yabby breeding/health

[princess_rainbow]

hi everyone! this is my first post here so i'm little excited, little nervous.
I have just bought 2 new adult blue yabbies - a male and female. they both have these small white things attached to their exoskeleton joints. the guy at the fish shop said that they were signs that they are ready to mate. I am not entirely sure this is true and worried that is is some kind of fungus. the place i got them, in my experience, has never been to good on the reliable advice. I've been observing the yabbies' activities and the female is scared of the male and the male is not interested in interacting at all with the female.
does anyone have any experience with breeding yabbies or general yabby health? cos any would be great.
thanks

 

[fishdance]

There is a freshwater invertebrate forum here which will answer your yabby queries faster. Make sure you have a cave for moulting time or the soft shelled one will get eaten by the other.

I have red claw yabbies which breed by themselves. I dont do anything special except feed them occasionally. I keep them in sumps actually.

 

[mikebratcher69]

Hi there, Iv'e just started breeding Cherax quadricarinatus (Australian yabbies) myself. They do have a natural white cotton wool type material all over them, it does grow as they do and is nothing to worry about. DON'T do as iv'e heard other people do and try and scrub it off, its part of them, it'd be like someone scrubbing off your fingernails... If your still concerned though get an anti fungal for INVERTEBRATES not the normal fish one as it's harmful I do believe. Female of the species, if you can see underneath, counting from the BACK legs, 3rd set of legs going forward, where the legs join the body there are two faint circles one on each leg, there normally closed so its more of a hint of a circle... thats where the female lays her eggs from. Also the female has more slender claws, you'll see the difference in the males claws, they usually look like popeyes arms, and on the outer edge of the males claws ( right at the pincers) theres a semi circle of uncolored shell this turns red as the male matures. when there small and immature though, the only way to tell a male from a female is as I said the females "circles" and the male has something resembling testicles only smaller, on his rear legs, again where they join the body. As for them not liking each other, if they are definitely male and female, give it a bit of time...They do however like there own space, lots of hiding places away from each other, plenty of dark hideaways, In the wild they dig a kind of shallow burrow. They tend not to be really social unless there getting it on so to say. Hope this helps.