[SNAXX]

I picked out two CPO's at random from a LFS about a month and a half back. I had them in my main tank and all was well for a few weeks of watching my Corys closely for damage. That all changed about 3 weeks in. The larger of the two crays started showing more aggression. Some of my Corys had fin damage which I had to assume was from the crays. The larger cray and the smaller cray started to spar with one on top of the other. I decided to set up my 10 gallon to seperate the crays from the fish before taking them back to the LFS. I was able to find the larger cray and place him in the 10 gallon. I was unable to find the smaller cray for a few days however. Finally the smaller cray appeared, and was berried! The sparring was mating, the smaller cray a female and the larger a male. I caught her and placed her in the 10 to see what happened. They had a brief skirmish then stayed away from eachother. That was about 2 weeks ago. Today my daughter noticed the babies moving freely in the tank. Coolness.

 

[SNAXX]

Another cool thing, there's these little tiny dots moving around on the bottom of the tank. I have a few pond snails in there, possibly snail babies but they move fairly quickly compared to adult snails. Natural prey for the tiny crays, out of nowhere.

 

[malANDmatt]

How cool! Congrats!

 

[mistergreen]

I have baby CPO too. They grow pretty fast. I'm thinking of selling the lot though. They eat and kill anybody they can get their hands on.

 

[SNAXX]

Yeah I already spoke to the LFS I got them from and he's willing to buy the CPO babies from me. I've never shipped an animal or plant so offering them to the community, while it is something I would love to do, would possibly lead to some dead CPOs and disappointed people.

After reading as much as I could find on Cambarellus Diminitus, Blue Dwarf Crays, I went with 2 of those in my main tank. They're one of the smallest dwarf crays and least aggressive. They are so docile they don't even raise their pincers at a fish that's alomst touching them, in my tank. The down side is, they're so docile That I hardly see them. I think the difference between CPOs and Blues is CPOs have predatory behavior and Blues have prey behavior, from what I can see. Hopefully I got a m/f pair as well.

 

[mistergreen]

Well, I can sell these guys for $10 a pop, I can make good lunch money.

 

[SNAXX]

You sell them here?

 

[mistergreen]

I haven't sold any yet.

You can sell it here or You can sell them to the pet shops too. They sell them for $12-14 a pop there.

They are active buggers in a planted tank which is fun.