hey guys, i have a 20 g tank and im planning on stocking it with an electric blue lobster. i was wondering what else i can stock with him. the only fish i have in there now is a red tailed shark. would mollies or platys work well?

Unfortunatly. due to the agressive nature of blue lobsters any fish you stock with it will eventually wind up as food. I'd recommend that if you truly plan to keep a blue lobster then buy a standard 10gallon tank and keep it in that solitary as they can grow upwards of 1ft.

agreed

I've heard of some people successfully keeping lobsters with fish however lobsters will always be predatory critters by nature and there isn't anything you can really do to change that, so fish in lobster aquariums will never be 100% safe from the lobster (i've read a lot of stories from members on the forum to prove this), so most people advise to keep such critters alone (which i agree with), as stunningly beautiful as they are.

I have a Electric Blue (though I call it a Redclaw Crayfish) in with Tiger Barbs and Tetras. No missing fish yet and he doesnt even try to chase them. It may be a personality issue, maybe you could give it a try and if he chases them move him to another tank.

10G seems a little small to me. Stick with your 20.

They are superb to watch and feed. Mine has taken to Salmon, Steak, Flakes, Bloodworm and even Rice!



This post has been edited by OscarWilde: Feb 1 2008, 09:10 AM

if this is the critter i think it is, no way this "electric Blue" lobster is more often than not Procamberus alleni
http://www.fishforums.net/content/forum/12...t-Blue-Lobster/
whilst SH and i do not agree on most things Crayfish lol, i'm with him on this one. quite apart from anything else, its a cool/cold water critter, not suited to tropical temperatures. however these guys are not carnivores, and as such not natural preditors, but need a mainly veg based diet.


just so, providing it is an Procamberus alleni, if its a Redclaw 20ukg would be the minimum tank size.


lol


yep, if there is a chance of keeping a Cray in a community this is the Crayfish to go for. but it is far from simple, and has been covered, by me, on more than one occasion. but please these guys are, when mature, veg based feeders, not only that but detrivores preferring most of their food rotted to some extent. meat/protein should only be given occasionally. a meat based diet is actually quite bad for, virtually, all crayfish. they are very prone to bacterial infection, something that is more likely to crop up if there is any uneaten meat in the tank. my cray loved fresh roast chicken all her life. but when she was mature, if you offered her a bit of chicken and a bit of cucumber, she took the cucumber first, though she did come back for the chicken. though often the plecos had finished it off.

Thanks for the information. I will make sure I feed him more veg from now on. I sound like my Mum!

You mentioned Cucumber, anything else you would reccomend?

Thanks

its a bit like recycling, lol, the possibility's are endless. they really will eat anything. fresh or defrosted peas, best to peel them first, courgette, washed and snapped (if possible in the tank, the snapping not the washing lol), same with cucumber, carrot and potato, but they need to sit in the tank for some time to soften enough for most cray, oak leafs, if you can find a supply that has no pesticides present, are one of the top tit bits for Cray. but it may be worth looking at some of the specialist crayfish foods, and looking at the fresh veg as a treat or edible play thing. they really are quite hard to feed correctly using only fresh/human foods.

This post has been edited by boboboy: Feb 1 2008, 04:32 PM

i had a 2 blue crayfish in my 29 gallon tank at one time. They were given to me for free. Well, shortly thereafter I had a fish or two missing, one of my cory cats was gone(missing) and then one of the crayfish died. I think the other killed it. I would not have taken them, if I would've known what was going to happen. Now I know, but I wish i would've researched before i said i'd take them.

oh, and one night I walked over to the tank to check things out and feed them and the remaining crawdad had my last cory cat in his claws chewing off pieces of him while he was STILL ALIVE. I freaked. I will not touch a creature like that, so I yelled for my husband. He reached in and touched the crayfish and it let the poor corydora go. The cory did swim away and believe it or not lived for awhile. What we did next(my husband did), is catch the crawdad and broke his pinchers off. He couldn't catch anymore fish. We discovered that they do grow back after a molt. I eventually took him to my lfs and they gave me a $10 credit for him/her. It was sold for $15 before we even left the store. I was waiting to get my plants w/my credit and someone inquired about the large crawdad right then and there and it was sold within 10 minutes! Crazy!

I would not reccomend them with anything else. Or else you may not be left with anything else(but the crawdad).

its worth remembering that there is more than one type of Crayfish!!!! not all are the same. the experience of keepers of N American Crayfish/crawdads, can not just be transferred to a Crayfish from a different continent, even the sex organs are different. just as a keeper of Pacus may warn that they give a nasty bite, but are vegitarians. would you accept the same advice for piranha? and these two fish are just as closely related as, the North American Procambarus alleni and the Australian Cherax quadricarinatus, perhaps even more so. that said it is not something anyone should do without being very careful,

This post has been edited by boboboy: Feb 15 2008, 05:23 PM

so, for a comunity tank where the smallest fish are polka dot loaches (~4-5cm in length, not adult yet) and pearl gouramis (~5-6cm in length, not adults yet) what crayfish would you recommend?

if i am honest a plastic one! loaches of any kind don't go well with crayfish. in fact there are no fish that are safe with them. it looks, or i believe, that there is a way of putting fish and cray together, but it is a complicated process, fraught with problems and it often does not work. if you are just looking for something to go in your tank that is interesting, and unusual. it honestly, is not worth the effort. however if you really want to have a crayfish, and wish it to be in a community. do a forum search under may name with community in the parameters. if you are still up for it i will help as much as i can.

Out of observation I've noticed that the bigger the tank the less chance of a fish being attacked. I've got three whites in my ten and they always have their claws open. My blues in my forty have never opened their claws to any fish.

my experience too. space and hides/caves drastically reduce the problems.

Hey -
I would beg to differ with what I've read here -
I have two blue lobsters in my tank which is 10 Gallons they live peacefully with
4 Tetra's
2 Catfish
2 Barbs
2 Bamboo Shrimp

They are aggressive - but it seems to a territorial issue with their respective living quarters i.e. Caves (I've inserted 2 in the tank to give them their own space)
They seem to chase the fish away from them but don't attack -
They also shift the gravel around to build a 'protective pile in front of their caves each morning - I assume this is instinct and them protecting themselves from possible predators whilst they sleep -

I'm starting a blog today and will upload some video of 'Pain' and 'Panic' (their names got it from Disney's Hercules)

Ping me if you'd like to speak about it -
Best
Jenn
msn messenger: jennybolton65@hotmail.co.uk

Why do they call them blue lobsters? They are freshwater invertebrates aka crayfish.

i completely agree i have a massive blue knight lobster in a 220 litre tank with 7 neons, 2 pearl gourami, 2 killifish, 2 large angels, 3 clown loaches, 2 black tetras and a harlequin
i have provided lots od bogwood as roots and caves/rocks all over the bottom with plenty of plastic weed for the fish to hide in.
i have also kept a strict feeding times for the lobster and 9 times outta 10 its there waiting for it!
it has never hunted and seems more woried with re aranging my tank for me, i think that if you are willing to put the time and effort into this creature you will be greatly rewarded as its an amazing creature to watch !!!!