Help With My Blue Lobster! (Crayfish)

[Phisher84]

So, a couple weeks ago I got my lobster (crayfish). I put him in the tank and he immediately burrowed himself his new home under a giant slanted rock. Well, since then I haven't seen him come out. (I know they're nocturnal, but I even try being sneaky in the morning and peeking in the tank before I turn the light on.)

A couple guppies died and he did munch on them, but I'm afraid my fatso gouramis are eating all his pellets! Even yesterday, during midday, I placed some pellets directly in front of his hole. I saw him starting to climb out, but then, my Opalines swam right to them and ate them, and my poor lobster crept back in his hole!

My fish are being fed VERY adequetly... but even my Gouramis now all scour the bottom of the tank like bottom feeders!

Question is, what else can I feed my lobster that the fish won't care for?

 

[Haych]

your stock

i had one once, and at night, it would wait for the fish to go to sleep, then snatch them and eat them!

tbh, i dont think you will find a food that he can eat, especially in the day, that the quicker fish wont get.

he should live sufficiently off the food on the floor, mine did

 

[three-fingers]

Big algae wafers and frozen lancefish from the LFS would be a great combo for him, if you can get your hands on larger crab/shrimp pellets, they would be best (slow dissolving and too big for fish, and have all the right minerals for inverts).

Later on, if your not very careful, he will most likely do very well on a diet of his tank-mates . So watch out.

Never just rely on waste food from the other fish, gambling on the poor things nutrition is irresponsible.

 

[raptorrex]

So, a couple weeks ago I got my lobster (crayfish). I put him in the tank and he immediately burrowed himself his new home under a giant slanted rock. Well, since then I haven't seen him come out. (I know they're nocturnal, but I even try being sneaky in the morning and peeking in the tank before I turn the light on.)

A couple guppies died and he did munch on them, but I'm afraid my fatso gouramis are eating all his pellets! Even yesterday, during midday, I placed some pellets directly in front of his hole. I saw him starting to climb out, but then, my Opalines swam right to them and ate them, and my poor lobster crept back in his hole!

My fish are being fed VERY adequetly... but even my Gouramis now all scour the bottom of the tank like bottom feeders!

Question is, what else can I feed my lobster that the fish won't care for?

keeping a cray with fish is, fraught with problems. and, if i am honest, should only be tried after a good bit of experience. but here goes.


first off your problem is, probably, the Cray feel fish are a threat. this can cause several problems. it will die during moult (threatened cray halt a moult, it often ends in death). the cray will start attacking fish, not for food, but for safety. or both.

its important to ensure the cray is mature, before, it goes in to a community. probably better not to bother. hard to swallow i know, but true none the less

as for food. any veg, better a bit ripe, together with flake pellets or frozen food will be fine.

ultimately your cray needs move to its own 20uk gallon tank. make sure its high O2, and the temp is around 70-74. add a little Aquarium Iodine (this will force a moult). give it lots of place to hide. with luck, it will survive. but "sudden death syndrome" is an invert speciality. 

 

[Phisher84]

Thank you all for your quick responses.

I actually have started taking frozen peas, thawing them, removing the husk and throwing them right down the lobsters tunnel! He's been eating them and has stopped chasing the fish around, which he recently just started doing.

I knew this wasn't the right route to go but my bf came home with a present, and surprise, it was a lobster, and I didn't have the heart to take him back.

I'll continue watching my tank buddies all very closely and also purchase some of the other recommended food items. Thanks again!

 

[raptorrex]

Thank you all for your quick responses.

I actually have started taking frozen peas, thawing them, removing the husk and throwing them right down the lobsters tunnel! He's been eating them and has stopped chasing the fish around, which he recently just started doing.

Ahh yes, Pea hunts:

bits of veg, around the tank, often help with, err, anti social side of a Cray. the eat almost anything. but keep the protean down.

provide it with plenty of places for it to hid. make sure you keep the O2 up. and watch its antics.

dont worry if it starts, re-arranging your tank, thats quite normal.

 

[jpool10]

Thanks for the useful details of this posting. It's given me great insite to the blue lobster I have at home. He's only small but not getting on with the red clawed crabs and I didn't know why - now I do.

I shall be taking the red clawed crabs back to the store at the weekend and just leave the lobster in the tank on his own.

Many thanks
Jo