Crayfish Tank & Cycling Questions!

[aloys]

So right now i have one 75 US gallon tank, with 2 filters hanging on the back. One is rated for 70-80 gallons and the other is rated for 50. So the tank has plenty of filtration, just the way i like it!

A friend of mine is letting me use his 29 gallon tank and i want to start a crayfish tank!

First question, if i take the small filter from my 75 and put it directly on the 29, and take at least 20 gallons of the water out of the 75 (which is fully cycled with excellent water conditions), will the tank be fully cycled pretty much instantly. It is going to have an established filter with plenty of good water, so my thinking is that the tank will pretty much be good to go right from the start?

Second question, crayfish!! I've read up some on crayfish, so i know about a few of the tips, like a tight fitting top and the occasional calcium supplement. I've read that most of the crayfish i would be buying from LFS's like the water to be a little colder than your standard tropical tank. Closer to 70 than 80. Is there a good happy medium to keep some fish and the crayfish happy? Its a 29 tall, so I'd be able to put a couple gouramis or other fish that normally hang out at the top of the tank, or add some feeders for the crayfish!

Any other crayfish advice? Could i put 2 crayfish in a 29 gallon tank? or is that pushing my luck? Will some tropical fish do ok in water around 72?

 

[Spishkey]

what crayfish did you have in mind? if you are in the uk, only the cherax quadricarinatus is legal and available i believe

 

[millie1]

i had a lobster "mr pinchy" that bumped off some fish - and he wasnt that big!

just a word of warning as he was fine for ages then turned lol!

 

[aloys]

I live in the US and there are a few different ones around my LFS's. I dont know there scientific names, the 2 i mostly see: the blue crayfish and the red crayfish. I dont know how else to describe them

 

[millie1]

he was a blue lobster .....

looked nice and was a good talking point... that was about allhe was really good for haha lol

he was rehomed to an 8 foot tank where he now lives happily with giant gourami lol which i dont think he would/can touch

 

[Cdarmychi]

I have a hamers colbolt lobster which is differnet then the standard blue crayfish, (more aggressive)

be careful of which you end up getting, the hammers is much more aggressive, will kill its own kind, other fish, plants, pretty much everything you put in there. Mine will even shred the fake plants I tried.

And at night he (for lack of a better description) "rocket launches" himself and bumps the lid open. So I leave a rock on it to make sure the litle bugger doesnt get out.

But yeah, good luck with that lol

Sakura

 

[raptorrex]

I live in the US and there are a few different ones around my LFS's. I dont know there scientific names, the 2 i mostly see: the blue crayfish and the red crayfish. I dont know how else to describe them

how you prepare and keep your tank, except for the temperature, is the same for all Crayfish..

i would not bother moving any water to the new tank, its the filter that is cycled not the water. though moving some of the deep substrate may well help. i would still add ammonia and note how fas it is removed by your filter before adding anything.

there is only one, "True" tropical Crayfish, cherax quadricarinatus or the Australian Redclaw. all the others, wherever they come from, are temperate/cold water critters. you can not keep tropical fish with any crayfish except the Redclaw, and even that is not advisable.

70 is the top temp you should consider for any cray except the redclaw, and perhaps the Mexican dwarf cray. cray need a high O2 environment, and as water heats up it holds less O2. cray are also prone to bacterial infections, the chances of this increase as the temp goes up.

two cray in a 29 gallon tank? in my view no! there is too much chance of fighting. and if you are considering a Redclaw, no too. as they need a minimum of 20 uk gallons each.

the two cray you mention are, almost certainly, Procambarus clarkii, the red swamp cray/crawfish and Procamberus alleni, cobalt blue/Florida crawfish. strangely both these seem to come in red and blue. the blue colour is not a breed,. rather it is a genetic error that afflicts many Arthropods. much like ginger hair/albinism in mammals.