My crayfish tank setup. (HELP QUICK)

[WhiteDevil]

Side fin makes them swim circles.

Possibly.

[gzeiger]

Crayfish are really not hunters, they are scavengers. I don't feed them live, because they aren't really adapted to catch it. You just occasionally have overnight disappearances of sleeping fish.

I think you'd enjoy it equally much if you just fed them a scrap of beef liver from the store.

3 crawdads in a 10 gallon tank is going to be a tight squeeze eventually. You want to make sure they have enough space and hiding places that when one molts it doesn't get killed by the others. The new shell is very soft and can be torn by careless handling, let alone territorial encounters with enemy claws. You can manage it in a tank that size, but you'll need to build up some structure with rocks and/or driftwood. The more hidey-holes the better. One good way to do this is stop by Lowes or Home Depot or similar and buy some landscaping bricks from the garden section. These are running about 32 cents apiece right now. You want the red terra cotta ones with the big holes (cement bricks can leach chemicals, and the holes are the whole point). I found 3 adults in a 29 gallon to be about right or maybe slightly overpopulated, as there were occasional skirmishes for territory which were fun to watch, but nobody ever got hurt.

[WhiteDevil]

I was meaning feed fish not the craws.


Cant just put stones into tanks without testing them, it might not hurt the craws but the fish its fed to might get hurt.

Take a bottle of PH down with you, put a drop on a rock, if it bubbles( it will bubble instantly like baking soda and vinegar does just alot smaller scale) if it bubbles, dont bother, its no good for the tank water. You want healthy feed you gotta treat them like pets.

[gzeiger]

If he got the crays from a creek he can get the rocks from the creek.

[WhiteDevil]

Thats not being disputed, im saying for the health of his fish since they are captive and have been captive for quite some time, by the time the crays are ready to be fed to his fish their systems will be cleaned out of the crud in the creek and rocks.

He still has to clean and test the rocks before he puts em in the tank, those rocks harbor alot of bacteria and larvae that his captives wont be used to and can kill his captives off if they hitch on a craw or feed fish and get into his captive tank. Most wont be harmful but it can be.

Im more concerned with what is going to be introduced to that 55 if he gets water bed rocks and just tossed em in with the feeder tank.

[fishlover9000]

Originally Posted by WhiteDevil

Thats not being disputed, im saying for the health of his fish since they are captive and have been captive for quite some time, by the time the crays are ready to be fed to his fish their systems will be cleaned out of the crud in the creek and rocks.

He still has to clean and test the rocks before he puts em in the tank, those rocks harbor alot of bacteria and larvae that his captives wont be used to and can kill his captives off if they hitch on a craw or feed fish and get into his captive tank. Most wont be harmful but it can be.

Im more concerned with what is going to be introduced to that 55 if he gets water bed rocks and just tossed em in with the feeder tank.

i kinda wana keep the crays! they are awesome!

[WhiteDevil]

dont take food from your fish!!!!

[fishlover9000]

i will find the time today to get minnows these crays are awesome!

[ezy33]

The female crawfish lays eggs which become fertilized and attach to her swimmerets under her tail. The average crawfish produces about 300-400 eggs which take about 2-4 weeks to hatch (depending on the type of crawfish). After 2 weeks, young crawfish leave the mother to be on their own. Taken from Kyle LeBlanc Crawfish Farms - crawdads.net - Louisiana Crawfish and Seafood Shipped to Door/Airport

[fishlover9000]

Thanks! Great info!

[gzeiger]

I must have missed the part where he was going to feed these to his fish. As far as hitchhikers, you can boil your rocks. That's generally advisable anyway. You shouldn't be getting anything terribly chemically reactive if you take it from a stream bed though.

[WhiteDevil]

Originally Posted by gzeiger

I must have missed the part where he was going to feed these to his fish. As far as hitchhikers, you can boil your rocks. That's generally advisable anyway. You shouldn't be getting anything terribly chemically reactive if you take it from a stream bed though.

Actually that all depends on his demographics, the midwest is loaded with limestone, pretty much all we really got under our feet unless you go to a materials dump or a quarry. This is just speaking from my area and what Ive been dealing with.

The Fox river is my backyard in northeastern illinois

[fishlover9000]

Originally Posted by WhiteDevil

Actually that all depends on his demographics, the midwest is loaded with limestone, pretty much all we really got under our feet unless you go to a materials dump or a quarry. This is just speaking from my area and what Ive been dealing with.

The Fox river is my backyard in northeastern illinois

i changed my mind im not feeding them to my fish.. i got some minnows for that.

[WhiteDevil]

Ok, thats up to you. I just try and keep the foods as natural as possible with captive game fish. I had a fry LM I got in a dip net a few years ago, he was 4 pounds when we re-released him under control of the IDNR back to the river.

They grow so fast with the right foods.

But we were talking about your rocks and how to clean them. if your craw tank is a creek tank, then go grab some and toss em in.

[fishlover9000]

Originally Posted by WhiteDevil

Ok, thats up to you. I just try and keep the foods as natural as possible with captive game fish. I had a fry LM I got in a dip net a few years ago, he was 4 pounds when we re-released him under control of the IDNR back to the river.

They grow so fast with the right foods.

But we were talking about your rocks and how to clean them. if your craw tank is a creek tank, then go grab some and toss em in.

i will laterm, it is about a hour walk soo... i dont like carrying heavy things for miles.

[gzeiger]

I really think terra cotta bricks are the way to go for that. They give you much better structure and more hiding places for the weight and size.