Crawdad Care

[qldmick]

Thanks! But what do you mean by forget vinegar test?

I think they were talking about how Crawdads like higher PH levels in their water. The only problem with not doing the test is that your could be introducing nasty chemicals into the water that could harm or potentially kill the Crayfish. Yes I will agree that a higher PH is good for them to molt but chasing PH levels shouldn't be a priority, keeping the PH levels stable is far more important then chasing a certain PH level. As for the vinegar test it's just to test if the rock is water soluble or not, if the rock fizzes that just means that the rock will dissolve in water releasing anything and everything that is contained in the rock over time. That means any poisonous chemicals that "may be" trapped inside the rock will slowly be released into the water.

If your looking to keep a higher PH level without any risk to the Crawdad, I would recommend using crushed coral substrate. It'll help raise the PH levels without adding any unknown elements to the tank. Also if you add wood to the tank expect the water to turn a reddish brown color, temporarily, as it's just releases tanins in the tank, tanins are beneficial in certain situations but will also lower PH temporarily. So in other words, crushed coral raises PH permanently while wood lowers PH temporarily.

The vinegar test will just show for presence of calcium, which in a crayfish tank the calcium carbonate is beneficial not harmful.

 

[qldmick]

Catching your own crayfish is awesome, I have some tank breed variants now but here's 3 species I've caught in Australia and kept in aquariums.

 

[The Masked Shadow]

WOW! I am not going to Australia ?. I know that craws need calcium. In fact, don’t people suggest to put egg shells in the aquarium. Have you kept craws with fish?

 

[qldmick]

Yer eggs shells in the tank didn't appeal to me so I got coral sand instead.
Here are my current lot 1m 2f Cherax albidus blue pearl.


I lost 1 to escaping tank, 1 being eaten by the others and one that shell never hardened after molt, that's why I changed to coral sand and as many hides as I could.
These guys also ate a few mollies about their own size so now they are just kept on their own no fish.

 

[The Masked Shadow]

Ok. Thanks! Very cool-lookin craws! Do they try to eat the plastic plants? What tank size is it? I’ll look into coral sand.

 

[qldmick]

No they don't eat the plastic plants but will eat live plants, I picked up some floating amazon frogbit yesterday to see how it goes in their tanks.
Its only a 63L tank but I can't upgrade in case I have to move.

 

[The Masked Shadow]

Ohhh!! I have a 17 gallon tank that I would put craws in. But I would do 1 craw with 10 mountain minnows.

 

[Hendre]

Why are you so insistent on having fish when everyone says they will become snacks? That's not caring for the fish and is quite irresponsible IMO.

 

[The Masked Shadow]

Oh. Sorry. Its just, he had fish and I wanted to try. If the minnows get eaten, so be it.

 

[Damascus]

Oh. Sorry. Its just, he had fish and I wanted to try. If the minnows get eaten, so be it.

This may seem mildly harsh, and I assure you it's coming from the best possible place.

Despite asking for people's advice, you are insistent upon arguing or going against the advice everyone has given you, in this post and otherwise. We aren't just pulling advice from thin air but rather a combination of years of experience, research, and common sense.

There is nothing to "try" in this situation. We have told you what is going to happen.