impulse buy

[Ieatyourfish]

i was in a lfs and saw "brown crayfish" they looked like ones plucked out of a river and they were dirt cheap, i picked two of them up without thinking about it. so of course i didn't start doing research till now. Any one have any tips or hints to caring for these guys. there both only about 2 inches and very very active. how often do they molt? does it matter what they eat? etc etc, any help would be great.

ps. pet care cites drive me nuts, i rather get info from people who have been there

 

[Fat Homer]

well, make sure they get enough calcium in their diet to help with molting... otherwise, feeding Shrimp/Cray Pellets, veggies, bits of meaty foods should be fine, since thats what i feed my Marble Crays and they all seem happy enough...

 

[Ieatyourfish]

cool thanks, i'm pretty sure they clean my entire tank from my vacation where the person left in charge over fed the one fish that was in that tank, so they work quick. really excited about these guys would you mind posting a pic of your marble? and i'll have to find my camera

 

[JML1997]

Be sure to have a good lid, Crayfish are escape artists..

 

[scalesandfins]

cool pickup

 

[mshill90]

Be sure to have a good lid, Crayfish are escape artists..

I must have gotten lucky.. I have 3 tanks with crays, and none have tanks- and no one has escaped.

 

[andyjs]

I must have gotten lucky.. I have 3 tanks with crays, and none have tanks- and no one has escaped.

Definitely lucky. In one of our display tanks at the hatchery where I used to work, we had a MONSTER swamp crayfish (a little over 8" including the claws). I first found him because a customer told me there was a lobster outside on the ground (can't really blame them, he was HUGE and pretty red). He had apparently somehow gotten into one of our 30,000 gallon outdoor tanks, probably how he got so big, and just decided to climb out one day. I put him in the display tank and it took about a week before I rigged the top so he couldn't get out. I had to re-find him and put him back probably 10 times haha

 

[pbass510]

how much were they for you to say cheap? and you can basically feed them everything especially meaty things

 

[Fat Homer]

sorry i've been busy at work, will try and get some pics of mine in the next few days...

 

[FAT daddy]

We fed our crayfish hornwort, or an aquatic plant that looked real similar to it but the ones at our table went all hannibal lector on each other. We kept ours in a simple sterilite bin or something like that.

Just eat them...