Does anyone else keep native crays in with your fish?? i have 1 each in 2 different tanks and find them fascinating to watch, They both have taken up housekeeping in their favorite places, one in a castle the other in a coconut shell, and sem quite happy with there lot in life.
crayfish
- Thread starter JIM
- Start date
ive kept native crays with native fish works out well, but the last one i had didnt grow fast enough and my bass or channel cat ate him
I've kept several species of native crayfish with native fish, and the only combination I would recommend is Cambarellus species (dwarf crays) with smallish community fish.
Larger crayfish, and Procambarus clarki (the red swamp crayfish) in particular, can be fish-murdering machines. Likewise many predatory fish will pick at crays; even if the cray is too big to swallow, they may pull its limbs off or just harass it to death. If I were going to keep fish and crayfish together long-term I would want a very large tank with lots of rockwork; that way, hopefully the two groups would interact as little as possible.
Larger crayfish, and Procambarus clarki (the red swamp crayfish) in particular, can be fish-murdering machines. Likewise many predatory fish will pick at crays; even if the cray is too big to swallow, they may pull its limbs off or just harass it to death. If I were going to keep fish and crayfish together long-term I would want a very large tank with lots of rockwork; that way, hopefully the two groups would interact as little as possible.
the crays i have are kinda small, under 4 inches, and are now housed 1- in a 75 with various sunfish all 3 inches and over. The other is in a 40 breeder with likewise small different species sunfish, also over 3 inches. so far no problems but ive only recently started keeping Natives so this is still a learning process for me, What do you think of this combo?? is it kewl or is it just a matter of time, these crays ( not sure of species) came from a creek in Indiana and are kinda brownish in color.
It's a risky combination. No doubt you'll hear people say they've kept combos like that with zero problems, but others have had the same combination with disastrous results.
Crayfish are opportunists. In the wild they probably don't catch many healthy fish, but in a tank the fish and crays are kept in such close quarters that interactions are inevitable- especially at night, when the crayfish tend to come out and forage and the sunfish are sleeping. Throw in the sunfish's natural curiosity and the crayfish's intolerance for invasion of its personal space, and you are likely to have some damaged animals.
Crayfish are opportunists. In the wild they probably don't catch many healthy fish, but in a tank the fish and crays are kept in such close quarters that interactions are inevitable- especially at night, when the crayfish tend to come out and forage and the sunfish are sleeping. Throw in the sunfish's natural curiosity and the crayfish's intolerance for invasion of its personal space, and you are likely to have some damaged animals.
Nuff said noto (if in fact that is your real name Hmmm) the crays will be banished to a tank of their own, who knows maybe it will be a pair and ill get little crays. I only saw that in nature one time in the last 100 years, and it was Kewl maybe 50 little crays tucked up under mama tail, little exact replicas. VERY worth the observance.
I have 1 cray in 600 and I wish I had never put him in there. When he was first put in he was meant to be food. He was picked almost to death by the pumpkinseeds and perch and ender up missing all but 2 or 3 of his legs but he somehow managed to survive. He has molted twice since and has started to EAT my dwarf sag in the tank. None of the fish pay him any attention now and he wanders around the bottom on of the tank with the lights picking up scraps of food and still eating my plants.
