Keeping crayfish

rittz

Banned
Jan 11, 2014
45
0
0
Arkansas
Kinda made a mistake and went on an impulse by today. I live next door to a bait shop and today I noticed they started selling crayfish for bait. I had to take a look, next thing I knew I was taking this guy home.

I have a good amount of setups at home so I've placed this guy in his own 10 gallon Rubbermaid with lots of cover for the little guy. Im using large stone gravel, no plants except for some devils ivy rooted in the water. I have a 40-60g hob filter, no heater and I'm using well water as they do at the bait shop.

This is my first crayfish, I have the resources to care for this guy but some advice would be greatly appreciated. How is my setup? May not be much to most people but this guys pretty cool. If someone could help me identify the species and give me some basic info including adult size it would be awesome. If I'm correct they eat mainly plant matter, however I've also placed ten rosy reds in the setup..

Please don't bash me, I can go shopping in now to get anything else I need. Thanks again mfk! :)

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Libpete

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 8, 2013
160
0
0
England
I have kept a couple of crayfish before and they are quite amusing little creatures. Im not sure what species you have, someone will know soon. They eat pretty much anything, and will eat those feeders if he can catch them alright. Id vary his diet a bit with plant/veggie and meaty foods.

The main thing you need to know about the crayfish is the molting. Every so often they shed their all of their shell (and I mean all of it, claws, eye sockets), one day you will look in there and see two of them! They do this as they can grow larger and it is very IMPORTANT you leave the old shell in the tank so he eats it. You wont need to feed him anything at this time. He needs to eat the old shell for the calcium I think it is, as this makes his new shell harden faster. They are very vunerable at this point and may hide alot. They can also lose a whole limb and claw when doing this but it can regrow on the next molt.

Make sure he cant escape out of the top, they climb alot. Have fun!
 

patrickcostarica

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 8, 2014
24
0
0
Costa Rica
Nice! I have kept crayfish twice. The more interesting time was when driving down the road and saw someone cooking and selling them right there on the side of the road. I live in Costa Rica, so it's kind of normal. Anyway, I realized that they were keeping them alive in huge bins until someone would place an order.... so, I placed two orders. One for a snack and one for the "largest, reddest one" they had. He/she(?) lived in a twenty gallon aquarium alone for quite some time (over a year), and then I just found him dead one morning.

Advice: He WILL clime out.... will climb up the plant, up the filter tube, up the cord, down the cord and be walking across your floor before you even know it! Get a tight lid for his home to keep him in it! :)
 

Davis102613

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 18, 2013
49
0
6
USA
Advice: He WILL clime out.... will climb up the plant, up the filter tube, up the cord, down the cord and be walking across your floor before you even know it! Get a tight lid for his home to keep him in it! :)
+1 I had a crayfish escape the tank and die because I couldn't find him. They are very interesting to watch, especially at feeding time.
 

flowerhornfishman

Piranha
MFK Member
Sep 16, 2013
2,075
186
81
Malaysia
+1 I had a crayfish escape the tank and die because I couldn't find him. They are very interesting to watch, especially at feeding time.
+2 my sister was coming down the stairs when she saw my crayfish. she totally screamed. hahah but at tht time my tank height was low. he climbed out probably because he doesnt like the setup or sumthing.
just bought a new crayfish. now my tank height is about 18" . should be good enough to keep him on the bottom. :)
View attachment 988350
my crab and my australian red-claw, always fight when come near to each other, but the crab always win. lol
 

evilobster

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 24, 2011
229
0
0
California
the crawfish always have a hard time catching minnows because they were fast swimmers so every night i'd catch one and rubber band it onto a small stone for the crawfish to eat. but yes, important points are the shells-leave it alone so they can eat it or their shell may not fully harden and lids-make sure your lids are sealed because they are the houdinis of the freshwater tank world. if theres a way out they will find it. once I found my Australian blue missing and she was in the filter hanging out by the media... damn crazy crawfish.
 

rittz

Banned
Jan 11, 2014
45
0
0
Arkansas
Lol thanks everyone, and you were right he made an escape the second night. I've since got a lid.

How big will this guy get?
 

Big Pleco81

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 16, 2010
29
2
1
california
+1 libpete

I used to have a freshwater lobster in my tank. When he molted it was the craziest thing I had ever seen. I couldn't figure out for the life of me why there was two in my tank!:screwy: I eventually got it figured out!:D
 
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