i have a 15 gallon with 5 bronze cories and an african butterfly fish. it has sand and rocks. my question is if i should get a red crab, which do better in brackish (which mine is not) and they need access to land (which is possible but will take some work and cut down on the amount of water. would it be better to go with a crayfish?
Stocking For 15g. Crab Or Crayfish? Please Comment
- Thread starter ara35
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Seed
Fish Fanatic
Having just done some research on this myself, it would be a bad idea to put a crayfish in that tank. You might find that he will wage a war of attrition upon the rest of the tank's inhabitants.
As for the crabs, I have some personal experience with those. They like brackish water. They are also very skilled escape artists. You will need a place for them to exit the water from time to time, and you will also need to have the water level of your tank at least two inches or 5cm below the rim of the tank to prevent escape. Even then they might escape. They can also swim, it looks odd when they do it, but they can swim, and may swim to the inlet of your filter and climb it to get out of the tank.
As for the crabs, I have some personal experience with those. They like brackish water. They are also very skilled escape artists. You will need a place for them to exit the water from time to time, and you will also need to have the water level of your tank at least two inches or 5cm below the rim of the tank to prevent escape. Even then they might escape. They can also swim, it looks odd when they do it, but they can swim, and may swim to the inlet of your filter and climb it to get out of the tank.
lovemyfraggies
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I would go with a blue crayfish plenty of rocks and driftwood and a cave with no plants. The crayfish would not do good with fish. 
Seed
Fish Fanatic
I would have to respectfully and completely disagree with the previous reply. I will link sources if you wish, please do not go with a crayfish in your tank. Crabs maybe, if they meet the requirements of the tank you've already set up, if not... well you've got a good thing going already.
mrbudgie
Fish Crazy
give the crayfish a nice cave to burrow in and make his teritorry and keep him well fed and you'll be fine his little pincers wont catch a cory their to jumpy
Luketendo
BLENNY :O
I doubt you're right.
Corys are a lot slower than normal fish, and being them bottom dwellers. RIP.
mrbudgie
Fish Crazy
have you ever actually kept blue crafish I have and they are not the hunters people believe, they tend to be to clumsy to catch a healthy living fish and my cories never once got ate by my cray, believe me cories can move when they have to....
Davo86
Cichlids, Catfish and Oddballs
have a look at larger armoured shrimp or bamboo shrimp, i think that provided they have enough cover to stay away from the butterfly fish, they would be your best option. You are likely to have problems with both crabs and crayfish with your current tankmates in the tank size that you currently own
15g is a tad too small for most Cray, even kept on thier own. if you live in the UK the Cray will be an Australian Redclaw, if it is legal, and 20 is a minimum tanks size.
your comments on Cray are indeed true, however it is probably not the best mates for fish. yes some do manage to keep Cray and fish together, but there is more to it than just putting them into a cycled tank.
Redclaw crab will also prove a problem, they do need both brackish and dry land.
you will need several caves for one Crayfish. and air stones go down well to. bogwood has no real use, except that the tannins it leaches are good for both fish and Cray, well inverts.I would go with a blue crayfish plenty of rocks and driftwood and a cave with no plants. The crayfish would not do good with fish.
I have seen a Cray bring down a fleeing Bala Shark, and a young 1. 1/2 inch Cray dismember a pleco, there is no shortage of speed in a Cray. that said i myself saw no losses, of fish, and the majority of my fish are bottom dwellers. but as i have said, there is more to it than that.
oddly Cory do not seem to be the fish Cray tend to take, i have no idea why, they don't seem to be on the Cray hit list.
I wish more people with your experience would post, i have mentioned above the fact that cory are both able to flee and not really a target.
Could i expand on your Clumsy comment. many Cray, though i have only kept Australian Redclaw, display this "clumsy" approach to fish. i could not work it out. over time, and using the experiences of others, i think i may be able to shed light on these actions.
i have noticed that even lone kept Cray tend to "display" this seems to consist of a march down the length of the tank. i have noticed that when they do this the claws seem to be higher of the gravel than if the Cray were just walking, the antenna are also fully extended in front of the Cray. if a shadow or movement, or in my case a fish, come into view, the antenna are drawn back, the claws are raised to just above head level and the Cray "rushes" down the tank. even if the Cray meets a fish, it tends to bump into it, the claws do tend to withdraw towards the Cray. but the pincers are always firmly closed. this leads me to think is is a display, possibly a territorial proclamation. If a Cray is taking a fish, the attack is made with open pincers, the first claw tends to stab and the second, grab and rip.
