Cambarellus patzcuarensis, the scientific name for dwarf orange crayfish, is an intriguing addition to any freshwater aquarium. These crayfish are a favorite among aquarists of all skill levels due to their eye-catching bright orange color and small size, which also makes them relatively easy to care for.
These microscopic crustaceans, which are native to Mexico, add a special charm to aquariums with their intriguing behaviors as they investigate and engage with their environment. Dwarf orange crayfish get along well with other small fish and invertebrates and are usually calm, unlike their larger crayfish cousins.
Maintaining the health and happiness of your dwarf orange crayfish depends on your ability to understand their needs and behaviors, regardless of experience level. Everything you need to know about these adorable animals—from what kind of habitat they need to proper feeding and breeding practices—will be covered in this article.
Part 1 — Description and Contents
It’s true that dwarf crayfish are humorous animals. An expert aquarist finds, upon observing them, a whole new world, markedly distinct from the typical fish.
To begin with, the anatomy and movement pattern are radically altered. Crayfish can have up to nineteen pairs of appendages. Their functionality is also quite varied. Only four pairs of legs are technically meant for daily movement, but five pairs are walking legs. Claws are the weapon of the last (or rather, the first) pair; these nimble tools are used not only for defense, attack, and capture, but also as extra support.
When speed is required in extreme circumstances, the tail—which consists of five pairs of swimming legs and two pairs of legs and a telson—is employed (for example, running away from an enemy). In addition, the crayfish is moving backwards at this time, as advised by conventional wisdom, rather than forwards. It is not always easy to predict the crayfish’s trajectory, which makes it challenging to catch these seemingly lazy oafs.
In addition to three maxilliped pairs. They serve primarily as cutlery, holding and delivering food to the mouth. In addition, they serve as extra respiratory organs (with gill appendages) and as a kind of napkin for wiping the antennae and eyes. Together with the actual antennae and antennules, the maxillae and mandibles (lower and upper jaws, respectively) are also included. Generally speaking, nothing is as it seems; everything is unique.
Theoretically, an amateur does not need to know the names of the various components that go into making crayfish. Those who are inquisitive may view images 1-3. It is far more crucial to understand the crayfish’s behavioral algorithm and establish aquarium conditions that are both comfortable for the fish as inhabitants and for the tank owner as an observer.
Regarding the crayfish themselves, not many issues exist. These are very flexible, unpretentious creatures with a good reserve of vitality. For them, the absence of large, aggressive fish and the existence of shelters are the most important things. Even for an unprepared aquarist, creating a suitable habitat with the following parameters is unlikely to be difficult: pH 7.0-8.5, dGH 10-20, T = 18-26 C. Yes, the demands are more than reasonable.
Thickets of aquatic flora serve as shelter for crayfish, and a bare glass bottom will significantly hinder movement (despite the numerous crayfish limbs). Lighting conditions, the amount of plants in the tank, and the soil material are all irrelevant; what matters is that all of these things be present in one way or another. Without light, crayfish are likely to be depressed.
The only thing that should not be allowed is an excessive load of dissolved organic matter in the water and a calcium deficiency. Both of these factors make molting difficult, which can lead to trouble for crayfish. After all, for Decapods, shedding their old shell is not a whim, but a necessary measure — the only way to grow and acquire more spacious clothing. The consequences of failures in this process, well-established by nature, are underdeveloped limbs, or even the death of the animal. By the way, there is an obvious relationship between water changes and molting: as soon as you change the water in the aquarium, after a day or two, crayfish shells that have served their purpose are found on the bottom.
Furthermore, crayfish mate at the same time as they molt, which ensures that they produce offspring. Thus, frequent adjustments are essential.
Finally, let"s not forget that molting for decapods is also a way to restore lost limbs. They “give” them up easily — at the slightest threat — and they act absolutely rationally: it is much more profitable to save life and return the loss after some time. Most often, the claws “disappear” as the main tool for internal squabbles and the most tenacious part. But the other segments cannot feel safe either. Once I noticed a poor fellow in an aquarium who had only three of his ten “working” (i.e. walking) legs left, and all of them were on one side. Naturally, he could not move, he would fall on his side and timidly huddle in a corner. Without much hope (the crayfish’s losses seemed very noticeable to me), I moved the invalid to a separate container and in the following days I tried to put food right under his muzzle. Already a week later, after another molt, the unlucky patient stood on all his legs quite confidently, except that the new claw was much smaller and somewhat paler, but after two or three molts it regained its previous dimensions.
