Crayfish for 20-gallon coldwater tank

[mermaidwannabe]

Which species of crayfish stay small enough to thrive in a 20-gallon high coldwater tank? What do they eat? And are they compatible with minnows and a dojo?

[Sasquatch]

Crayfish are not compatible with fish ... of any kind.

There are species of dwarf crayfish out there, you just have to find them. Don't be afraid to ask your LFS if he can special order them.

[mermaidwannabe]

What is the difference between crayfish and crawdads? Are crawdads less temperamental or predatory? Do they come in a dwarf variety, as well -- or are crays and craws one and the same, just different names depending on where one lives?

[SmokeyCFH]

they're the same thing. I've had many crawdad over the years, i'm not a fan plus they're great escape artists! Most people around here in california that I know have a hard time keeping them. I kept a few for a year or so but then ended up getting eaten by my old bala shark, he loved the tails! haha they have blue, orange and snow white crawdad but from what i've seen around here they're around 20-30 dollars a piece, not worth it in my opinion. I did get lucky with one crawdad and he ended up changing blue for some reason, I never understood why or got a clear answer on why that was. And I would agree with sasquatch, don't be afraid to ask your LFS any question's you may have...depending on the place they can be very knowledgable!

[UncleWillie]

Smokey is right. Crawdads, crayfish, crawfish, mudbugs are all the same, it just depends on local lingo and how you were raised. (Typically, when you cook crayfish, they become crawfish.)

Generally, you will hear that 10 gallons per crayfish is a good number. But if you have a 20G tall, you still only have the footprint of a 10 gallon tank. So I would stick with only one crayfish. The good thing about your tall tank is that they high glass will hopefully discourage escaping, but as mentioned in nearly all crayfish threads - you need to have the entire tank covered.

I have kept all my crayfish (except a pair that I tried to breed) with other fish. But remember that they need to be fast, and relatively large fish compared to the cray. The high tank will also help with this. You will not want slow-moving fish or fish with large fins, or they will become snacks. I have also noticed (IME, with the species of crays I've kept), tend to be less aggressive towards fish if fed a diet based more on plants material vs. animal. They tend to be more peaceful, healthier and more active if feed algae wafers instead of carnivore pellets, etc.

All my crays have been locally caught, and they adjust well. Just do very slow acclimation processes. They will likely molt in the week following being put into the tank or after very large water changes. Give them space, let them hide, and give them plenty of healthy foods. Good luck with your mudbug.

[SmokeyCFH]

Uncle willie, can you possible explain why I had a typical red crawdad molt then turn blue? I was under the impression that blue crawdad were that color due to genetics, thanks and great advice!

[mermaidwannabe]

Hmmm, with minnows and some slow-moving bottom feeders, best NOT to introduce a crayfish. Maybe I'll try freshwater clams, instead. Heading for the cyber research room ....

Thanks for taking the time to explain so much. I'm learning a lot in this forum.


--mermaidwannabe

[UncleWillie]

Smokey, cray color can be influenced by a number of things. If you have a genetically 'blue' crayfish it will remain blue for its lifetime. However, it seems your fish (most likely Procambarus clarkii) is red, but has potential to have blue coloration (just like P. alleni) and can be exploited. Your cray's color change is likely due to the environment (lighting, substrate color, water quality) rather than genetics. If you think about it, your bright substrate or light and water quality is very different than the swamps and ditches some of these crays live in. So this is not uncommon for the crayfish to try to adapt to its surroundings.

A brief aside... Summer of 2009 I was part of a crayfish survey in the Eastern TN and Western NC. We found the one species of cray to be a brown-orange in the ridge and valley regions, and the SAME species in the headwater stream of the mountains exhibited a beautiful aqua, and blue-green colors. This was likely to the high oxygen content in the mountain streams with gray colored rocks and substrate. The ridge and valley regions had more direct sunlight, and had a large iron content in the water.

[UncleWillie]

Hmmm, with minnows and some slow-moving bottom feeders, best NOT to introduce a crayfish. Maybe I'll try freshwater clams, instead. Heading for the cyber research room ....

Thanks for taking the time to explain so much. I'm learning a lot in this forum.


--mermaidwannabe
You should look into the dwarf cajun crayfish (Cambarellus shufeldtii). These guys are very peaceful, stay small and tend to not harm plants that most crays do. They are not sold many places, but can be found easily by hobbyists.

[SmokeyCFH]

wow man thanks a lot! I had two small crawdad in a tank with blue gravel and a flourecent light, after molting one turned blue the other stayed the same. Thanks for information, I learned something new!