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

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Will Hayward;2009764; said:
This is stupid imo. If you can't keep a creature with another creature without altering it physically, it shouldn't be together. However, as stated, it's just an opinion, and all one can do is share them.

People asked me why I never trimmed my reptiles claws... I love the animal for what it is... If I want to handle it, I must be willing to put up with a few scratches.
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Understood. And fair enough...

But there are times where an animals well being DEPENDS on humans altering it... trimming the beak on certain freshwater puffers, for instance. Trimming certain species of dog's tails is more than just cosmetic. Some preservationists tranquilize and cut off Rhino's horns and Elephant tusks in the wild so poachers won't kill them.


What I did wasn't done because I wanted the creatures in my tank to "get along". They are all going to be out of this tank in a few weeks anyway. But I do have plans to capture invasive crays in mass quantities in the future for personal consumption. I wanted to know if there was a way that I could safely keep a large population of crays together in a confine that would be tighter than a "pet" aquarium setting without them all destroying each other.


Don't get me wrong. I will contimue to keep exotic crays as pets in my aquariums. I was experimenting to find feasible solutions for "farming" populations without wasting the precious claw meat. I think I found it.


Yes, the question arose out of the tank scenario. But the "solution" will only be applied in the future to a setting far different than an aquarium with a few $4 fish...

Thank you for understanding this is just a mere opinion. I'm certainly not starting a cultish society of the crayfish alterers. :)
 
Manny Stiles;2010672; said:
But there are times where an animals well being DEPENDS on humans altering it... trimming the beak on certain freshwater puffers, for instance. Trimming certain species of dog's tails is more than just cosmetic. Some preservationists tranquilize and cut off Rhino's horns and Elephant tusks in the wild so poachers won't kill them.
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There is a big difference, though. Trimming the beak of a puffer is so that it can eat or survive. Trimming the claws on a cray so that it won't attack your fish is an attempt to change it's nature, not an attempt to allow it to eat.
 
I'm sure your heaven has an extra special room for people like you.


thats sweet of you, honey.
Doctors, scientists, and physicists performed the feats of mankind you describe. while not personally knowing you, I believe its safe to say you don't fit those descriptions. neither do I.
they operated in laboratories and controlled scientific envirnments. you used a captive aquarium animal housed in a community tank. now in what scientific journal will you be publishing the results?
there is zero in common with what you did and what scientists do. you wanted to see what happened when you purposefully harmed an animal in your care. your child-like wonderment and curiosity is admirable. grown ups grow up and leave the 'what ifs' to the experts.
all you needed to know could have been learned by reading a trade manual on crayfish aquaculture, you instead hurt this animal. i google-ed 'crayfish aquaculture', even spelling it incorrectly like you would have. i got 385,000 hits. so now, when your multibazillion dollar a year crayfish claw meat enterprise takes off, i want at least 10%. l
 
Largemouthbadbass;2012597; said:
I can't believe you cut it's pincer off just so you could keep it with fish.

You should keep stuff like this to yourself.
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This cray has been in this tank with these very same fish for nearly two years.

I did NOT do this just so I could keep them together.

I REALLY wish people would read the WHOLE thread before they pop off.


This cray will be executed when I shut this tank down anyway. I wanted to LEARN something before I did that. I could not find adequate info on the 'net and decided to find out for myself.


So you boneheads know, several people have sent me private messages and e-mails (some have stated that they fear explaining their opinions in public because of persecution) letting me know that they have done similar experiments and a couple people have even stated that they took the ENTIRE claws off and never considered just removing part of the claw.




When IGNORANCE gets promoted and the desire to gain information is suppressed - WHO wins?


And for what? To protect a measly sole crayfish that technically by law of my state of residence should already been killed?


I am not asking anyone to condone what I have tried. I'm not asking anyone to repeat my experiments. I am trying to open discussion - perhaps there are "other" ways of looking at things, hmmm?

We are talking about a species that IN NATURE will lose it's claws battling others for the right to reproduce. It is NATURAL for crayfish to lose appendages and grow new ones. I did NOT permanently disable this creature in order to LEARN something about a species I have enjoyed for the most of my life and will enjoy on a larger scale in the next few years.


This particular creature has lived a blessed existence. Fawned over and VERY well treated. If I weren't moving 2100 miles away and needing to shut my tanks down, I would keep the cray as a pet until it passed away.


Crayfish are an invasive species. They are not native to the waters of Arizona and they are overtaking native populations and endangering and eliminating native species in too many waterways around the world.


If I were to perform experiments on quagga or zebra mussels would there be any similar narrow-minded outcry?




Please, open your damned minds and read the whole scenario before sharing your willingness to judge others because you THINK you "love" these animals more than I do...
 
If I were to perform experiments on quagga or zebra mussels would there be any similar narrow-minded outcry?

yes.
just cuz an animal sucks doesnt mean we can play as rough as we want to with them.

it's your entire demeanor that is offensive. you're going to 'execute' this animal? i've had to put fish down before, but i never would have called it an execution. i mean the Guillotin wasn't even in public view. there was no entertainment value at all!

now i must please excuse myself. i'm going to go punch my dog in the nose just to see if she likes it.
 
yeah thats ****ed up dude. everyone said dont do it and for some reason you still had to? it really is that animals thumbs. try to live one day without your thumbs dickhead.
 
wow everyone is going off on this guy..im actually siding with him because i eat crawfish its actually my FAVORITE food!! every crawfish season we buy like 60lbs and boil them wityh corn and potatas and seasoning...its really good..all you peoples saying that ripping the claws off of one should try one...your missing out on some good food
 
Do you guys realize he is doing this because HE PLANS ON RAISING THEM FOR FOOD? The next time you have a steak dinner- remember the steer that provided it was probably castrated (no anesthesia) and horns removed. The chicken you eat has the beak and spur cut to prevent damage (no anesthesia). Let alone the conditions under which chicken are raised (crowded, hot and smelly). Most animals raised for food are not treated in the most humane way- otherwise no one could afford meat. I am not a vegetarian. Just remember the food you eat is treated way different from animals kept as pets. If you have a problem with altering an animal to prevent damage while being raised for food- BECOME A VEGETARIAN. Leave the rest of us carnivores alone.
 
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