Electric Blue Crayfish

[Pseudomugil]

I really like electric blue crayfish, and I'd be interested in getting one, but I'm afraid it would kill everything in my tanks. My options of where to put it are:

- a 56 gallon full of fish, plants, shrimp, and snails (no way )

- a semi aquatic 20 gallon tank with red claw crabs; it has lots of water

- a 10 gallon tank with 1 Kenya cichlid left over from my cichlid tank; this tank may be taken down soon though

Where would be the best option if any tanks are an option at all?

 

[GreenGo]

I had to look up the recommended tank size, but according to the link at the end of this post 10 gal is the smallest per 6-7 inch cray.

So, all your tanks are able to hold a crayfish. However, I agree that the 56 gal isn't an option due to the plants (crayfish WILL uproot, redecorate, and essentially drive you crazy in a planted aquarium. However, the fish and shrimp might be okay with them but I still wouldn't risk it )

The 20 gal isn't an option as both crabs and crays "need" a species tank even if you could get by in a community. However, the better reason is that RCC need a brackish water (~1.008-1.012 specific gravity) tank to survive long-term, though some have reported success in a purely freshwater aquarium. These crabs usually only last around six months in pure FW though.
*crays are FW, therefore incompatible with RCC

The 10 gal is your best bet for the cray, though be sure it doesn't have the cichlid. I had a blue (electric?) cichlid once and EVERYTHING we put in its tank was food except the fish it grew up with. My parents bought that tank used, else we never would've had him.

To be fair, though, it's more enjoyable to see an animal move around its tank, so I really wouldn't keep it in anything under a 20 Long with fast moving surface fish such as guppies, and the guppies breed prolifically (they're called the millions fish for very good reason) and may feed the cray on occasion (if you don't mind the natural life cycles being played out in your tank). just feed vegetable matter (blanched zucchini, cucumber, kale, romaine lettuce, etc, just stay away from iceberg lettuce because it has no nutritional value) and it'll be entertaining to watch the cray eat the veggies whilst the guppies dart in for a bite while trying not to get eaten

~GreenGo, future Aquarium Population Ecologist with an emphasis in Sustainability and a preference for crustaceans (FW crabs and shrimps; crays are illegal in AZ, but that's how I came upon crabs which IMO are much more interesting)

http://bluecrayfish.com/north_american_crayfish_care_she.htm

Keep us posted!

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[Pseudomugil]

I'm not totally sure if this is possible, but what if I got one for the 56 gallon and just put rubber bands on its claws like they do with lobsters at grocery stores?

My only problems would be:
1. If the rubber does something to the water
2. If the rubber bands break/something eats the rubber
3. How would it eat?
4. Is it even possible?

 

[ImACoolguy]

I used plain rubber bands on Java ferns for a while no issues.

The issue here is crayfish are opportunistic and will probably try to take down a fish given the chance.


Caleb

 

[Nils]

I'm not totally sure if this is possible, but what if I got one for the 56 gallon and just put rubber bands on its claws like they do with lobsters at grocery stores?

My only problems would be:
1. If the rubber does something to the water
2. If the rubber bands break/something eats the rubber
3. How would it eat?
4. Is it even possible?

I would just rehome the Kenya cichlid and put the cray in there. Rubber banding it's claws shut will hinder it's eating abilities. Plus, he would be defenseless to any fish that came to hurt it.

 

[GreenGo]

I'm not totally sure if this is possible, but what if I got one for the 56 gallon and just put rubber bands on its claws like they do with lobsters at grocery stores?

My only problems would be:
1. If the rubber does something to the water
2. If the rubber bands break/something eats the rubber
3. How would it eat?
4. Is it even possible?

I would just rehome the Kenya cichlid and put the cray in there. Rubber banding it's claws shut will hinder it's eating abilities. Plus, he would be defenseless to any fish that came to hurt it.

+1

The primary reason grocery stores rubber band lobster's claws (which I disagree with) is so they don't eat each other due to being too stocked. There may be other reasons, such as not wanting their employees to get pinched, but that would be easily preventable with some basic instructions on how to grab and hold the lobster.

As Nils said, they'd have difficulty eating and they'd be defenseless, especially during their most vulnerable time -- during molts. I'm not sure if it'd interfere with the molting process, but if it were to molt with the rubber bands it may eat them ( ) and you'd have to replace the bands since their claws would be free until they were replaced. This could lead to unwanted missing fish or, as previously mentioned, redecoration of the tank.

The last reason this is a VERY bad idea, even though they wouldn't have use of their claws, in a planted tank is for the same reason you don't want a common pleco in a tank with plants -- it's not agile, so any plants it walked through would be uprooted anyhow.

Again, as Nils said, if you can't afford a NEW 20L (since you can't be sure there weren't any copper medicines used in a used tank and copper kills inverts), just get one when you rehome the cichlid since you mentioned it would likely be torn down soon, but instead of tearing down the tank just replace it with the cray.



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[Pseudomugil]

So I ended up going with the ten gallon. I got a small cray that is about 2 inches long, and he and the little cichlid for the most part keep away from each other. I am probably going to rehome the cichlid today though anyway.

