Cray questions

[Pinoyfisher]

I recently got a crayfish from Wal-Mart and I put him in a 10g tank currently occupied by 5 tetras. I assume he's your basic crayfish since he was in the feeder fish tank and they let me have him for .28

His home and tank buddies...

Close up...

Snacks (Pacific Chorus frog tadpoles), if he can catch them...

Ok, back to the reason for this post, how many crays can I keep in a 10g tank? I'll eventually upgrade to a larger tank once I find a job. My goal is to get at least a 30g to 40g in the near future. How many can I keep in this size tank? Is it wise to keep different types of crays in one tank?

I almost forgot how cool crayfish are! I could sit in front of the tank and watch him or her walk around and hoplessly stalk the tetras and luckily catch a tadpole for hours! Thanks for the help guys and gals!!

-Mike

 

[uncwnells]

1 in a ten gallon and make sure he cannot get out, they are escape artists

 

[Fishcrunch]

How big is he compared to the tetras?Sounds like he is very small.

 

[freshwaterfishing]

Those tetras will most likly become some dinner eventually. One is probley good enough for a 10 gal. They will fight eachother. And definily make sure they cant get out. If you have an air rador make sure it cant climb up the hose or else you might stumble across a buddy one morning.

 

[Tropicalfishking]

I would only go with one in the ten gallon, they are teritorial, or mine are. I have a feeling that the cray with eat the tetras as food unless he is well fed. sinking pellets work well, or just sink some fish food down to the bottom.

I think that with a 30-40gal you could get 2-3 but make sure there are lot's of caves for hiding. Just to be safe. When they molt make shure there water is really clean. Mine died shortly after molting due to the fact that I didn't know anything about them.

really good looking cray though. I like the black. Hope he lasts you long.

 

[black_sun]

General rule of thumb is 1 crayfish per 10gal (dwarf species excluded from this). And this is really an absolute minimum, most NA species get rather large and require room. You could probably do 3 in the 30 or 40gal safely (provided lots of hiding spots, visual barriers, kept well fed and the water kept pristine).

And it is not wise to keep different types of crays in one tank. Some species will dwarf others in size, making them easy food for the other. Others are more aggressive and will kill off tankmates. And most importantly some species are vectors for diseases/parasites that can kill off other species (this is especially true if you mix genus).

All that aside, nice looking crayfish. It's got real nice coloring and patterning.

 

[Pinoyfisher]

Great info, thanks black_sun!!