Blue Crayfish

[LandLocked]

I just got home with a couple crayfish, they where all called "Blue Crayfish" and in a separate tank they had "White Crayfish". I got a blue one and a pinker one, lfs said they should leave the fish alone until the crayfish get bigger, they was in with corys and very small pleco of some type. My only bottom dweller is a redtailed shark and it holds its own so far.

 

[Craw Chief]

Beautiful crayfish, but when they get larger, they will eat your fish. They will also fight each other, so make sure you have enough tank space for them or their own tanks.

 

[LandLocked]

I have them in a 60g with a ~3" redtailed shark, 5 gourami ~3" and 5 danion ~2".
How long do I have before they turn killer. Can I keep them happy with feeder fish or feeder shrimp so they leave everything alone or should I just give in and take over the cement basement for a fish room.

 

[Craw Chief]

Well they'll try to kill now, but they are probably too small to do any damage. Give them another month or two, after a couple of months, and their claws will be big enough to make some fish disappear.

A 60 gallon is large enough so that, if you kept them well fed (algae wafers, spinach, other veggies, bloodworms, etc.), they shouldn't be quite as aggressive. However, any time you have crayfish in a tank with other inhabitants, there is never ever a 100% guarantee for the other inhabitants' safety.

I would tell you make that fish room!!!! But if you have a spouse that might not be too cool with that, trust me I know how that goes! haha

 

[LandLocked]

The crayfish are doing good so far. Last night the little buggers mowed my dwarf grass plug down to almost nothing. I have been feeding them algae wafers on top of the other assorted fish food that they gobble up but should I be feeding them fresh blanched veggies. They pick at my other plants but this time they took it all. Normal or are they lacking something available only in fresh greens.

 

[Darylb]

I use to catch them where I lived and the wild ones are so much more peaceful then the captive bred ones the biggest I got was 23cm but we call them yabbies

 

[BLUElobster99]

You say you have a 60gal


IME multiple crayfish can coexist if there are an abundance of hiding places and at least 20gal per cray


But yes, blue crays can reach 6inches and will begin to harass/eat your fish


In particular your bottom dwellers

BUT

IME If your tank consists of fast moving fish without any long fancy tail they SHOULD be fine.

 

[LandLocked]

I think I'm down to only one crayfish. I moved everything to a 40b to do some improvements to the 60 and the next morning I can't find the small pink one. I looked all around in the tank, all around the room?? Gone. Hopefully it's just hiding really good in a cave but I looked pretty good.

So far the crayfish don't really bother any fish, they don't let fish steal their food at all but I haven't seen any aggression. The blue one has molted once and it's clearly bigger now so I probably don't have long before he starts to see the fish as a meal.

 

[sheila0405]

I had a couple of blue crayfish in a 10 gallon tank with wooden "trees" for them to climb. One morning I came home to find one crayfish waving his claws, and the shredded remains of the second one on the bottom of the tank. That's when we got our 75 gallon tank with more ways to climb (rocks and branches) and our crayfish didn't attack our bigger fish. The small ones, like the tetras, were another story. I ended up getting frozen shrimp, and that kept my crayfish happy.