Let’s talk about dwarf crayfish taxonomy in brief. They are all members of the roughly two dozen species that make up the genus Cambarellus (Cambarellus Ortman, 1905). Most of them are not particularly attractive to nature lovers, have a small color palette, and are rather unassuming in appearance.
The only things that set Kambareluses apart from other members of the Rachee tribe are their calm demeanor and lack of curiosity about the aquatic vegetation as food. Of course, exoticism set against a backdrop of some banal fish saturation in the aquarium community.
Though they had only known him for ten years, our orange cancer and the foreigners truly fell in love (this original belly first appeared in Europe at the start of the twenty-first century, and then it appeared in Russia).
Orange dwarf cancer is most commonly referred to as C. Patzcuarensis Villalobos, 1943. The majority of sources claim that it is merely a color variation of a small wild species that inhabits Patzcuaro, a comparatively small lake (20 x 14 km) with a maximum depth of 50 m, which is situated in the crater of an extinct volcano in one of Mexico’s mountain ranges at a height of 2200 m above sea level.
Cambarellus patzcuarensis var. "Orange," or SRO for short, is the most often used catalog name.
Divergent views exist regarding the source of the crayfish’s vivid hue. While a small percentage of experts believe it stems from natural mutations, others favor the theory that breeders are responsible for the "orangeness." Still others favor the "hybrid" theory, which contends that nature created a joke that man developed and corrected.
There’s another subject for lazy discussions. The truth is that Alejandro Villalobos, a renowned expert on Mexican decapods, described C.zempoalensis, a different species of crayfish with a similar appearance, in 1943 and it is listed in the taxonomic annals.
The only distinguishing feature between Cempoala and its Patzcuaro counterpart, the inhabitants of another volcanically formed high-mountain lake in Mexico, is the latter’s distinct longitudinal brownish-reddish stripes extending from head to tail.
On the one hand, the coincidence of findings in the scientific literature, including those of a single scientist, implies that the latter was aware of his own actions. In addition to "striped" crayfish, a batch of crayfish that the retail network receives from exporting companies frequently contains individuals with more or less uniform coloring. And both the first and the second can be found in generations derived from a single female. Furthermore, the environment, the quality of the water and food supply, and even the mood of the crustaceans all have a role in determining the subtleties of their coloring.
The well-known fact that crossbreeding, including spontaneous crossbreeding, occurs within the genus Cambarellus and produces reproductively viable offspring cannot be disregarded.
Therefore, it is still unclear who is who. The aforementioned crayfish are similar to one another, save for their appearance (males can grow to a maximum of 4 cm), and they have identical maintenance and breeding requirements, so this situation is more of a theoretical than an applied one.
Let’s go back to these inquiries.
SROs are generally safe animals. The majority of group disputes are brought on by a shortage of space and shelter. When there is an adequate amount of both, fights are infrequent and less traumatic. Crayfish don’t move forward quickly; instead, they like to avoid conflict with more powerful adversaries, yield, and occasionally even pursue prey.
They only use plants as beds; they enjoy scaling heights in the thicket and lounging there with their claws dangling. They can remain in this posture for several hours.
In general, cambarelluses can hardly be called mobile creatures. They become more or less lively only during the rutting season (which, let me remind you, is caused by molting) and when hungry. It is believed that crayfish are predominantly nocturnal. I admit, I spent more than one hour sitting after midnight by the aquarium (it has a small LED night light imitating the moon), but I did not record a large revival that is strikingly different from the daytime one. I have come across assurances on the Internet that dwarf Mexicans enthusiastically exterminate mollusks. I categorically disagree. They are keenly interested in them, yes, but I have never seen them kill. And gastropods, apparently, sense that crayfish do not pose a threat, and therefore fearlessly approach them.
Two factors contribute to decapods’ interest in snails: (a) they gather different foods from shells, such as microorganisms; and (b) they consume the waste products of gastropods. Since young crayfish have a special interest in coprophagy, it is advantageous to have a variety of phys and coils in the rearing tank.
In SROs, the relationship with fish is nuanced and unclear. First and foremost, challenging for the decapods themselves, who are extremely shy and run from even the smallest shadow. Small aquarium fish, such as neons or guppies, have the ability to force crayfish into hiding. Furthermore, the adage "you will fall in love – you will get used to it" is untrue. Cambarelluses still lack the ability to distinguish between those who truly pose a threat to them and those who do not, even after several months.
