De-clawing Crays: Tank Management or Plain Ole' Torture?

[Manny Stiles]

I have one particular crayfish that is about fully grown and in a tank with some more decorative fish but he's the only invert. For the most part the cray and the fishes don't bother each other. But recently, after the latest molt the crayfish has tried more and more to catch the fins of the larger fish. And he has damaged the hell out of one of my Pleco's tail.

What I am wondering is would it be cruel or inhumane to manage the crayfish's aggressiveness by cutting or breaking off it's claws (or at least part of them)?

I kind of want to try this as an experiment to see if the cray will molt more often but it seems like it would be kind of cruel or at least be "unusual punishment" for his destruction.

I'm not going to get teeny rubber bands to close his claws. It would certainly do the trick but it's much too tedious for someone of my laziness quotient.

In some ways I think it would be similar to de-clawing a cat (although I would never do that to a cat anymore than I would suggest someone pull all of their teeth out). De-clawing a cat accomplishes

I know the cray's claws will grow back. But would a routine breaking of the claws stress the little guy out too much?


What do you guys think?

 

[Dragon Hunter]

try cutting off your fingers. its basically the same thing.

 

[Manny Stiles]

My fingers won't grow back... and crays don't use the front claws to survive. They have other claws. So maybe it's like cutting off just my thumbs?

In nature, crayfish lose their claws all the time in battles.

 

[synodontisjack]

I wouldnt cut its claws, although it does happen in nature i wouldnt encourage it, i had a friend who snapped the claws of his and it became all reclusive stopped feeding and died. So when my 2 started killing fish i just bought a new 30g an put them in and as long as the room is above 20 celcius you dont need to heat it either.

 

[DivinEvil]

You could just put a rubber band around the claws like they do to the lobsters that you see at the food store.

 

[killerfish]

You could just put a rubber band around the claws like they do to the lobsters that you see at the food store.

would need a tiny rubber band i've had crays lose both claws and feed and survive just fine only time i break there claws off is when i feed them to polys or fish i'm worried will be harmed

 

[VLDesign]

It's cruel no matter how you dress it up.

 

[WestTex]

I have attempted several times to introduce a wild caught Cray into my 55gal to no avail. The Cray's are just too aggressive to keep in a community tank unless the fish that are in the tank are large enough to deter the Cray, and in that case the Cray will probably be viewed as a food item anyway. In my opinion it is very cruel to do such a thing and as stated above you risk losing the specimen.

The only way I would keep a crayfish in an aquarium is by himself.

 

[Manny Stiles]

I've had three different crays - with fish in the same tank - for over three years now.

The current cray I am considering de-clawing has NEVER had any issues with attacking any of my fish. He's in a 90 gallon tank and too slow and well-fed enough to not need to catch swimming food.

I stated that he was the only invert in the tank but forgot about snails, ghosties and an African Giant filter shrimp that about an inch is smaller than him and have been tankmates for close to two years now but they NEVER bother each other. African Giant Filter Shrimp don't exactly have any way of defending themselves...

It helps that most of the fish in the tank are fairly small and are not bottom dwellers - although there are corys, bumblebee cats and plecos - but this crayfish has had finned tank mates almost his entire life with no signs of aggression towards anything that wasn't dying already (I let my scavengers do their natural jobs for the most part).

Keep in mind that he is the largest (non-algae eater) creature in the tank, so he's not in danger of being eaten - even when freshly moulted.

 

[Manny Stiles]

Oh, and none of my crays are wild caught anymore. I used to catch wild crays but found it to be a hassle with them diseasing the tanks (I lost a brood of baby blue crays thanks to adding wild caught) with various afflictions so I moved to Yabbies (which I have found to be VERY docile despite their reputation) and other exotic breeds.