New Crayfish

[Loulou]

Hello!

I got a crayfish yesterday...it's the first time that I'll be taking care of such an animal.

It's currently placed in a bare-bottomed 80x50x50 cm tank (200 L - approx. 51.41 US gallons). The tank has an overhead filter.

I have added a big elbow joint so that it can hide in.

The tank also contains 5 gouramis - I won't mind if it eats them though I don't think it'll be able to manage to catch them.

I've fed it fish food sticks and it seems to be happy with that (must press them to make them sink though).

Can someone please give me some advice about how to better take care of it?

Thank you.

 

[Loulou]

By the way, here's a picture of it in its previous tank:

 

[fishlvr]

Give her a substrate, give her food, and keep her home clean, and she'll be happy. Buy some sinking bottom-feeder sticks/pellets for her... less work on your part. As for your gouramis, she'll eat them while their asleep. Crawdads work the night shift, so you can just kiss them goodbye. I've had a 3" crawdad eat a 7" bass while it was asleep, so don't think that monster won't eat your gouramis.

I say "her" because I don't see any gonopods.

 

[Loulou]

Thank you, fishlvr.

I've just added a thin layer of fine gravel... she has already started digging it! Also added a few smooth black pebbles for decoration (will get some pictures soon).

So she's a female, eh? Hmm... glad to hear that!

Will try to get the sinking pellets...

Planning to vacuum the gravel and do a 50% water change every 3 days or so...guess that should do the trick...

As in regards to the gouramis...well... lol

 

[fishlvr]

I believe it is female from the pic. A clearer pic of the underside of the cray would be nice, and allow for definate sexing. Or you could check yourself. Males have gonopods, which are long, leg-like appendages going from the base of the tail up between the legs. Just google "sexing crayfish" and you'll get plenty of good websites with pics.

 

[mike dunagan]

growing up I had a crayfish as my only tank pet... I loved that thing... it died after a few years... this one looks nice...

 

[Loulou]

Got some more pics

 

[Loulou]

 

[Loulou]

 

[Liam]

Nice cray