Is it possible to put an orange crayfish of the same size in with him if I provide lots of hiding places?

 

[Pseudomugil]

Anyone?

 

[ImACoolguy]

From my understanding crays will fight each other. But species greatly varies how much eat cray needs. A 10g is a small space. Might work might not.


Caleb

 

[Fresh2o]

The problem with crayfish is when it comes to molting time. IMO there needs to be numerous hiding spots to keep the newly molted crayfish safe.


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[Pseudomugil]

From my understanding crays will fight each other. But species greatly varies how much eat cray needs. A 10g is a small space. Might work might not.


Caleb

The 2 crays are the same species if that helps. They are procambaus alleni (blue) and procambarus alleni sp. orange.

The tank has lots of rocks, caves, tubes, and different hiding spots and I can add more if I have to.

 

[Autumnsky]

Too small a space for 2 imho. No rubber bands are needed. Keeping an animal, the cray, is best done when they can live a life as similar as possible as what they might if they were wild. I think a 40G breeder tank would be great for them. They will try to eat each other and usually it would be after a molt. With a larger tank, they would have their own territory and sometimes venture out.

Pay attention to their food. They will need minerals in their diet so they can molt properly. What is your pH, acidic water can mean you might want to add some minerals back into their water. They do well in harder water.

You can buy shrimp or crab food of good quality and make sure to feed it to them on a regular basis say every few days, as a supplement to their other varied diet.

You can also add a Cuttlebone just to make sure he has the ability to eat some extra calcium if he feels he needs it.

Make sure to have a couple good solid caves. So if it gets bumped it doesn't crush him. If startled they will jet backwards pretty fast and can knock into things. I would have some stems in the tank just knowing he will trim and redecorate as he feels it should be, to make it homey lol.

They are great pets and get lots of attention from visitors, a highlight of the tank. Petco is having their dollar per gallon sale btw.

 

[Pseudomugil]

Too small a space for 2 imho. No rubber bands are needed. Keeping an animal, the cray, is best done when they can live a life as similar as possible as what they might if they were wild. I think a 40G breeder tank would be great for them. They will try to eat each other and usually it would be after a molt. With a larger tank, they would have their own territory and sometimes venture out.

Pay attention to their food. They will need minerals in their diet so they can molt properly. What is your pH, acidic water can mean you might want to add some minerals back into their water. They do well in harder water.

You can buy shrimp or crab food of good quality and make sure to feed it to them on a regular basis say every few days, as a supplement to their other varied diet.

You can also add a Cuttlebone just to make sure he has the ability to eat some extra calcium if he feels he needs it.

Make sure to have a couple good solid caves. So if it gets bumped it doesn't crush him. If startled they will jet backwards pretty fast and can knock into things. I would have some stems in the tank just knowing he will trim and redecorate as he feels it should be, to make it homey lol.

They are great pets and get lots of attention from visitors, a highlight of the tank. Petco is having their dollar per gallon sale btw.

Thanks for the very detailed response. I feed him (I think) a fairly varied diet of shrimp pellets, cobalt fish flakes, blood worms, and algae tablets. Is that enough?

I certainly don't believe everything I see on the Internet but there are videos and pictures online of multiple crayfish living together in small tanks. And the very store where I got my crayfish had others with it as well as many orange and white crays.

 

[Autumnsky]

Thanks for the very detailed response. I feed him (I think) a fairly varied diet of shrimp pellets, cobalt fish flakes, blood worms, and algae tablets. Is that enough?

I certainly don't believe everything I see on the Internet but there are videos and pictures online of multiple crayfish living together in small tanks. And the very store where I got my crayfish had others with it as well as many orange and white crays.

I would add the Hikari Crab Cuisine or pellets/food made to feed shrimp, not necessarily pellets made out of shrimp meat (which is a varied food and ok occassionally.

As for lfs, they can lose a Cray in the holding tanks and not be too worried. And sell multiples to customers and if they live together for awhile then fine and when one ends up missing because it was killed, then the customer might just go back and get another one.

Also as an aside, are all those Crays in the small tanks, been in there for years with no problems, or weeks or months? When they are young they may be able to get along, but the bottom line is they are scavengers and will take advantage of opportunities for food, like a molting cohabitator.

You can't say oh he is just a nice cray - if they snap their claw at a fish and catch it and kill and eat it they are being a Crayfish. We can't just say oh he's nice and wouldn't do that. He is a predator, he doesn't care its his brother Cray, or "friend" Tetra fish.

Just sayin!

I had a friend and gave her a Cray for her bday and he was a very nice guy - though lived in a 55G and there were good selection of tank mates Big and fast fish lots of room, and not fish which like to sleep on the bottom of the tank at night...He lived for several year in his corner domain. Seemingly very happy.

But I know they will kill each other in close quarters.

 

[joeychizzle]

I had a blue cray once.
It turned my tank into a vegetarian milkshake.
It also ate my red cherries, snails, guppies and betta.

Keep crays by themselves in a tank with fake plants. Anything else and it's going to be a struggle.