There is a total of 4 stages in a life cycle of a crawfish - Adults, Eggs, Fries and Juvenile.
Adult stage
It takes 4-6 months for crawfishes to reach adulthood and sexual maturity. Adults will actively look to mate. Females will lure males with their urine and males mate by dominating, flipping females over for fertilization. In 4-6 weeks, the developing eggs will be transferred to the outside of the female’s body and glued via an adhesive called “glair” to the female tail. In captivity, a mature adult can reach a length of 12inches and weigh up to 250g.
Eggs
Female crawfish carries the eggs inside her body for 4-6 weeks and is capable of holding 400-1000 eggs each time. The incubation periods between 22 and 42 weeks in 5 stages.
Stage 1: Light cream/Yellow in color (day 1-3)
Stage 2: Dark brown/Grey in color (day 12-14)
Stage 3: Eye spots and little tails are formed (day 20-23)
Stage 4: Eggs will hatch and turn Orange-Red in color (day 28-35)
Stage 5: Fries are released from their mother (day 35-40)
Fries
After hatching from the eggs, the fries feed on their yolk, growing eyes and tails resembling a crawfish. The fries will stay with their mother for 7-14 days before abandoning her in search for food. During this period, the fries are extremely vulnerable and, being cannibalistic in nature, they will attempt to feed on each other if there is a lack of food.
Juvenile
As crawfish matures, their body elongate and start to look for food like fishes and plants. In order for them to grow, they undergo the moulting process where they will grow by 20-30% each time. After 50 days, the male crawfish will also start to develop its signature bright red pigmentation on their claws.