Shrimp Or Crayfish And Cleaning?

[stonedcamel]

hello, im very new to this forum but you all seem very helpful, here we go.

i recently set up my 260ltr aquarium and when buying plants there must have been a shrimp or crayfish hiding within one. i was very happy he was my first. hes brown and has one small claw and one large claw so i wasnt sure if he was shrimp or crayfish but was happy. recently put 10 neon tetras into the tank as to start te fish population but 2 of them have disappeared and i cant find them in the tank when looking round. when feeding the fish for first time, one went near the unknown who looked like he leapt for the fish

just wonderig what has happened to them both? and if the crayfish/shrimp would catch and eat them?

my second question is, u have all these lovely aquariums and they r packed with plants and bogwood. how do you clean round them without disturbing? i have the gravel vacuum which is great but wont reach everywhere

thankyou very much and will shut up now

 

[Davo86]

Hi Welcome,

which part of the world are you from?
Also what size is the shrimp/crayfish? can you upload a pic?

If your from the UK its quite possible that it is a young cherax quad crayfish, juvis appear brown but soon turn int a brilliant blue colour as they age, giving them the common name of the blue crayfish, (they are also called the redcalw crayfish)

If it is one of these then it is very likely that this is eating the neons if they are resting near the bottom of the tank, although neons aren't the best choice for a new tank as they are quite a fragile species that need mature tanks

other possible ids may be armoured shrimp or bamboo shrimp but these wouldn't generally pose a threat.

 

[8inary]

hi stonedcamel, without a pic it will be hard to id the critter.

however, assuming it may be a crayfish, you should expect some fish to go missing.

whilst i have a large tank, i also have a 3ft tank with two blue crayfish in, and a some guppies in. The crayfish, whilst well fed, will become
very active at night, and will use the plants to climb up on, and abush the fish. I tend to feed mine prawns and other bits i have, which seem to go down well. the fish end up with flake.

if it is a crayfish - one bit of advise is that they shell - you will look in the tank and see what you think is a dead crayfish, but...it will actually be its shell. the crayfish will hide for a bit to allow its shell to reharden, so if you think its dead, just double check in the tank.

also - if a crayfish losses a claw, during the shelling process, it will grow back, it will just look smaller than the other

 

[waterdrop]

Hi there camel and wecome to TFF!

With the gravel-cleaner you just try to do your best, getting down into the gravel where you can. You can also use a hose without the wide gravel-cleaning cylinder to clean in harder places, just closing off the narrow tube with your thumb until you are near some debris sitting on top of the substrate between your plants, say, and get some cleaning that way.

I'm sure the members will help you narrow down the possibilities for the neon losses between filter, crayfish or whatever, but its important to ask whether you've heard about a thing we call "cycling," which has to do with the water chemistry. Cycling is a process that normally takes place for a month or two in the tank prior to it being ready to handle fish. Was this something you knew about and did?

~~waterdrop~~

 

[stonedcamel]

yea... the tank was left for 3 weeks with the filter running before adding any plants or fish. as for the grave vacuum i will just do my best then to get as much as i can, really easy and im impressed though.

as for the lil fella, im from england. tried taking a photo of him the other day but the pic didnt come out very well. at present he is approx 2-3cm long and the left claw is bigger than the right claw and he is brown in colour. spoke to a fish shop about this and they said probably a shrimp but since 2 fish went missing i was more curious. if it is a crafish, how big will it grow and are the other fish safe? will i find the remains of the fish or will they be eaten?

thankyou

the lil fella also spends most of the time hiding under bogwood and hardly see him!! would be nice if he came out, never mind. will this matter if when getting other fish that like caves? i have other caves in the tank but just wondered

 

[Davo86]

does it look like this

you may also want to monitor the water stats as you are currently doing what is called a fish in cycle, neons are very unlikely to survive this

 

[stonedcamel]

yea looks kinda like that picture because he also has tenticles which i have not seen on the shrimp species i have looked at. but his claws are different sizes

 

[Davo86]

yea looks kinda like that picture because he also has tenticles which i have not seen on the shrimp species i have looked at. but his claws are different sizes

I'm pretty sure that with some species Males usually do have one claw bigger than the other,
I don't know any shrimp that have tenticles so its looking like a cray, - these guys get to around 6inches

 

[stonedcamel]

oh great.... so he will out grow his cave then.... thankyou very much.

how often do they shed their skin/shell and also when?

 

[Davo86]

oh great.... so he will out grow his cave then.... thankyou very much.

how often do they shed their skin/shell and also when?

no problem

they usually shed around every 6-8 weeks, be sure not to remove the shell to soon as the crayfish will often consume part of this to get back some of the nutrients that it lost during the shed.

 

[stonedcamel]

great, thankyou! am guessing they spend alot of there time hiding in the caves and wont see much of him?

would shrimp be better?

 

[Davo86]

great, thankyou! am guessing they spend alot of there time hiding in the caves and wont see much of him?

would shrimp be better?

depends on the cray, i have 2 atm for sale at work, they are both around 5-6inches

one will happily live with fish and is always pacing up and down in the open
the other will catch and kill any fish it is put with, it comes darting out at feeding times but usually is seen pottering about in the covered parts of the tank.

do you know the water stats of the tank? Due to the tank being uncycled the water may not be too good, and the cray may be hiding as a result of this.

Shrimp are fish friendly so would be better but i think the issue of the uncycled tank needs to be addressed before anything else is changed

 

[stonedcamel]

no... i havent done a water test etc, just left the tank empty for 3 weeks with filter running with media.

will just see how the cray gets along, if he comes out great

 

[8inary]

mine which are now at circa 5" spend time just plodding around, they will spend time in the caves and will also equally spend time walking around the tank, allow him time to get used to his surroundings

 

[stonedcamel]

yea, thats very true.... will leave him be!! will i see the remains of the fish or will he eat the lot?

so u think once hes used to the fish and surroundings he will move round alot more, hope so