Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Raising Forage and Bait Self-Cloning Marbled Crayfish aka marmorkrebs?

I have been thinking about trying to stock these in a new pond as an experiment. From the research I have done they should survive the winters here. My thinking is that since they are all females they should reproduce faster than the native types. I have about a dozen in an aquarium now and several have reproduced and several are berried. Was curious if anyone on here has any experience with them and what you think about my idea?

I believe they are just a native crayfish bred in captivity for the pet trade.

Hi! I'm the webmaster of the Marmorkebs.org website, and I do biological research with marbled crayfish.

Please, please, please do not put marbled crayfish in an outdoor pond.

Non-native crayfish just cause huge problems all over the world, and marbled crayfish are not a native species anywhere. There is no known natural population. They are known only from the aquarium trade and in places where people have released them. In many places where they have been released, they have become real pests. Because marbled crayfish are asexual, it only takes one individual to start a whole new population.

Outdoor ponds are not secure for crayfish. Marbled crayfish can walk on land for substantial distances to move into other water bodies (see this paper). There are many cases of commercial aquaculture farms that tried to contain crayfish, and failed. The redclaw crayfish in Mexico is a good example.

There are no effective control strategies to get rid of unwanted non-native crayfish. If marbled crayfish get into a natural habitat, the toothpaste ain't going back in the tube.

I can provide more data and more information if you would like. I support responsible pet ownership, but the number of ways stocking ponds with marbled crayfish can go wrong is... a very large number. Again: please don't.

Zen Faulkes
Department of Biology, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

Marbled crayfish are not native crayfish. Anywhere. They were discovered in the pet trade. They were not specifically bred for it; they were just found in tanks in Germany.

The closest relative to marbled crayfish are slough crayfish (Procambarus fallax), which live in Florida and the very southern part of Georgia. A paper published last year paper published last year, though, showed that marbled crayfish are quite distinct from slough crayfish in several ways besides their mode of reproduction.

Calling something a "native crayfish" is not very informative without saying "Native to where?" Many crayfish species have very small distributions. Some entire species are confined to an American county or two. Moving crayfish from one watershed or river or lake to another - even very close, within a short car drive - can be bring an entirely new species into a new habitat, where it can cause problems. This has happened a lot when people have used crayfish for bait.

Zen Faulkes
Department of Biology, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

Thanks Zen. Your info is what we are all about.

+1

Wow thank you Zen! I figured It was probably not a good idea just didn't know why. Had not considered their ability to travel across land. Last night found one had got out of the tank somehow and was in another room of the house. Now I need to figure out what to do with these guys.

Crawfish boil.

What to do with unwanted marbled crayfish?

They're generally small, so they wouldn't make much of a meal.

You could move them into an indoor aquarium. Lots of people report that compared to many other crayfish species, marbled crayfish aren't as likely to eat other tank mates. They are omnivorous, and will take out fish if they get the opportunity, so the risk is lower, but not zero. And being omnivorous means they'll also make a meal of any aquarium plants.

Lots of people feed marbled crayfish to fish in their aquariums. Oscars are common aquarium fish that are predators, and they love crayfish. If you go to YouTube, you can find lots of videos of oscars eating crayfish.

If you wish to dispose of them, I suggest freezing. Cold acts as an anesthetic.

If you have lots, I might be able to find some researchers who would be willing to take them off your hands.

Saw this cool video in searching for crayfish videos. Love how the crayfish goes down the hatch of the LMB. The sunfish (RES?) makes an attempt I also love how the bass sucks down what appears to be a bullfrog tadpole and then shoots it back out. Amazing!

Yeah they are a little small to eat lol. I have a few dozen at least now (started with 1 about 6 months ago). Looks like all I need is a LMB to put in the aquarium!