Crayfish is not a livebearer, it lay eggs and hatch them. There are some kinds of behavior they exhibit most times especially when they are pregnant, like shaking their eggs. If you have a female pregnant crayfish, you must have noticed this. It could be very confusing seeing them shake their eggs, and you might think something is wrong with them. In this article, I will explain why they do shake their eggs sometimes.
Why do crayfish shake their eggs? Crayfish could shake their eggs when they are unfertilized and when they hatch.
The above is the main reason they do that, although I will explain everything in detail below.
Crayfish is a member of the crustacean family, they lay eggs and don’t give direct birth or they ain’t livebearing animals
They carry their eggs at their tail until they hatch.
Based on the fact that their eggs are fixed under their tail, they need to shake them off at some point, that’s either when they hatch or if they are not fertilized and won’t hatch.
One interesting thing about them is, that their females could lay eggs without mating with the male, but without mating with the males or storing male sperm in their body to fertilize the eggs, they won’t hatch.
When these unfertilized eggs stay on for some time, they will spoil, so, the crayfish involved will then need to remove them from her tail and eat them, so she might start shaking them for them to fall off.
When the eggs hatch, the offspring will be so tiny, and the mother won’t need to keep them attached to her anymore, so she will start shaking them off, including those that didn’t hatch, because not all of them will hatch.
If your female crayfish starts shaking her eggs, these are the 2 reasons she is doing that.
How Long Will It Take For Crayfish Eggs To Hatch?
Just like every animal that lay eggs, there is a specific period for crayfish eggs to hatch if everything is alright.
It normally takes 3 weeks for crayfish eggs to hatch in a suitable condition.
3 weeks is the average or should I say the normal period they take to mature, but it hugely depends.
It depends on the particular environment the eggs are in, for instance, if they are in cold water, it will take more time than the average because, etc, so it depends on the environment.
Conclusion
These are the reasons a female crayfish might be shaking her eggs, so it’s normal and you have nothing to be worried about.