I just found my poor colin the crayfish??:-(?

Question

I hadnt seen him in a couple of days, so lifted up his house where he lives in my tank and was pink and well dead and stank to high heaven, What happened to him, I put about 3 alge wafers in every night, but I have a medium sized pleco in there too , makes me think that pleco was pinching all the grub?? Colin the cray fish is really a blue lobster, well thats what they call it! Do you think he was starved to death, my water levels are perfect and cannot think of anythink else. He was also in a tank of 10 other malawi cichlids!! Why did colin dye??

Answer 1

I doubt that he starved. With his pinchers he would have been able to fight off any fish for food he wanted. I'm more inclined to agree that he was in the process of molting and was attacked. During this time the shell is soft and they're vulnerable. It's also possible that the pH wasn't high enough (although with African cichlids, it should have been), or that there wasn't enough calcium available for hardening the exoskeleton. It's also possible that he just got old. Their lifespan averages about 3 years.

Answer 2

Stress, I too had a cray fish he was a monster 5" and once even hitched a ride on my 4 inch Blood Parrot. He finally croaked just like yours did. He would always hide in his cave till finally he passed away. I would say the Cichlids picked on him and he felt threatened as he should. He more then likely starved in fear of being food for the other fish. Also the Mbunas Cichlids love Algae Wafers so maybe they ate his grub too.... Cichlids are great but I just Returned 45 to the Fish store and bought some German Rams instead. Much more peaceful......BTW the longest I had a Crayfish last or Lobster was 1 year. 2 years for Red crab so spending 25 bucks for a blue one is more then likely a waste of money, sorry about your loss.

Answer 3

he shed his exoskeleton due to extensive growth because of the good supply of food and your cichlids killed him. ive had that happen twice with my crayfish.