Crawfish adventures

[Peeley]

I know alot of people have stories like these, but they are still funny when they happen to your very own.
This morning, at around 7am while I was enjoying the last couple of minutes before I had to catch a bus to campus for the day, I noticed that I was short one crawfish in my tank (which is 21" tall if i remember correctly). I looked all over inside the tank, then on the floor around, under the couch, but i had to leave... I figured "she died and my roommate flushed her" was a more likely theory than "she sprung out of my tank" (there is very little space to get out of the tank, right around the filter). I went to school, went to work, worried about my little crawfish, waiting to get home at 4:something to resume the search.
I have access to a computer at work and was talking to my other roommate online, told her what happened at maybe around noon. Later, at about 3:30 (now), she tells me she found it by the door in the laundry room, covered in lint! She was afraid to pick it up but I said she cant hurt her, so she tossed the little bugger back into the tank.
Ha!
Now, to find a way to cover the opening...
In other news: my crawfish tore up my two pathetic little plants, and the remains (which i think could have been replanted nicely) floated up to the top. I left them there pending a decision on what to do with them. My crazy crawfish climb to the top of the filter intake and swim backward off of it, grabbing anything they can. If they are lucky, it is one of my floating plants. They start eating it as they sink to the bottom with it, and when they lose their piece or need more they repeat the skydiving adventure.
Thank god my fish are too big for them to challenge.

[robertmarda]

Nice adventures. I enjoyed the activities of the crawfish I had. I am curious as to the size of your fish as I have wanted to get more, but believe the fish I have in my tank would kill the crawfish.

[Allivymar]

I'm jealous *sniff* My bamboo shrimp tried a little accelerated evolution (as the folks on the freshwatershrimp forum put it LOL) nite before last. Got him back into the tank but he died about 5 hrs later.

[madasafish]

Well... I'll no doubt have similar stories in a few days! I'm getting 4 blue crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) for my 30G (eventually for the 55G) from a guy on Aquabid.com. Arg, I'm excited!

What do you have in your tank with the crayfish, Peeley? I'm thinking that Tiger Barbs might be the answer to my housing conundrum. I'd go with a puffer or few, but I'm worried about the crayfish when they molt. The only other fish I can think of that would be small enough and not pick on sloppy chiton-less crayfish are African Cichlids (M'bunas). Any other ideas, ppl?

The only other fish I can think of that would be small enough and not pick on sloppy chiton-less crayfish are African Cichlids (M'bunas).

Mbunas would be too aggro for crawdads when they molt, IMO. Also, the rate of cannibalism during molting could likely be high. Crawfish are omnivores, they will chop plants to shreds, and likely kill any fish they can get their claws on.

[madasafish]

Yeah. I know full well how aggressive the M'bunas are... The guy I'm buying from recommended them, though. He said he'd had quite good success with them and the crayfish... I'd be a little hesitant, myself! There ARE some peaceable species of Mbuna, e.g. the gena Otopharynx, Copadichromis. These guys are only micropredators and plankton eaters, so they might be compatible. I probably wouldn't combine the crayfish with Yellow Labs, though!...

And I've purposely created an all-holey-rock, no plant tank for the blues. Though they (1 male, 2 females, 1 immature male) will have plenty of hiding space, I am still worried about cannibalism... The specimens in the store are often missing legs (soon to grow back)!

Thanks for the advice, though. And I'll keep your cannibalism rec in mind.

Any other suggestions?