new here-need crayfish food suggestions

[shalori]

Hello everyone

I keep tons of crayfish. There's 4 55 gal tanks, a 100 gal pond, and a ~40 gal rubbermaid tub. We use them for the students in the school district (no kill, just examination, and comparing them to another critter). I've tried different foods, but haven't settled on anything cost effective. I have had the most success with elodea, but they eat through $80 worth in 4days-2 weeks. My budget can't accomodate that constant drain of money. I have used produce, like peas, potatoes, and kale, but the terrestrial food source begins to rot and foul the water pretty quickly.

I was told to look for a sinking pelleted food with a protein level of less than 20%, but I've been searching all morning for something that meets that requirement, sinks, is large enough that I don't have to worry that it'll slip down into cracks where the crayfish can't reach it and foul the water (I litter the bottom of the tanks/pond with PVC pipes cut into small sections, and oyster shells to provide hiding spots from each other), and haven't had alot of success.

I stumbled across this forum and noticed some members here keep crays, so I thought I'd see what everyone feeds here.

Thanks

 

[phin]

I have a crayfish in my office. I drop in 1 or 2 O.S.I Shrimp pellets each day.

 

[jmay33]

For my crayfish, I have always fed feeder fish. Rosy red minnows are what i suggest. They're much cleaner than the small goldfish. Every couple of weeks I would go pick some up at the lfs. A lot of people argue that buying feeder fish brings diseases in. Since you're in education, you may consider breeding feeder fish. I also give algae wafers once a week. It's a good balance of protein and roughage. Plus, rosy red minnows are only $.13 a piece. I also put some ghost shrimp in from time to time. For some reason, there are certain ones that are always left alone. It's a pretty cool addition and they help clean your tank.

 

[phin]

I keep ghost shrimp with my cray from time to time. They seem to disappear over long weekends.

 

[jmay33]

I keep ghost shrimp with my cray from time to time. They seem to disappear over long weekends.

It's funny how that happens. I had a single electric blue cray in 30 gallons. I would buy 15-20 rosy reds at a time and put them in there. If I went out of town for the weekend and came back, they'd be gone.

Edit: I forgot to say that they would last a month if I didn't travel. Lol.

 

[phin]

It's funny how that happens. I had a single electric blue cray in 30 gallons. I would buy 15-20 rosy reds at a time and put them in there. If I went out of town for the weekend and came back, they'd be gone.

Edit: I forgot to say that they would last a month if I didn't travel. Lol.

weird..

 

[jmay33]

weird..

Yep. And there was no dead fish in the tank or anything, so i'm positive he was eating them.

 

[Boogety48]

I give my minnows, algae tabs, peas, a little fish flakes (so the minnows can get a little to eat) and shrimp pellets. I guess I'm doing something right, one of mine turns a year old in a couple months.

 

[jmay33]

I give my minnows, algae tabs, peas, a little fish flakes (so the minnows can get a little to eat) and shrimp pellets. I guess I'm doing something right, one of mine turns a year old in a couple months.

+1 exactly what I've always done. this thread has made me miss my crawfish! Thinking about getting back into it.

 

[shalori]

sorry it's taken some time to update

Hi guys,

thanks so much for the info. I should've updated you on my progress sooner.

On your advice, I purchased some algae wafers, some shrimp pellets, and some Ken's veggie sticks with calcium. And I'm just alternating them, as well as providing some elodea. I'm hoping that this will at least slow them from mowing down all of the elodea. I'm still having some problem with keeping the water as clean as it is with feeding straight elodea. They also reproduce like crazy now days, so was a little worried that the babies would get enough to eat if i went with all feeder fish/shrimp...

So I was considering the need for a cleaning crew, but am having struggling to figure out what I can put in there that won't end up just becoming lunch.

Thanks again for all of the advice (I'm loving all these little smileys heehee)

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

I feed mine aqueon bottom feeder tablets they love it!