Bluegills eating my crawfish.

[DCSAINTS]

I have a 75 gallon tank with 3 bluegills one is 3 inches long, I think its a female, and two males 4 inches and maybe 5 inches long. Also have a spotted pike characin. I came home today and found our crawfish was eaten up, his tail was missing. We had him about 3 or 4 months. He molted yesterday, and the bluegill must have gone at him. My daughter loved watching the crawfish climb around in the tank. I want to get another crawfish or 2. Can I do this? Will the bluegill keep eating them? He had a piece of driftwood and 2 small pipes to hide in and under. Maybe I should put some more hiding places on the bottom?? Here is a pic of our tank. I have taken the pipes out since he died. I have seen on the internet that people say you can keep them together. Is this true? Seems like bluegill will eat anything.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=710273&d=1316486970

 

[Pyramid_Party]

Yes they eat them in the wild. If you wanna keep them together you need a lot more hiding space.

 

[zapatower]

Hey, man. Also, I had two strange disappearance, I supposed that, my white clarkii crayfish and signal crayfish were eaten while they were melted for some mate. But, I had problems to assume this, the crayfishes were as langer as suspicious fishes, I post this thread: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...ent-How-can-I-take-out-my-crayfish&highlight=
I had a bluegill and largemouth bass suspicion. Finally, my conclusion was that bluegill was the murder. Why? bluegill have a protractil jaw that exert great force "vacuum". A crayfish just melt haven't sufficient protection, hence the importance of place of refuge.
Change of theme, Your pike characin only feeds feeders? not pellets?

 

[Ieatyourfish]

it's natural for bluegills to go after them, and crayfish are especially vulnerable after molting. have lots of hiding places (rocks, caves, logs) but those hiding places should be tight enough where hungry predators can't get to them

 

[DCSAINTS]

The pike only eats feeders. He is kind of a wuss about it too. He only eats like two a week. The blugill eat them before he does.

 

[cichlid53]

Bluegill and most other black bass love crayfish. Just put a smaller one on a hook and throw it in the water in the warmer months of the year and you will see what I am talking about.