I saw an orange dwarf once that had a leopard daio in its claw. I must stress that it was caught; the crayfish made no attempt to attack, just a typical frightful motion with its "hands" raised. The hunter, who had been hunting without permission, fled into the closest thickets, terrified, as soon as the victim was freed.
However, dwarf fish can defend themselves just as well and will occasionally even take aim at larger fish that may be obstructing their path to a food source. It does not, however, result in significant harm because the crayfish only makes a warlike clanking sound with its claws.
Based on available data, the only issue appears to be the close proximity to shrimp and, most likely, new items that are still uncommon in amateur collections: freshwater dwarf crabs (such as spider crabs from the genus Limnopilos). Though there are plenty of these cautions on the Internet, I was unable to confirm this. I can only speak from personal experience when I say that I kept a "snowflake" shrimp in a tank with baby C. patzcuarensis for about two weeks. Then it was gone; it must have died naturally or actually turned into dinner.
They say that dwarf crayfish are oppressed by the presence of other “cave dwellers” like badis, and the proximity to large balitorines does not ensure harmony. An alliance with cichlids is also far from ideal. However, there are options here too. So, knowing that several generations of julidochromis live in my “jar”, the sales consultant mentioned at the beginning of the article warned: “There may be conflicts”. However, in this particular combination, none of these arose. Apparently, for some reason, the interests of my cichlids and crayfish do not intersect anywhere. Of course, "Yuliks" chase centipedes from their territory, but without damaging the latter"s limbs. (And they drive them away, by the way, correctly, since if the opportunity arises, dwarf crayfish will happily feast on eggs, larvae, and insufficiently nimble fry.)
The anticipated fights between crayfish and the other aquarium bottom inhabitants—acanthophthalmus, corydoras, small ancistrus, gobies, and loaches—were also absent from my observations. It’s true that at first the pangio charmingly chased the crayfish out of the grottoes they had selected, but as soon as I added more shelters, this area also became peaceful.
Shelters can be made out of artificial or natural stone grottoes that have a diameter of 2 to 5 cm, tiny ceramic pots, coconut shells, etc.
I have noticed that crayfish ignore plastic caves that have a smooth interior surface. They can also be used, but you have to sand it down to make it rough or cut off the bottom. It’s funny that crayfish aren’t lazy about enhancing their pre-made shelters—in addition to using them with joy. Specifically, they frequently obstruct the entrance by grabbing single large particles or amusingly raking the ground with buckets, claws, and a snowplow-like device. Decapods rake the obstruction away when they’re hungry, venture outside to eat, and then rebuild the "door" when they get back home.
Shelters are especially important for crayfish during the few hours following their molt, as the newly formed chain mail solidifies, and for females during the time they are giving birth to their young.
Generally speaking, the crayfish feel more at ease in their aquariums that are filled with more goodies.
One drawback is that since hide-and-seek is their favorite game, you will see your SROs less frequently the more secret locations there are. Therefore, from the viewpoint of an observer, a large public aquarium is not the ideal crayfish house. Additionally, the best course of action would probably be to assign each cambarellus a separate container at a rate of 1-2 shelters and 6-8 liters per individual in order to prevent them from disappearing from view. There should be five or six of these individuals because crayfish feel very confined when they are alone, but in a group—even with other crayfish of a different species and age—they feel somewhat liberated and bolder.
A low (15–20 cm) vessel with rosette flora is ideal because crayfish are more visible in its thickets.
The soil is homogeneous and has a fraction of up to 5 mm.
The bottom area should be as large as possible. This will improve the crayfish’s living quarters and improve the water’s ventilation, to start with. This is an important detail, by the way, because crayfish, like other decapods, cannot survive in an environment with insufficient dissolved oxygen. In the event that natural gas exchange is insufficient, a current must be created using a compressor or, at the very least, a crude airlift filter to handle aeration.
For the same reason, you should exercise caution during the warm season. If the water reaches 28C or higher, you should boost the flow and/or blowing to avoid potential problems.
The population of my SROs significantly decreased as a result of my lack of attention during the sweltering summers of 2010 and 2011 (I ran off to the dacha in the midst of it and was unable to take prompt action).
