looking for a big cray

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rba718

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 15, 2008
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Miami, FL
I have a 120 gallon freshwater tank that's running but empty right now. I'm thinking of stocking it with a crayfish but I'd like something big. I've kept smaller crayfish before like those blue ones you see everywhere so I have some experience with keeping it and it would basically be alone in the tank. There's also plenty of hiding spots as well as long fake plants partly for looks but also for shade.

What would you guys suggest for a big cray? I'd like something maybe 7+ inches or more.

Thanks in advance.
 
I believe that a lot of North American crayfish can grow of to 8 inches! and if you want huge, the Tasmanian giant fresh water crayfish can grow up to 30 inches but they are endangered!
 
Inglorious said:
Go to a large supermarket and look in the seafood section to see if they sell live lobsters
Click to expand...

I actually wanted to do that a while back but those lobsters typically need chillers which tend to go for around 500$ or more which I can't do right now unfortunately. Though I'd love to do it.
 
rba718 said:
I actually wanted to do that a while back but those lobsters typically need chillers which tend to go for around 500$ or more which I can't do right now unfortunately. Though I'd love to do it.
Click to expand...
and north American lobster can grow up to 40 lbs!
 
Redclaw get decent size on them and easy to breed. Probably too warm in Florida for marron (not sure if you can get them in USA) and don't think things like Murray cray would ever be available either.
 
as far as i know there are no really big NA crayfish species. when i say a crayfishes length i mean just the body. the biggest you will probably get is 4 maybe 5 inches. the biggest freshwater crayfish are cherax and Euastacus(spiny) species. the spiny species are the largest freshwater species there are, but afaik only native to australia and mostly endangered and almost never sold.

cherax destructors get big and bulky. as much as 7 inches just counting eyes to tail, so about 10 in all. cherax quadricarinatus can get a little longer but they are not as "bulky" although the males claws are fairly thick, the females are thin. destructors look like lobsters, huge claws.

i myself have a breeding pair of true blue morph quads about 6 inches each (where the red would be on the claws is totally transparent) all the normal dots are white, their bodies are blue and they breed true.

i also have 2 pairs of blue pearl destructors. you might see that i like blue crayfish hehe.
 
The biggest North American (and Central American) species you're going to find is only going to have a body length of about 6", and those will be old individuals that won't live too much longer. Look into some of the Australian Cherax species (the Indos will be smaller), you'll find some impressive monsters there. The Walkamin strain of the Cherax quads get very large, the main supplier of them isn't too far away from you actually.
 
What about a prawn? I have one that's around 10", and is a very cool animal. Extremely hardy, and a purpose built killing machine. He will eat 2 feeder comets @ the same time. My lfs has one around 18" and they sell them for about $2/ doz. Throw them all in and start feeding them. The largest one will eat the others eventually. Mine grew from 3/4" to a foot in a matter of a few months. Way more entertaining than crays. Ps, this is my first post on MFK and I would like to say thank u to everybody for your hard work and for helping to keep our hobby alive! God bless-
 
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