Crayfish -- tank mates?

[punky]

Hi, I have a 32g tank and really would like to put a blue crayfish in it. What tank mates should I put in? I know slow moving ones aren't good but since crayfish like coldwater, I find it difficult to choose. Any help? Thanks.

[Menagerie]

No tankmates. These creatures are wonderful, but should be kept by themselves. Some people will tell you you can keep them with fast fish, or very large fish, but fish do go to the bottom of the tank to sleep and that's when they get eaten. If you search the site, you will read horror stories of members that added cute crayfish to a tank and watched the tank get decimated.

[JohnPaul]

FWIW, I did keep a 10g tank with a rather substantial blue crayfish (probably 5" long) and some cold(er) water killifish for 6+ months and never lost a killi to the cray.

I think the rule of thumb that should guide your thinking is to be prepared to lose anything else you put in the tank with the cray--including not only fish, but other crustaceans (ghost shrimp, snails) and any live plants. Some things may survive, but don't put anything in there that you aren't prepared to call crayfish food.

I did keep a really, really large apple snail in the tank okay. Every so often the cray would grab the thing and try his best to get in the shell to get the snail, but the snail would be able to retreat far enough he was safe. After 10 minutes of frustration the cray would just give up and walk away, and go about his business. This was with a snail about the size of a golf ball or a little larger. The smaller one I put in there was lunch within the first 24 hours.

And you probably already know this, but there can be *no* openings in the tank at all. I finally lost my cray because he got out one night and made it out the door of the room and 30 feet down the hall, and dried out before I woke up in the morning and found him. No HOB filters, no nothing, you need an almost perfect seal between lid and tank.

[severum mama]

I used a HOB filter with my cray, but I did worry about him escaping for sure. I would catch him every night climbing up my silk plants toward the top of the tank. He never quite got out, but he eventually died of unknown causes. They are really cool, but I agree about tankmates becoming lunch. My BF even got pinched one time while cleaning the tank!

[OceanMist]

Some people will tell you you can keep them with fast fish, or very large fish, but fish do go to the bottom of the tank to sleep and that's when they get eaten

...

not neccesarily true, I kept one with a 15" pleco and a 10" oscar, he would challenge the oscar only to get chased back into his rock caves, and I often saw him trying to pinch the pleco's tail fin (resulting in a speedy hitchhike around the tank), but I never had any problems with him damaging either fish, even at night, although, these were LARGE fish and would definately not be suitable for your tank.
he escaped twice, 1st time I got him because he was challenging our alsation which was barking, the second time I wasn't so lucky, an escape proof tank is a must.

[hc8719]

[quote="OceanMist"]

he escaped twice, 1st time I got him because he was challenging our alsation which was barking, the second time I wasn't so lucky, an escape proof tank is a must.

can they swim? an alsation? like a german shepherd? you guys didnt go back calling them german shepherds after the war?

[punky]

Thanks about the suggestions but I think 32g is too much for a single crayfish.