Crayfish

[ally]

Hi everyone,

Im new here, sorry if this is in the wrong section.

I am thinking about adding a crayfish to my tank but im not sure if this is a good idea with my current fish so I was hoping you could help me determine this. Right now, in my 55 gal I have neons, black striped neons, platys, tetras, rosie barbs, 2 cories and 2 plecos. I am worried that the crayfish would go after the cories and/or the plecos.

Is that something I should be worried about?

 

[alLexX]

i dont think the fish would like it. but the cray would be thrilled,all that food swimming around right in front of it. its a bad idea,fish+cray=cray(or if the fish are big enough,fish)

 

[Wy Renegade]

LOL, love that previous answer. With crayfish, here is what you have to keep in mind. Crayfish are opportunistic omnivores, meaning they will eat whatever they can get their claws on. In a planted tank, they will eat the plants and any fish they can catch. I have three larger crayfish in a 30gal tank with a bunch of native minnows, and can't keep any plants in there for anything. The largest of the crayfish will climb up on the rocks about halfway, and then sit there with his claws extended waiting for the fish to swim by. When they do he snaps at them and try to catch them. If he catches one, he eats it. Great interplay to watch, but not if you're attached to your fish eh?

 

[FreshwaterTropical]

Crayfish will eat any fish that is put in there. I have heard that dwarf crayfish are very much less into killing!

 

[absolutangel04]

Maybe a dwarf cray (cpo), but definitely not a regular cray. It seems to me that cpo would like a more specialized set-up however, so I would just skip the cray in that set-up. How about bamboo shrimp?

 

[siva]

Hi everyone,

Im new here, sorry if this is in the wrong section.

I am thinking about adding a crayfish to my tank but im not sure if this is a good idea with my current fish so I was hoping you could help me determine this. Right now, in my 55 gal I have neons, black striped neons, platys, tetras, rosie barbs, 2 cories and 2 plecos. I am worried that the crayfish would go after the cories and/or the plecos.

Is that something I should be worried about?

You want to do something like a CPO or shufeldtii. They stay very small, more importantly with small pincers, and will not bother your fish. You have to be more careful that the fish don't bother them, however. I'm not sure about the rosie barbs, but everything else should, most likely, leave the crays alone.

On a side note hopefully those are two dwarf plecos or they'll get too large for your tank and, you should add 4 more cories because they will do much better stocked in groups of 6. Or 4 at the very least.

 

[Austin.brehun]

Id say probably not because theres always a chance your crayfish will crab and eat a fish

 

[alLexX]

i wouldnt even try a dwarf cray,neons are pretty small...

 

[...joey...]

Hi everyone,

Im new here, sorry if this is in the wrong section.

I am thinking about adding a crayfish to my tank but im not sure if this is a good idea with my current fish so I was hoping you could help me determine this. Right now, in my 55 gal I have neons, black striped neons, platys, tetras, rosie barbs, 2 cories and 2 plecos. I am worried that the crayfish would go after the cories and/or the plecos.

Is that something I should be worried about?

I have a electric blue lobster at first I tried him with 8 guppies and he ate all but one. Then I brought three silver flying fox fish and they started cleaning his back and after a short while I guess he made a deal if you clean me I won't eat you! Lol since then he has only ate one clown loach and that was because it was unwell for some reason and just sitting on the bottom of the tank gasping for three days before he ate it. In my tank now I have got:
Two silver flying fix
Two decorated squeaking catfish
Two glass catfish
One guppie
One pleco
One gourami
Four red platys
Two mollies
And have ha this setup with him in for 6 months with no problems. Just make sure you have a home for your cray and a separate cave for fish that like a hidey hole. And keep your cray fed well for first few months dont worry you can't over feed them when young because they will just shed their shell quicker here's a pic of my cray and tank... Oh and one last thing getting a cray was the best thing I ever did it makes your tank interesting for everyone even those who aren't interested by fish tanks







One last thing if you have any interest in breeding them in the future get two now as this is the only thing I regret mine got used to his own space and just rips the female apart when I have tried

 

[...joey...]

Crayfish will eat any fish that is put in there. I have heard that dwarf crayfish are very much less into killing!

Wrong! My cray doesn't eat any of my fish!

 

[severum mama]

i wouldnt even try a dwarf cray,neons are pretty small...

Neons actually get larger than CPO or shufeldtii. Not a problem there. My only issue with adding a dwarf cray would be that with all the fish in there, you may not see much of it and you may find it difficult to feed. Do you have any experience with either species?

Wrong! My cray doesn't eat any of my fish!

But... you just told us about fish that your cray DID eat. For the rest of them, it's only a matter of time. 6 months does not constitute long term success.

 

[Ardynas]

My wife saw a blue lobster in the LFS and thought how cute he was.
We brought him home with no warning from anyone in the store.