In general, I repeat, dwarf crayfish are flexible animals, they quickly get used to a new aquarium, easily adapt to changing conditions, although they prefer to do without radical changes. On the other hand, the susceptibility of decapods to jumps in hydrochemical parameters, in my opinion, is somewhat exaggerated. At least if we are talking about adult specimens and 2-3 month olds. I will give an example: two or three times I had to urgently change the water in the nurseries with young cambarellus – straight from the tap, 50-70% (true, with the addition of JBL conditioners for nano aquariums). And everything went without negative consequences. But This doesn"t happen with young people. Once, just a 30% change was enough to kill 7 out of 11 week-old crayfish. Perhaps, of course, it was not their age, but the quality of the water itself, but I don’t take risks with the “babies” anymore.
There are no problems with feeding the crayfish: they graze on their own and eat everything in sight, and this is a rare and extremely convenient case when you can safely leave your charges for a couple of weeks without worrying about their exhaustion: you don’t even need an automatic feeder – the cambarelluses will find something to eat without it. They use decaying fragments of vegetation, benthic microorganisms, carrion and, let’s not say for the table, the waste products of fish and mollusks. Again, the crayfish will not ignore the results: spontaneous spawning of aquarium fish – eggs and sedentary young. True, only hunger pushes the orange dwarfs to actively hunt, and without significant motivations, running after a healthy fry seems too tiring for the decapods.
If we talk about targeted feeding, then any traditional fish food will do: live and frozen insect larvae, crustaceans, tubifex, etc. Dry flakes and granules (including those with plant components) will also not be superfluous. Preference should be given to fast-sinking products, since otherwise the lion"s share of the food will simply not have time to reach the recipients. To this template series I can add peas, low-fat cottage cheese (preferably granulated), small pieces of omelet (cooked without oil or in the microwave), shrimp mince and other seafood, meat and poultry fillets. In general, anything that comes to mind, but subject to the proportionality of portions and the use of products that minimally spoil the water.
Moulting skins are also useful, so don’t discard them; they’re a great source of materials for making new shells. Certain specialty foods are also beneficial, especially those enhanced with carbonates.
Now that dead fish are legal prey for decapods, I leave them to crayfish and carefully pick off the flesh, feasting on the calcium-rich skeleton. I no longer catch dead fish (if they are not too large and were not sick).
At first, after settling the crayfish in the aquarium, I was tormented by vague doubts on the topic: “How should I now take care of that very aquarium? What should I do if I need to, say, transplant the plants or change the decor? Will it turn out like in the famous tongue twister – I stuck the Greek"s hand in the river. ” However, so far, thank God, everything has worked out. I have already “dived” into the jar more than once, and not once has “a grab for the hand!” happened. Apparently, as a food object, my hand is too big for dwarf Mexican crayfish. And for an attack to protect possessions – too scary.
Cambarelluses generally pose few problems and add a noticeable variety to the aquarium environment. I just wish I saw them more frequently. They would be priceless otherwise.
The fact that these rare animals only live for a year and a half (the strongest ones only live for two to three months longer) is also unfortunate. Thus, you will need to be concerned about dwarf crayfish reproduction if you intend to keep a population of them in an aquarium farm.
Luckily, solving this issue is also fairly simple, so we’ll save the discussion about reproduction for later.
Due to its tranquil temperament, ease of maintenance, and striking color, the dwarf orange crayfish (Cambarellus patzcuarensis) is a small, colorful freshwater species that makes a great addition to home aquariums. Aquarists who value its low maintenance needs and intriguing behavior love this crayfish because of its eye-catching orange color, which adds personality and color to the tank without endangering fish or plants.
| Common Name | Dwarf Orange Crayfish |
| Scientific Name | Cambarellus patzcuarensis |
| Size | Up to 1.6 inches (4 cm) |
| Origin | Mexico |
| Water Temperature | 68-78°F (20-26°C) |
| pH Range | 6.5-8.0 |
| Diet | Omnivorous |
| Tank Size | 10 gallons or larger |
| Behavior | Peaceful, good in community tanks |
With its vivid color and energetic behavior, the dwarf orange crayfish can make a fascinating addition to any freshwater aquarium. It is the perfect option for both novice and seasoned aquarists wishing to add some variety to their tanks because of its compact size and serene disposition.
The care of these crayfish is not too difficult; all they need is a clean, well-stocked tank with lots of hiding places. They maintain their health and vitality with a simple diet that consists of a combination of plant-based foods and protein sources.
Compatibility with a wide variety of other peaceful species is one of the most endearing features of the dwarf orange crayfish. This makes it an excellent choice for community tanks, given that the other tanks in the tank aren’t overly hostile or big.
All things considered, the dwarf orange crayfish is a distinctive and vibrant addition to your aquarium. It can flourish and add a vibrant charm to your aquatic environment if given the right care.
