Crayfish Information Please

[Dandee]

I have done some searching on the net but I find so much information conflicting from site to site.

Hubby wanted to add a crayfish to our 125 gallon aquarium. I would like to do that for him (since it is basically the only interest he has shown in the aquariums) but I don't know anything about crayfish.

Are they easy to look after? What do they eat? Will I have an issue with them getting their food before the fish do (if they have to be fed something different)? Do they get along well with most fish? We have Bala Sharks, Tinfoil Barbs, Tiger & Green Barbs, a Pleco, and nerite snails in that aquarium.


Any help or advice with crayfish would be appreciated.

[Brhino]

Unfortunately Crayfish are pretty hard to find tankmates for. Anything small enough is potential food for your crayfish, including your snails. Anything large enough may attack the crayfish when he's molting.

[rageybug]

If you can get the right tankmates, crayfish are pretty easy to feed. They will scavenge for leftover food and detritus as well as clean up algae in the tank. They need a deep substrate to burrow in and some caves to hide in. When they molt (shed their shell) they will need to hide while their new shell hardens. Only keep one in your tank as they can be aggressive towards eachother.

If you have any rocky creeks or rivers near your home, you should be able to catch your own crayfish. Check your local laws about this first but it is way cheaper than LFS prices.

[Northernguy]

Crayfish also eat fish! They get them while they are resting near the bottom at night.
They tear plants up.Other than that they are really cool to own.lol
They are great scavengers.

[Irish2539]

Ye crayfishes are great! very easy to keep in a tank by himself.. as said b4 a bit tricky when it comes to finding tankmates. Dont even bother putting in plants,,, they love redecorating the tank. Id suggest getting floating plants.
PS. They love munching on MTS..

[Dandee]

Thank you everyone for your replies. Guess we will put off a crayfish for now as four aquariums is enough to look after at the moment.

[annageckos]

I just set up a ten gallon for a blue crayfish. I have white clouds in there at the moment. I had to relocate my nirite snail because the crayfish wouldn't let it leave it's cave. It tore up all the plants and even ate some of my anubias. It also digs under the rocks. A ten gallon is fine for most species and they are very easy to take care of in a species only tank. There are two main types commonly found, one is from North America and is cold water, the other is from Australia and needs a heated tank.

[troy]

There are dwarf crayfish as well . http://cpo-crayfish.blogspot.com/