New crayfish

[TwistedPenguin]

Mine is the Orange variant, which comes in everything from a cream-orange coloration (usually obtained when breeding and Orange to a White cray) to a near red orange (usually obtain when breeding vivid orange to vivid orange). You can find these periodically on eBay, Aquabid and on the sale/buy sections of Crayfishmates.com and Bluecrayfish.com. But that aside, you may want to throw some feeders in with your cray just because they do seem to enjoy "the hunt" but yea, nothing you don't want to potentially be a snack in there with him. And in a 20g, you could add another crayfish (general rule of thumb 1 cray per 10gal) without much issue. Just give them both plenty of places to hide away when they want. Don't add a bright blue one unless you know it's the P. clarkii (the normal bright blue ones sold are P. alleni, very aggressive and C. quadricarinatus, which will get too large for a 20g).
The last species on this page is the one you have, just a different color:
http://www.crazycrays.com/crayfish.html
White version of yours:
http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fwinverts&1247509810
Deep red version:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Lobster-Red-Cri...0?hash=item3ef1e3bdd3&_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116
They're all around, and plenty of colors (especially if you can find someone who's catching wild types). You can also try adding a few other species, just be mindful that some won't play well together so it's generally avoided all together. If you're going to try, remember no Australian/Indo species (any species that starts with "Cherax") as they are highly susceptible to diseases/parasites that our crays may be carrying and immune to (and vice versa).

I'm on my way to the links right now Those are the 2 sites I joined yesterday. The cray I just got is in a 30 g, the 20 g long tank is where I was going to put a 2nd cray (by himself). I would like to be able to put more than 1 together though. But I was under the understanding they'd kill each other. I might try putting a 2nd male in the 30 g, if they don't get along I'll put that 2nd one in the 20 g Long tank. Great info to have about the parasites, that thought had occurred to me. Maybe multiple Marble crays would be able to live together in the 20 long tank.

 

[TwistedPenguin]

Black Sun, I didn't realize you could BUY all those different kinds of crays that easily online. crazycrays.com is one heck of a sight. I'm going to copy and paste here but I want a 'Cherax destructor albidus' or a 'Cherax quadricarinatus'. I want one pretty bad. They get big-could I put one in a 36"x18"x18" tank? It says they can get up to 14", would that be enough room? It also says that species can live in groups, how big of a tank would I need for 2? I hate to take advantage of you but you've got such good info and I'm just betting you know specifics on those 2 crays! (Plus I'm trying to suck up really bad lmao)

 

[black_sun]

But I was under the understanding they'd kill each other.

Depends on a lot of variables: Species, tank size, tank set up, food availability, individual personality, gender, etc. For the one you have now, that's a species that can be kept together in small numbers successfully provided you give them enough space to establish individual territories and hides, and feed them regularly. M:F (male to female/M:F) coupling works best, but if you don't want offspring F:F is generally a little easier to maintain than M:M, but M:M will work out fine too in most cases (someone just generally gets bullied into submission a bit first while establishing who is "alpha" more or less).

Maybe multiple Marble crays would be able to live together in the 20 long tank.

Marmorkrebs are an extremely passive species, multiples are easily kept together even in smaller confines. I love mine, they're so personable and neat! <3

 

[black_sun]

Black Sun, I didn't realize you could BUY all those different kinds of crays that easily online. crazycrays.com is one heck of a sight. I'm going to copy and paste here but I want a 'Cherax destructor albidus' or a 'Cherax quadricarinatus'. I want one pretty bad. They get big-could I put one in a 36"x18"x18" tank? It says they can get up to 14", would that be enough room? It also says that species can live in groups, how big of a tank would I need for 2? I hate to take advantage of you but you've got such good info and I'm just betting you know specifics on those 2 crays! (Plus I'm trying to suck up really bad lmao)

Oh yea, and there's still a ton more sites out there. Check out Aquascapeonline.com, Liveaquaria.com, etc. Run google searches, check your local craigslist, etc. There's a bunch of different crays to be found easily with the help of the net.

Ooo C. albidus is an impressive species, best kept singly or in M:F pairs if the tank is large enough. But they're really, really awesome as adults.

C. quads are one of my favorites. They get big, they're beautiful and they're fairly passive (check out my male in my album, he's a beast). These you can keep very easily in groups.

