Among the numerous species of North American crayfish, Procambarus alleni, under the name “Blue Florida Lobster”, has for many years been a fixture in the aquarium trade. However, one must know: although breeders prefer to breed with blue specimens and usually only blue animals are sold, this is by no means a species characteristic. There are many different color variations of this crayfish in nature. Blue animals can occur in pretty much all crayfish, including our native Astacus astacus.
In the aquarium Procambarus alleni is an interesting and easy to care for crayfish. It is naturally found east of the St. John’s River throughout the Florida peninsula to south of Levy and Marion counties, all animals in the trade are captive bred from Southeast Asia. It reaches a length around 12 cm, but becomes sexually mature at 4-6 cm in length. When mating, the male throws the female on her back and blocks those of the female with his claws. However, the female ready to mate falls into rigidity anyway and does not resist the threatening looking treatment. The crayfish, as omnivores, also eat small fish and aquarium plants, it is necessary to know that, besides, the species burrows strongly.
You must not keep such animals – and this applies to all aquarium crayfish – in the garden pond. Especially Procambarus alleni lives amphibious in nature in self-dug burrows and can migrate far over land in wet weather. In the wild, this crayfish can spread a deadly disease to native crayfish. So please show a sense of responsibility and keep such crayfish only in the aquarium for which they are intended.
For our customers: the animals have code 486701 on our stock list. Please note that we supply only wholesale.