Thing is Crayfish are not even carnivores, less than 20% of their diet is protein, so the title of predictor is incorrect, i suppose they are detrivores, at best they are low level omnivores. what they defiantly are is an interesting and little understood critters. often their nature is assumed just because of their looks, not because of their lifestyle.
mrbudgie
Fish Crazy
Bamboo shrimp are great for any one easy to keep dont get big lookk nice if ya got 3 or 4 and even if you water is to clean for them to filter they will go along the floor picking scraps up.
Cameroon Armoured shrimp get very big (slowly) but they are also very recluse so can be a pain to feed and in very clean water dont seem to feed of the bottom like bamboo shrimp.
Crayfish, not the fastest growers but quicker than the shrimp, give it some late on some rocks and it will dig underneath it and make a cool den, they will act like landscapers though and rearange your tank regurlary for you and cut you weaker stalked plants down.
Not fussy when it comes to food i use a piece of tube that i put the end of in his den and drop food down it so he is well fed, they seem to docile and lazy to go hunting for your fish and i very much dought their pincers could keep hold of a healthy fish if catch one at all.
Cameroon Armoured shrimp get very big (slowly) but they are also very recluse so can be a pain to feed and in very clean water dont seem to feed of the bottom like bamboo shrimp.
Crayfish, not the fastest growers but quicker than the shrimp, give it some late on some rocks and it will dig underneath it and make a cool den, they will act like landscapers though and rearange your tank regurlary for you and cut you weaker stalked plants down.
Not fussy when it comes to food i use a piece of tube that i put the end of in his den and drop food down it so he is well fed, they seem to docile and lazy to go hunting for your fish and i very much dought their pincers could keep hold of a healthy fish if catch one at all.
be cautious with the Armoured/Vampire shrimp, they are vulnerable to may fish, during moult.
Redclaw grow from 2 inches, about seven months old to full size, 6 to 7 inches in three or four months. they will continue to grow, but the moults drop off until they are every year or so then. Remember they need a mainly Vegetable diet, after 7 months old, something that even experienced keepers forget. but well fed Cray, seems to be the key. they are spectacular tankscapers its true. one suggestion the experienced keepers often make, is to put the gravel in the tank cycle it, then add the deccor you have chosen, just drop it in the middle. put in your Cray and sit back. over a month, sometimes more, the Cray will deposit things how it wants them. they have been known to get quite bad tempered if you try to arrange it after all its work. time-laps pictures of this make fascinating viewing.
Redclaw grow from 2 inches, about seven months old to full size, 6 to 7 inches in three or four months. they will continue to grow, but the moults drop off until they are every year or so then. Remember they need a mainly Vegetable diet, after 7 months old, something that even experienced keepers forget. but well fed Cray, seems to be the key. they are spectacular tankscapers its true. one suggestion the experienced keepers often make, is to put the gravel in the tank cycle it, then add the deccor you have chosen, just drop it in the middle. put in your Cray and sit back. over a month, sometimes more, the Cray will deposit things how it wants them. they have been known to get quite bad tempered if you try to arrange it after all its work. time-laps pictures of this make fascinating viewing.
Seed
Fish Fanatic
I did my research on a cray because a friend of mine and I saw one when we were window shopping in fish stores together a couple days ago. Plus of course I was interested in possibly putting them in with a new tank I'm in the process of cycling. He ended up buying one, I didn't and came here to get advise instead. I can say that the advice was pretty accurate. The thing is AGGRESSIVE. It even tries to pinch him when he reaches into the tank, charges people from its little rock cave when they get near the tank, gnashing it's pincers and generally acting grumpy at all times. It makes a threat display whenever anything gets near his hut. Al has lost fish, I can't remember which ones offhand, if you feel it's important I'll ask him.
His was listed as an Australian Blue Lobster, in case that helps. Since I can see some appear to have had no trouble with cray, perhaps it's this particular species.
His was listed as an Australian Blue Lobster, in case that helps. Since I can see some appear to have had no trouble with cray, perhaps it's this particular species.
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