Crayfish

[redsea]

Hi everyone, I just had a few questions about Crayfish.

I have a 20g high tank, but Crayfish will eat other fish, so that means that they need a species tank, right?

What would be the minimum size tank for a few Crayfish?
Could a few even get along together, or would they fight?
Lastly, has anyone bred any type of Crayfish? If so, what do the babies eat?

Thanks!

 

[Darkseid76]

I owned one of these when I was a kid. I thought how cool to own a mini-lobster in my tank!! Well he was nothing but trouble!!

I had a rock set up as a cave and the crayfish would have daily battles with my catfish over the cave. So they do appreciate a hiding spot. Also I never observed him preying on my fish but I did see him attack sick fish. He also used to uproot my live plants and eat the roots. I believe it was Cambomba, not sure but it was annoying to wake up in the morning and see my plants chewed up and floating every few days.

In my opinion they are very cool but just be mindful of his tankmates and decor choices. He was very active and not a picky eater in the least. He molted very quickly and actually grew pretty large,maybe 5 or 6 inches. That's including his claws by the way.

As far as company I'm not sure as I only kept one and I owned a ten gallon at the time. Also I can't offer any advice as to breeding. I had a community tank and I kept the water neutral, about 78 degrees, and slightly hard.

 

[Aquatopia]

I found if they have an exclusive hiding spot not shared with loaches or catfish and you keep them fed with shrimp pellets they are not eating your fish. That said, I have only one per tank and most of the fish are as big or bigger than the crawdad. I have seen one of my blue lobsters eat a sick fish. Oh, and if you treat your tank for ick, make sure you take the crawfish out of that tank.

 

[siva]

You could add some dwarf crays like CPO's or cambarellus shufeldtii. The minimum size tank for these crays is around 5 gals, and they will get along fine (a little sparring is normal but no biggie). I am breeding both of these, and the babies eat everything. Flake, pellets, wafers, frozen foods, you name it. These are generally considered fish safe, and I've never lost a fish to one, but of course it's still possible. These crays are very small, 1.5" - 2.5" with small pincers to match, so they do not at all pose as big of a threat as larger crays, like for instance the "electric blue" which I keep in a cray only tank.

 

[redsea]

Thanks everyone for the input! I am going to look into those Dwarf Crays now.

 

[Aquatopia]

I'm going to look into the dwarf crays as well - thanks

 

[siva]

My pleasure! FYI the "CPO" is actually Cambarellus Patzcuarensis but they are usually referred to as either "CPO" or "dwarf patz".

 

[Aquatopia]

and I thought it stood for "Crayfish, Puny & Orange"