He did most of his hunting at night. Our neon tetra school kept getting smaller. The blue lobster kept getting bigger. One morning I woke up to him eating my female dwarf Gourami (they sometimes like to sit on the bottom when they sleep). He already had half of him eaten. I think all together he ate about 10 fish.

I'd say if you don't have any fish that will sleep or dwell near the bottom you would be fine. Otherwise, he will catch them when they sleep.

We returned him to the LFS and he was twice as big as the other blue lobsters for sale. He hated leaving our tank!

 

[...joey...]

Neons actually get larger than CPO or shufeldtii. Not a problem there. My only issue with adding a dwarf cray would be that with all the fish in there, you may not see much of it and you may find it difficult to feed. Do you have any experience with either species?

But... you just told us about fish that your cray DID eat. For the rest of them, it's only a matter of time. 6 months does not constitute long term success.

He ate seven guppies within the first month. It's been 10 months since then! Trust me I know my cray he will not eat anymore!

 

[...joey...]

To all of you! In my eyes having a cray is better than any fish! Trust me once a cray is older than a month it will only eat fish that don't listen to a little knock of the pincer. Get one it will be the best thing you ever do!

 

[severum mama]

Earlier you said it was 6 months.

It's impossible to "know" that your cray will not eat any more fish. Crays are opportunists and when the opportunity arises, it WILL eat fish, as you have seen already. There isn't anything different or special about yours that sets it apart from all the other crays that have the same instinct to hunt any fish they can catch.

 

[...joey...]

No! Earlier I said I have had all them fish in with it for six months as I got my pleco 6 months ago! Can you read okay??? Maybe enlarge your text. Have you got a crayfish because you obviously do not know anything about them! My cray sits in it's cave with fish all round it even in between it's pincers and still nothing! Is that not a big enough opportunity???!!!

 

[severum mama]

I have a electric blue lobster at first I tried him with 8 guppies and he ate all but one. Then I brought three silver flying fox fish and they started cleaning his back and after a short while I guess he made a deal if you clean me I won't eat you! Lol since then he has only ate one clown loach and that was because it was unwell for some reason and just sitting on the bottom of the tank gasping for three days before he ate it. In my tank now I have got:
Two silver flying fix
Two decorated squeaking catfish
Two glass catfish
One guppie
One pleco
One gourami
Four red platys
Two mollies
And have ha this setup with him in for 6 months with no problems. Just make sure you have a home for your cray and a separate cave for fish that like a hidey hole. And keep your cray fed well for first few months dont worry you can't over feed them when young because they will just shed their shell quicker here's a pic of my cray and tank... Oh and one last thing getting a cray was the best thing I ever did it makes your tank interesting for everyone even those who aren't interested by fish tanks

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View attachment 59157

One last thing if you have any interest in breeding them in the future get two now as this is the only thing I regret mine got used to his own space and just rips the female apart when I have tried

No, you said that you had the setup with the cray in it for 6 months. It's right there bolded, italicized, and in red. I can read just fine, thanks.

I've kept several blue crays over several years, and I am keeping and breeding CPOs... so YES, I have experience with crays, and I'd wager to say I have quite a bit more experience with them than you do. Your argument is based on a logical fallacy- it hasn't eaten fish in a few months, therefore it WON'T eat fish. Sorry, but that assumption isn't based in reality.

 

[...joey...]

Would you get rid of your cray for anything??? And just to let you know mine is a electric blue lobster totally different species than a blue lobster! and if you read my golden pleco is not listed! Hence I have had the set up with all fish including him 10 months

 

[severum mama]

No, because in the case of the blue crays I had done enough research beforehand to stock them appropriately- in tanks by themselves. In the case of the CPOs, I have kept them with smaller fish, but moved them to their own tank after they started breeding.

Neither the "electric blue lobster" or the "blue lobster" is a suitable resident for a community tank. You'll likely run into problems eventually, regardless of the species you have.

How in the world was I supposed to know how long you have had your tank and golden pleco when the ONLY information you gave about how long you have had the cray with your fish, is the 6 months that I bolded and italicized above?

Look, I'm not interested in arguing with you, but I am interested in the quality of information that is available to the members of this site. You are recommending crayfish for a community setup that are incompatible with community fish. If you want to chance it with your own setup, that's fine; but it isn't good advice in any way, shape or form.

 

[HN1]

No! Earlier I said I have had all them fish in with it for six months as I got my pleco 6 months ago! Can you read okay??? Maybe enlarge your text. Have you got a crayfish because you obviously do not know anything about them! My cray sits in it's cave with fish all round it even in between it's pincers and still nothing! Is that not a big enough opportunity???!!!

For someone new to this site you really come off rude and juvenile. Add to that terrible advice and that equals the ignore list. Thanks for making it so easy.