of that is true. I am getting a"blue" one on the cheap so it'll be interesting. I can play with the parameters and test it out myself. :happy:

Hey Mac I saw you ask the Self Cloning Crayfish guy on facebook about the blue coloration. It does seem that since they are clones they should all be the same.... but there are web sites where people have posted pictures of them in various colors.

I don't know if different colored marmorkrebs crays are like bigfoot sightings or what but here are some links. I am not good enough at crayfish identification to know if these are Marmorkrebs or not however.

General Info

FS Marmorkreb/Marbled Crayfish - Aquaria Central


bluecrayfish.com • View topic - Procambarus Mamorkreb

and this guy sells marmorkrebs on aquabid and has a blurb on the colors and what not
but the picture of the blue one he uses seems to have much larger claws than it should have.... again I have no crayfish identification skills.

AquaBid.com - Your Aquatic Auction Website

New Blue Morph - MonsterFishKeepers.com

 

[Cynth]

Here are the size of the baby crays I am currently feeding. Picture taken today.

 

[JWERNER]

This has got interesting.

Can you get a pic feeding one to your Axolotl?