Crayfishhh!

[cooliee]

Hey, i have a rather large tropical blue crayfish. and i do love the lad, but i have to take him out of the aquarium he's in, due to the fact my coolie loaches are not safe from him no more!

would it be ok to put him in a non heated tank? and is a light necessary? The tank will be quite small in comparisson to the tank im already using, but still its either move him, or kill more of my fish!

get back to me!

 

[nurglespuss]

OK, ignoring the general clamour of: its cruel to keep something in the wrong conditions, because you did not research it fully first;

It needs heat, light is unnecessary, and obviously filtration, somewhere to hide etc. It also needs enough space to live in. If neccessary, why not buy a cheap plastic toy tub (you know the kind of large storage boxes) clean it well, grab some gravel, a flowerpot, pick up a cheap heater (£10) and a cheap powerfilter (£10) and keep him in that until you either decide to re-house him permanently or re-home him with someone else.

 

[JamieBailie]

Straight in the pot!!!!! j/k

I've read they can tolerate from 10*C - 30*C, Don't see why you would need a light as they seem more active when the lights are off.

 

[ShoC]

the lighting shouldn't be a problem,as for heat I'm guessing here but its essential for him...
correct me if I'm wrong anyone.

I stand corrected by above post.

 

[cooliee]

well obviously it will be kept in the right conditions, hes just got to big for my tank. of course it would be kept in the right conditions i.e rocks/hiding places/filtration.

he is 9inch long now, so my community aquarium is no longer safe with him, and hes to big for either of my other 2 species tanks.

i'll probably just buy a 10 gallon tank 'rekord 96' perhaps, and call that home for him.


and about the whole temp thing, standar coldwater aquariums average @ 12*c so thats whay i was asking wether heater was essential!

 

[JamieBailie]

10 Gallon would be too small imo. Wouldn't a 10 gallon be around 24 inches long?!

This site is usefull: http/www.aqua-terra-vita.com/CrayfishWP/Care.html

 

[nurglespuss]

Hi,

sorry was also thinking of night time temp. these crayfish can 'tolerate' lower temp but its not good for them long term...

 

[cooliee]

Nahh 10 gallon is the minimal the tank can be for a adult crayfish!

while we're on the subject, what do people feed theirs? and does any1 knwo any plantes that can survive cray attacks?

 

[indigo]

my last cray loved fresh fish.. nothing was safe with her around she used to like frozen gamma fish, bloodworms, peas, and sinking pellets

my new cray loves the frozen crustacean blocks, frozen dillies and chopped mussels and the occassional pea! and he's had a piece of chicken on one occassion, you'd think he'd never been fed before the way he skoffed on that!

and apparantly they go nuts for earthworms too not tried him on them yet tho.

i've got a tupperware box of about 10 different frozen foods, i also have various sinking pellets, flakes and floating pellets, i usually target feed the cray, eels and goby and the rest help themselves to the blocks and dried i put in, i figured that a varied diet would ensure none of them go without

awesome little dudes aren't they? we called this one Edward as in Scissorhands....