Crayfish Questions

[CeeB]

Hi Everyone,

I've just joined the site, so sorry if this is in the wrong area....

But anyway, I've got a freshwater crayfish in my 2' tank and I need some help with some stuff....

First, and simplest one, do they need a place out of the water?, and if they do, how would i go about making one? (I'm about to upgrade to either a 3' or 4' tank, and if need be i'll only 1/2 fill it...)

Next, he's covered in small worm-like parasites, and I do mean COVERED! Last time he moulted they went with the shell, but one or two stayed in the tank and now they've got hold again. I'm not even sure if they're harmful, they don't seem to bother him, but they are very unattractive...

Finally, i now that this probably gets asked a lot, but a "friend" looked after my place last week, and thought they'd do me a favour and put in some plants and they had some tiny snails in them. Now they tank is covered in them!
So both the Cray & the tank have hitch-hikers!
How do I get rid of them?

Thanks for any help anyone can provide.

 

[sumphead]

I'm not sure of any differnce in species of crayfish. (Crawfish: aka-Mudbugs) in australia from the run of the mill common craws found here inthe US. Here they are very hardy. However they WILL eat fish of they can catch it, they will eat it. As far as the parasitic worms go If it were a crawfish from here I would pull him out and scrub him off. They are tough as nails and will be fine. In the event that they are no different then no way out of the water is needed.

As far as the snails go I've never had a planted tank or a snail problem so sorry I can't help there. Though I would imagine a crawfish would eat them too. Ot at least TRY!

HTH

BTW,I had a 5 inch Mudbug I caught out of my pond and started munching everything in my tank so he got fed to the catfish!

 

[RogerMcAllen]

LMAO, I once found a pair of crayfish pinches at the bottom of my pond. The cats must have had a good time with that intruder.

Anyways, try putting a piece of lettuce in the tank before you go to sleep. In the morning you should be able to pull it out with a lot of snails on it. Another thing to try is to just grab as many as you can whenever you see any. Make sure you remove any eggs if they are present.

 

[agentpreppy]

I noticed some snails late last week and I got a few Cory Cats this past weekend. I haven't seen any snails since then. I wonder where they went......

 

[LondonGman]

Clown loaches apparently eat snails but I have no experience with them but they grown quite big. However when I had snails, I would fish them out of the tank individually. This went on for a while but now I have not seen a snail in my tank for ages. In fact, your post reminded me about them.

Basically unless someone can recommend a chemical or a fish, I would recommend fishing the snails out of the tank daily with your net (or lettuce). If one tries to escape into the gravel, crush them. Eventually you WILL get them all.

PS i know nothing about crayfish. Know a bit about shrimp though

 

[CeeB]

Thanks for the help everyone, the lettuce seems to be working. Although it looks like it'll take a bit longer than I'd originally hoped for.

As for the parasites on his shell, I think he's actually getting ready to moult again, so hopefully that should take care of that problem as well!