Crayfish orange cpo crayfish photos, videos, fighting, interacting

After having my orange CPO crayfish for about 3 months, I'm going to post a whole lot of photos and videos of them. It will include interaction, habits and especially how they fight. I'm not an advocate of any species fighting, especially crayfish since they have been known to tear off limbs of other crayfish. One of my three crayfish has only a left claw because the right one was torn off in a fight.

Hopefully others will see how aggressive crayfish can be towards each other. What is interesting is that the biggest bully in the tank is now somewhat afraid of the other two, especially the one with two claws. When the younger smaller one is near, the larger one moves away. They all have the ability to jet themselves away from trouble like shrimp do but they rarely use it.

When crayfish fight they will square off like boxers, each watching the other to see who will make the first move. Sometimes it will take a while a they will stand still, facing each other in a stare. Suddenly, one will make a move or even slight movements. If it's towards the other crayfish, the choice is to encounter or back away and you'll know what will happen quickly. If the decision is to back away, the aggressor may still pursue the fleeing crayfish. If they fight each other they will usually lock into combat, more like wrestling than any hitting, grabbing or clipping of the other. I think that the claw detachment sometimes occurs during this wrestling / grappling moment. They can stay locked in embrace for an extended period. When I caught might together I separated them by simply inserting my tongs that I use for plants and scared them apart. A third crayfish was actually curious and was intervening to a very small degree on behalf of the other victimized crayfish, although it may be more of a sign of curiosity than anything else.

I believe that after a month or so there are signs that the crayfish's missing claw may be starting to grow back - I'm not sure. Supposedly they do grow back after an extended period of time as a result of several molting processes. I also have pictures of the claw sitting on the gravel and still reacting to light shone on the claw, which was remarkable. The nervous system seems to be active for quite an extended time even after separation from the crayfish. Hopefully they will stay apart and it seems that 3 CPO crayfish per 5 gallon tank is the absolute maximum, provided they have a multitude of hiding spaces and crawling areas, which they do in my tank.