What would be your guys opinion on keeping goldfish and koi with crayfish? would they try to snack onthe 6inch fish when they're sleeping?crayfish and fish
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What would be your guys opinion on keeping goldfish and koi with crayfish? would they try to snack onthe 6inch fish when they're sleeping?
Goldfish and koi are not predatory by nature. The problem in this combination lies more in the fact crayfish are ambush predators hence incompatible with fish.
Noto;3153829; said:
Agreed.
I attempted that combination a few times, and the goldfish readily ate/nipped the antennas of the crayfish and liked to nip at the legs (didn't do much damage there though, and they weren't lucky enough to encounter it when it was molting).
But, this may have be related to a certain species of goldfish, the size, the temperament, etc. And I certainly don't pretend to know fish by any stretch of the imagination. But I know it occurred a little too often to be just a "once in a lifetime" type occurrence on their part. However, on the side of crayfish, you're going to need to look into a lot of different species if you want to try this.
While all crayfish are opportunistic SCAVENGERS (please note, not all crayfish hunt or ambush), some do readily hunt. Such as the afore mentioned species by Noto, and the other commonly sold Procambarus alleni. Species like these are more carnivorous and are very inclined to actively hunt a large array tankmates (you can run through my album, you'll see a small P. clarkii munching on a large Silver Dollar it caught). Some other species, are only carnivorous (largely) as juveniles and move towards a more herbivorous diet as adults (Cherax quads, for example) and are more easily housed with fish. And some species are almost strictly herbivorous, to the point of which that the average keeper may end up starving them to death by trying to feed them a normal cray diet (Cherax sp. Red Brick). But being almost entirely herbivorous, it's very easily housed with an array of tankmates without much incident on it's part (that species in particular though does have very picky diet and tank requirements though).
You'll also need to look into species temperaments overall, some like Cherax quads or Orconectes lancifer are very peaceful in nature. Some, like Procambarus alleni or Orconectes rusticus, are extremely aggressive in nature. So, even with diet aside, you can still have issues if you select an aggressive species, as some will just kill off tankmates for the sheer hell of it it seems.
Oh, and not from personally experience, but I am informed that Koi readily enjoy crayfish once they are large enough to eat them. The owner of a LFS I frequent regularly buys crayfish from me to feed to his Koi.
Thanks for the info, i will keep my crays out of the pond, they're wild caught from a creek in northern california, i only thought of it because they are real skidish and hide from guppies and love algae waffers and will occasionally go after meaty foods.
i look at this a lil diffrent, all you really need is plenty of hiding spots for the crays i have two in my tank they never bother any of my fish and never get picked on they stay pretty much hidden. i have large and small fish in my tank aggresive and non aggresive. so in my opinion it comes down to bogwood and larger rocks for hiding.
N.C.;3156336; said:
In the long run, this doesn't always work out. Depending on the type of fish you (in general, not "you" specific) keep, they can be pretty good at rooting out freshly molted crayfish (catfish, bichirs, cichilds, etc are very good at this). Or they can merely be waiting for an opportunity to attack successfully. And those aside, crayfish/crustaceans don't constitute as a normal diet for some fish, so aggressive or passive, they may not peek the interest of the fish, eliminating the issue, too.
And again, depending on the species of crayfish (aggressive vs. passive, carnivorous vs. herbivorous), extra hiding spots may just be giving them the advantage by providing multiple points of attack on a tankmate. Procambarus cubensis, for example, are very good at turning their hiding spots into their attack points. Mine often drag fish into their driftwood hiding spots because it helps immobilize the fish that are trying to thrash away from them.
Not that your method is wrong, because a lot of issues can be solved by hiding enough places for crays to stash themselves away. But ideally, one should be taking more into consideration than just adding more hiding spots to the habitat. The fish species, the crayfish species, the environment they're going into, what the regular diets and feeding schedules for both are going to be, etc.