PLEASE HELP ME (crayfish)?

Question

please help me if you know anything about crayfish please let me know i know that it sounds wierd to keep themm as pets but if theres anything that you know about keeping them for pets, let me know, so far i have a 10gallon tank 1 qaurter filled with wath and a few stone in the bottom i also have some rocks raising out of the water so they can lay there THANKS SO SO MUCH

Answer 1

I've kept plenty of native crayfish. I don't see anything wrong in having them as pets, although you do need to be careful if you have them with fish - one or the other will end up as a meal for the others (dwarf crayfish may be an exception to this).

As long as you have an airstone or filter (better) you can fill the tank up, but I'd have a screen or lid on the tank first. Crayfish are amazingly good at climbing air tubing and power cords to escape. They can also live outside the water as long as the gills stay moist (and this can be several hours, so you have to hunt everywhere if one goes missing).

You should have a lot of hiding spots (stones they can burrow under, or glasses/flowerpots/vases turned on their sides or cave ornaments for hiding. This is especially important if you're going to try to keep more than one - they will be territorial and aggressive with each other, and when one molts, the others may attack and kill it while it's vunerable.

They'll eat almost anything, so any sinking food suitable for fish is good, and they also like frozen fish foosd (bloodworms, brine shrimp, etc.). They also take some plant matter in their diet.

In order to make and harden their exoskeletons, they need certain lipids (fats) and minerals (calcium and magnesium are especially important), so be sure to add an occassional piece of shrimp or other crustaceans to their food. They also tend to do better if the water is slightly alkaline - if there's any blue to their natural coloration, higher pH also brings out their colors better. But they're able to live in pH down to 6 (some species can go even lower).

Overall, they're fairly easy to care for, just be sure to do partial water changes weekly (about 25% each week) as you would for fish.

Answer 2

Crayfish dont need any access to land so fill that tank up! :P

Make sure you give them sinking food pellets

They like sand or fine gravel with lots of hiding places

They usually eat any fish in the aquarium or will try to

They will probably destroy any plants in their tank

They will almost certainly need an airpump

They are great when they are happy

Keep them at 20*C (68 farenheit)

Most can swim and can climb up airline tubing so make sure they dont escape

Dont keep too many in a small space or they will fish a lot and kill each other

If you see them with missing limbs it doesnt matter as they will grown back or not affect it too much :P

Answer 3

Everything I can think of has been covered. Tight lid, air pump, places to hide, sinking pellets. You can also put some feeder guppies in there. They will help cycle the tank and every now and then a craw-daddy will get lucky and snag one.
I loved it when I kept them, especially the fights.

Answer 4

also know that these creatures are very mean they will kill eachother and anything else you put in the tank. they are also very curious and have a tendency to clime out of the tank. i had one that climbed out of his tank and disappeared for about a month, only to find him in my shoe. I of course didnt know he was in there until he pinched my foot lol that is a true story. So keep a close eye on him, they also like live food, or even frozen, i gave mine brine shrimp often.
Hope that helps

Answer 5

keep a tight fitting lid on your tank. My brother had a bunch of crayfish in a tank and one morning he got up and they were skittering all over the floor.

Answer 6

well you might want to add some vegitation, some plants.....
my brother use to have to as pets....it's not weird, it's something you like! lol
so i would add some plants and if they are small not the big ones you can go to a pet store or some walmarts that have little fish homes i know they like to hide in those.....
and one thing that my brothers liked were those buble things i don't know hwat they are called they look like treasure chest and they blow bubbles up...i know they love those
hope this helps!!!

Answer 7

You might want to join the forum below and ask there.