Blue Crayfish Questions

[DrNic]

A friend of mine is moving and wants to clear out her tank before she goes. She's offered me a nice looking light blue crayfish but I've never kept one before and have some questions.

What types of fish should I avoid putting the crayfish with? Would it be compatible with a tank stocked with comets, corys, syno cats and a pleco? What about a tank with barbs?

Will shrimp/algae pellets be sufficient food?
Will the crayfish rip up plants in the tank?

Thanks for the help!

[Red]

Crayfish will tear up plants
Tankmates, any fish you would not care if the next day you couldnt find it. So cheap fish like danios, and fast movingg.
Wafers and pellets would be good.

[jaysee]

It will easily catch the comets and will harass the corys and other bottom dwellers. I have always kept crayfish with barbs and had great success, no matter the species.

Crayfish are aquatic bulldozers and will destroy plants.

Mine get NLS, like every other fish.

[DrNic]

Glad to hear that barbs might be good tankmakes.

How are the crayfish with plants that are attached to driftwood like java ferns and anubius? Will they still tear them up?

[DrNic]

Also, can crayfish be kept in a small 2-5G tank? Even if it's just a backup in case of problems?

[Tango]

How large is it? If it is still young, you can keep it in something that small. But when it gets larger then you will need to move it to a bigger tank.

I am not sure about plants that are stuck on driftwood, but my guess is it probably would rip them off. They have a tendency to rearrange everything in the tank.

I thought that if a crayfish was placed with fish it would eat them all. What makes barbs successfull? (Asking for my own curiosity).

[jaysee]

They really ought to have AT LEAST 20 gallons, if not 29. I've kept crays with tiger, gold, cherry and longfin rosy barbs. I wouldn't suggest long finned fish, but mine were fine. These all weren't with the same crayfish, either.

I mean, if you had to put it in a 5 in an emergency that's one thing, but if you were interesting in keeping one in a tank that small I would suggest a dwarf crayfish.

I don't know about they plants on driftwood....I would expect it to pull them off though.

Barbs are good tankmates for crays because of the way they sleep, most importantly. Crayfish hunt at night while other fish sleep. Anything that sleeps near the bottom is in serious danger. Even if the cray never actually catches it, the stress from always being hunted is not good for the fish's health. Barbs sleep higher in the water out of the crays reach. Also, the swimming style makes it hard for them to be caught, because they are so agile and constantly turning direction and looking around. Their tenacious attitude also makes them good tankmates - They are in no way afraid of the cray.

Of course, if you put a bunch of fish in a 10 gallon tank with a crayfish, a SIGNIFICANTLY higher percentage of the tank is within the crays reach so you should expect some losses. But in a 29 gallon tank there should be next to no predation.

[Tango]

That makes sense. Thank you. I've never kept barbs (not compatible with my tank inhabitants.)

Do you think Cichlids would also work as tank mates, or do they sleep near the bottom?