Tank Mates

[AnnieExplsoion]

Hi everybody! I have two tanks, a 50 gallon and a 10, and I am wondering about tank mates for the 50.
I currently have a pair of Blood Red Parrot Cichlids, three Silver Dollars, a Common Pleco, and a Dwarf Neon Rainbow and I am going to get an Oscar. I was wondering if I could get a Hammers Blue Lobster. The rainbow is extremely smart and fast and stays at the top. There are plenty of hiding spots and no live plants, so I think a Hammers would do well but I'm not sure if any of my fish would be in danger.

Thanks!

[SpeedEuphoria]

Fish will be in danger with any clawed creature. I think most people are going to say Lobsters and crabs need a seperate tank(well for FW anyway).

[chris127]

yeah they wont eat your fish during the day but at night they can clean out a whole tank. theyre best for a species only tank.

[haykay]

I think if you add an oscar to that tank you will be quite overstocked (i've read they need 50+ gallons all to themselves!)

I second the motion of the no lobster.. your fish could take quite a bit of damage from it..

[JohnPaul]

You can bet your "lobster" (crayfish actually) will do what it can to get a hold of your fish. Whether it is successful or not depends a lot upon how fast the fish are and whether they tend to sleep by resting on the substrate.

Of the fish you have, the pleco would be the one I would be most worried about, unless it is WAY bigger than the crayfish. But as the cray grows, eventually it is going to get big enough to take out the pleco and may take out other things in the tank too. It's really hard to say. A while back I had about a 3-4" cray ("blue lobster") in a 10 gal temporarily, and due to a series of circumstances he ended up spending over 4 months in this temporary tank, which already had a half dozen guppies in there. I was figuring the guppies would be nothing more than feeders for this cray, given they are relatively slow fish and all but 4+ months later, I still had 5 of my 6 guppies. Once in a while I'd wake up in the morning and see a guppy with part of its tail missing but the fact that 5 out of 6 survived four months in a relatively confined environment with one of these crays tells me maybe they aren't all that great at hunting. Keeping them well-fed tends to help with their aggression...they will still instinctively go after a fish that gets too close, but if they aren't hungry they won't necessarily stalk & hunt the fish in the tank.

Still...whenever you mix fish & crays, you need to be prepared to lose one or the other. If that isn't something you are willing to accept, then keep the lobster away.

Another option, if the idea of crayfish is interesting to you but you don't want to risk your fish, is to get cajun dwarf crayfish (Cambarellus shufeldtii)--which very recently in the hobby has also seen a blue-colored variety emerge through selective breeding--or the Mexican Dwarf Orange Crayfish (Cambarellus patzcuarensis)--which as the name implies, are indeed a bright orange color. Both of these species only get to around 1.5" at full adult size and so would pose no hazard to your fish. Of course, there is the danger the other way, that your fish (especially an Oscar if you get one) would decide that your crays make a nice little snack. I doubt you'll find these at any pet store near you but you can almost always find auctions on Aquabid for the natural colored cajun dwarf crays.

If you want to read more, here are some links for more info:

Cajun Dwarf Crayfish
Mexican Dwarf Orange Crayfish

[Karackle]

Just thought I'd throw in among the other good advice, that the "lobster" will likely go after fish.

More importantly though, I'd have to agree that adding an Oscar may not be the greatest idea, they do get quite large with 55, or preferably 75 gallons being the generally accepted minimum for a SINGLE fish. You might want to check out this site about oscars before deciding whether to get one.

Whatever you decide, good luck!