crayfish, bad idea?

[matthewvl]

Two 6 inch cichlids, 1 pleco, 1 pictus, 1 leporinus in the the 50g tank. Thinking of a critter. Cichlids will eat most anything like shrimp and adf's. Crayfish are like 1.50 at the lfs so if they get eaten no big deal. Only fear is if it will be a problem for the pictus catfish who hangs by the bottom, or the stagnent pleco? For that matter, same questions for a decent sized crab. Also would the crab get eaten cause I might care more about him?

 

[Blazeherd2306]

I think you would be safe to not buy the crayfish. IME only fast-moving fish like zebra danios work well with them. I wouldn't trust one with plecos or catfish.

And a crab wouldn't work well because there are no true freshwater crabs sold in the aquarium trade (from what I have researched).

HTH

 

[QTOFFER]

Crayfish are like 1.50 at the lfs so if they get eaten no big deal.

It would be a big deal to the crayfish. Regardless of the cost of a fish or invert, we try here to provide them all with safe homes where they can thrive.

A crayfish would probably be eaten by your cichlids, so getting one isn't a good idea. Besides, it would probably harass your pleco. Same goes for FW crabs. In addition, FW crabs need access out of the water. They are huge escape artists too.

 

[WaterPond]

Yes IME, when i was younger, i kept a FW crab, what an escape artist! My room was upstairs, and my crab went all the way downstairs where my dad thought it was a spider, and stepped on it.

 

[MSU Fan]

also keep in mind that crayfish are very territorial, and can be extremely aggresive. While I don't think that a crayfish can take down 2 6" cichlids (unless of course the cray fish is HUGE), he can probably do a nasty number on the remaining fish.

 

[MattAquaBio]

I have two crayfish in my aquarium and a raphael catfish and a pleco in the same tank. The plecos often hang out on the under side of some driftwood where the crayfish have th eir burrows. They never bother each other at all. The crayfish sometimes sits directly below the plecos. The raphael catfish actually tried eating algae off of the crayfish one day but it got scared and ran back into its burrow.
So basically, no big deal, just watch carefully first, if any problems, take him back.

 

[canuckaquarist]

WaterPond, that happened to me too. When I was younger, my older sister took me to the LFS and I came home with two small fresh water crabs. I woke up one morning and they were gone. We found one in the bathroom and the other at the bottom of the stairs. We then donated them back to the store we got them at, because they wouldnt take refunds or exchanges, and we didnt want them to get out again and die.

 

[DeFeKt]

crayfish, bad idea?

Yes

 

[Musket]

crays are best in a tank by themselves or with feeder fish.. personal experience. While they are small they are fine with fish. When they get bigger, everyone is fair game.. I lost a lot of my fish the cray grew up with... They are very kewl creatures and if they don't have a good hiding place, will get eaten when they molt.

If you want crays with fish, get the dwarf crays and small to medium sized fish with lots of hiding places.
Hope this helps some.

 

[hc8719]

if you thing ADFs will get eatten by your cichlids, you could try an african clawed frog, they get up to 5 inches big, and dont take crap from anyone

mine actually attacked, two dwarf male gourami, threw himself at the barrier seperating him from two chromides, and ate 2 full grown albino cherry barbs in the same hour (all of them were in qt)

he did not bother a pleco (who was slightly larger than himself) or a larger rams horn snail

because most crayfish/crabs/lobster will make some attempt to eat your fish, an ACF might work for you

he even attacks my hand when i put it in to feed him, but he may just know im holding food, and is blind. he wouldnt be able to harm your cichlids if they did vex him