New mexican dwarf crayfish

[katw1986]

Hey guys, I have never owned fish before or anything like that so this is all new to me. I'm getting mixed advice from pet store so I just want to make sure I'm doing everything right.

My son got 2 mexican dwarf crayfish. I have no idea what gender they are. We have a 5 gallon tank as the pet store said that was okay for 2, but I'm reading online that I should've probably gotten a bigger tank.

I am reading that they need a lot of hiding spaces so I'll attach pics and I'm curious if this is enough or do they need more. They have gotten in eachothers faces a couple times but nothing crazy. One of them is constantly roaming around, and the other one keep hiding under a rock.

For feeding, I split up one wafer and put one half on one side and one on the other side. I'm trying to suck up any uneaten food from the tank but I'm finding it impossible.

For water changes I'm reading about 20 per cent weekly?

For filter I have a hang on the back one with a cartridge in it and I've been told to change it out monthly. I've been told I DONT need an air pump as long as I have a filter that moves the water

I tested the water and everything seems good.

The biggest thing I'm worried about is them escaping, as I've read they are great escape artist's. The lid is plastic. The only tiny holes I have at top is for heater cord and light cord. Can you look at the pics and let me know if I need to make any changes? I'm mostly worried about them climbing to the top of the rock and somehow getting up the heater

Thanks everyone! #clueless

 

[ADsnail]

Hi, Congratulations on your new crayfish.

5 gal is definitely too small for two. In fact, 10 gal or bigger is best for one. So a 20g would be okay for both, but really it would be best to have them in separate tanks: a 10g for each, or at the very least a 10g for the active one while leaving the other in your 5g. The reason for this is that they fight, to the death eventually (winner eats the loser). That's why one of yours is hiding. It sounds like they may be quite young, so maybe no deathly battles yet, but they are already setting up the lines of defense.

They do like hidey-holes and they also love sand, to bury themselves and also to dig. This is a favorite activity, so sand instead of gravel will make them happy. If you choose to keep one in your 5g with the gravel, adding sand on that would be the easy way to accommodate this.

They are definitely climbers and like to explore. If they're still babies and are small enough to fit through those holes at the top I'd recommend stuffing something in there (even paper towel) to make the holes smaller.

The general rule of food for them is to leave it until they eat it. They like rotting things, so no need to clear it out if it doesn't disappear right away. If cleaning time (once a week preferably) comes around and it's still laying there, go ahead clean it out just to do a good cleaning job. I don't put down food until they've eaten what's there (it means they're not hungry) or I've cleaned up at the end of the week.

Hunger fluctuates; in a growth stage they'll eat a lot, other times very little. If it's something they love, like raw or cooked shrimp, they'll grab and drag it back into their favorite hiding place, bury it, nibble at it and let it rot for even more of a treat. Don't worry about getting the rotten bits out of their deep hiding holes; you'll never find it and you'll sustain some nasty claw attacks as they fight you off. Just let them have their rotten treats

When they go through a molt (leave behind the old exoskeleton and emerge bigger, and weak for a few days) they are ravenous. They even eat the old exoskeleton, so leave it there as it's an excellent source of nutrients.

I have several. None have air pumps. I'll be glad to answer more questions. Also, click on my picture to find more posts about crays - I've answered a lot of questions for other owners and you'll find lots of info about what to feed them, molting time, and more. Hope this helps.

 

[katw1986]

Thank you for your reply! We've decided to split them up

What kind of filter do you have? I have a HOB one that came with the tank, and it's getting close to amount a month now. I've been told to change the cartridge monthly. But I've also read that charcoal cartridges aren't the best and sponge filters are better?

Thoughts?

Thanks!!

 

[ADsnail]

Everyone has their favorite. I use what came with the tanks. The cartridge has good bacteria that helps maintain a healthy environment, so I rinse it out during water changes (pour new water over it at the sink and squeeze it out with fingers) then put it back in. I don't replace cartridges until they start looking ragged, which for me is approx once a year. When I do introduce a new cartridge I take the old one, uncleaned, and rub it against the new one to transfer some bacteria. In one tank I have room for two cartridges, so I put the new one in against the old one for a month, then remove the old one once I figure plenty of good microbes have established on the new one. Others probably have different methods, but this has worked for me for many years.

There's a lot I'd like to say about food (fresh veg, shrimp, Hikari Crab Cuisine), plants (they will eat every living thing so don't waste your money), friends (think twice before you buy him a snail for a friend - you might as well name it Dinner because that's all your crayfish sees) and also habits (digging, rearranging their decor, burrowing) but I've said it all in previous posts. If you go to my profile and look up the ones with "crawfish" or "crayfish" in the title, there's a lot of detailed info about them.

For example, you may wake up one morning and find that everything in the tank has been upended and moved around to the point where you actually catch him using one thing, like driftwood, as a tool to pry up a heavier thing, like a rock, and catapult it to the other end of the tank. If you put it all back where you so carefully placed it originally you will have one monumentally PO'd crayfish, who will then redouble his efforts to put it all back where HE wants it to be. They are great fun and endlessly inventive.