ideal setup for crawdaddy

[cakemountain]

just snatched a couple common crayfish from the goldfish vat and set up a 10gal for them. put a powerfilter on the side and a submersible heater in there and let sit overnight after a stresscoat ap. tank is 90% filled.

ive read they need a cave, but if i give them one will i ever see them besides feeding time? right now there tank mates are 5 goldfish i was obligated to buy for taking the cf.

do i need anything else?

 

[cakemountain]

so i used 4 pieces of slate to make 2 pretty good caves in the gravel. they crawled inside them and now they are running around. the tank is my night light so i hope they can deal with it. during the day ill turn it off.

 

[Dreamsofpeace54]

leaving the light on for an extended period of time could and probably will cause immense algae growth. Id set it on a timer. set it for an hour and then try to sleep. That way u get your night light, until after u fall asleep and no algae growth.

 

[suepahfly]

I have a very weak light that is meant for a nightlight. I leave it on 24/7, and you can't even tell it is on when it's light out. When it is dark, it illuminates the tank with just enough orangish light to see my crayfish. It works quite well.

 

[cakemountain]

they dont seem to like the cave in the gravel even though its more than big enough for them and doesnt have a huge opening. do they only like caves above ground level? im up every couple hours at night so i need a continuous light to move around in.

anyway 1 is down. good thing i went with cheapos to start with and not the 15 dollar special color ones. dunno what killed it, guess ill toss the goldfishies since my aro isnt interested. maybe they were picking on them. the cf are bigger though.

question: should i pull the dead one out or let the other one eat it?
question: what kind of aeration do they req?

 

[ewo]

pull the other one out after a while they will stink. and i just use a regular airator with a stone when i catch them. we live in front of a creek so thats where alot of my feeder fish come in from.

 

[TeChris]

Hello, just wanted too show you my crayfish tank. Its pretty simple and plain but I think my crayfish like it. My regular female dug a little cave for her self under one of the rocks and the male blue crayfish usually hangs around next to one of the rocks. The rocks are "pagoda" rocks I got from a lfs. Enjoy

 

[Jess.in.WI]

here's my setup. My cray is a cherax quad named Ruby.

you could give your cray a length of pvc pipe to hide in... or a clay pot tipped on its side. I change things around in this tank; a few days ago I put a plastic rock ledge in the tank... but now today I'm going to give her a pile of actual rocks to explore. Crays can and will move anything that they can lift! So be careful not to stack anything too heavy that could possibly fall and hurt them! Enjoy, crays are lots of fun!

 

[Geordie John]

hi Cakemountain was your crayfish dead or casting. They usualy moult when moved to different conditions. If it shed its skin the skin needs to be left in and feeding reduced to encourage the skin to be eaten.This encourages hardening of the new shell and supplements calcium.
as ewo said they stink when dead !
They will drown if not given enougth oxygen.
All the best,
G.John

 

[cakemountain]

ya the first one prob died because not enough O2, added an airstone. now the second one is dead halfway through a moult. try try again i guess