Anyway, that size tank is good enough for a pair of either species. The jumbos don't really show up that often unless you're buying a certain strain (walkamin strain, which is really more food industry than pet). The albidus will max out around 8", so the tank is definitely good. And the quads usually max around 10/11", so it's also good. You might consider a little more space for them, but being social it isn't as necessary since they'll overlap with each other rather peaceably.

And ha, you're going to see even bigger cray-zies on those other sites. Watch! lol And we all seem to love talk up a storm if you get us going, lmao

 

[TwistedPenguin]

Oh good! That gives me quite a few options then I've got a 30 g Long in the kitchen that only has a Firemouth in it now, I think I'll put the Firemouth in one of my big tanks and put Cray(s) in there. Now to decide which ones.....

 

[Lupin]

Iodine is really more of an unnecessary additive in FW aquariums. And I believe it's the same for SW, but with more debate around it. The Iodine that animals (in this case, crayfish) need for their systems should be obtained easily enough from the foods they're consuming. In fact, a big part of the debate is that the higher you go up in terms of an aquatic animals sophistication, the less ability it has to take Iodine from the water itself.

Also, keep in mind that there are issues with toxicity with Iodine, so if you're going to add it make sure someone gives you what appears to be a reasonable amount or an amount that they can back up with scientific fact.

But, not being the end all (not even close! lol) on this subject, I'll let Lupin, Yabba, etc chime in with better info now lol. This was really more of "I've never added it and every species of cray I have has done well" kind of thing xD

Well, Iodine is definitely needed. An Iodine deficiency causes issues with the exoskeleton in terms of molting. But again, the argument becomes that they should be obtaining it from their food or edible supplement because the ability to obtain it from the water directly is not proven in higher species.

Actually, Black_sun, you are correct. A lot of people keep crayfish successfully without adding iodine solution in the tank but traces of iodine (formed by both iodide and iodate) can often be found in seafoods that we feed to our fish and invertebrates which is why adding iodine supplements isn't all that necessary.

And this one may be offtopic but table salt often has both iodine and potassium iodide. The potassium iodide is added to render the iodine water-soluble. Almost all our food do not have trace amounts of iodine which is why we needed the iodized salt added.

I dunno why I even bother wasting my time studying the iodine and its chemical reactions and toxicity. My head is about to burst just from studying the chemical reactions. More information can be found here.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/mar2003/chem.htm

 

[TwistedPenguin]

Thanks for the iodine info-all 3 of you. I never was one to blindly do things just because someone says to (or not to). It's a lot more fun and interesting to hear all 11 sides (lol!) and then decide for myself. Thanks for the link, I'm on my way!
PS I've arranged tanks (thankfully I'm an understocker) and I've now got 2 more 30 g tanks that I can put crays in If I had anymore floor space I could set up other tanks in storage. Better get those triple tank stands built......

 

[black_sun]

And this one may be offtopic but table salt often has both iodine and potassium iodide. The potassium iodide is added to render the iodine water-soluble. Almost all our food do not have trace amounts of iodine which is why we needed the iodized salt added.

That reminds me, somewhere on here of MFK a bunch of us did lists of foods that contain Iodine and how much. It was constructed during another one of these Iodine "wars", to act as kind of "Here, here's possible alternatives to using certain foods over water additives" type thing. Do we still have that around any place? Some people got really in depth, even citing certain areas, farms, countries, fish species, etc in which Iodine was shown to be in higher forms in.

I dunno why I even bother wasting my time studying the iodine and its chemical reactions and toxicity. My head is about to burst just from studying the chemical reactions. More information can be found here.

Hey, someone has to. It might as well be the all knowing mod, we all love and adore! (I suck up more than a Hoover, don't I? lol) No, but really. It's nice when you chime in because you're one of the few people with the experience, extensive studying, sources, etc going on. Keep studying, just uh... don't let your head burst, ya know?

 

[TwistedPenguin]

Black Sun, like I told Lupin elsewhere-I feed tiny chunks of human grade 100% spirulina to my Plecs once a week or so and it has lots of iodine in it. I'm going to do the same for the crays. Then I just won't have to worry about putting it in the water.

 

[ProblEmZ]

I haven't added any iodine to my marble cray tank. And i've had several molts and just this last week had a marble cray drop her second spawn. Crazy seeing those little buggers flying all over the tank. Still ahve some of their older brothers and sister still around too.

My pike loves Marble crayfish heh