It will also affect their lifespan. Also, crayfish are natural-born scavengers. In nature, they mainly feed on vegetable debris, roots, dead insects, tadpoles, worms, larvae, etc. Nonetheless, even though they are omnivores and can eat almost anything, each species has its preferences.
Therefore, it is better to give them a good mix of meats and vegetation. Related articles:. Although most crayfish species are very hardy, there is no reason to test their limits. Therefore, if the tank is not cycled do not add the crayfish to cycle the tank.
High ammonia and nitrates can still harm them. Crayfish are excellent escape artists, they also like to explore every nook in the aquarium. As a result, they can fall and break their carapace or their gills will dry out. Generally, crayfish can live a few days out of the water and in a humid environment. To prevent that, it is good to have your tanks covered as much as you can. In addition, you can keep the water level slightly below the surface, it will make them harder to get out.
The absolute majority of crayfish species are aggressive, territorial, and very competitive. They can behave aggressively towards anybody on their territory. Obviously, it will only decrease their lifespan.
So, if you are planning to keep more than one crayfish in the tank, ideally, you need to introduce them to the tank all at the same time.
By doing so it can help to reduce the level of initial aggression. Otherwise, the first one is much more likely to view newer ones as invaders and immediately attack. Provide as many hiding places as you can and do your research on the species. Some dwarf crayfish are pretty peaceful. Here are typical lifespans of some well-known crayfish species. While the longest-lived crayfish is the Tasmanian giant, which lives a whopping 40 years, in captivity, an average crayfish species will usually live from 2 to 5 years.
To help them to reach these lifespans, just be sure to check their water weekly, feed them the proper diets of shrimp pellets, algae wafers, and veggies, and consider some protection and hiding places for molting. These little guys are not only beautiful but quite hardy, so as long as you invest a little time and care, you should be enjoying their antics for well into the foreseeable future!
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More and more aquarists start using this species in their terrarium, paludarium, and aquarium setups, owing Palm tree polyp Clavularia viridis is a unique, fascinating colonial coral that makes an excellent candidate for established reef aquaria. This species is also known as Clove polyp, and it Skip to content Also known as Crawdaddies and Mudbugs, Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans which are often quite colorful and always fun to watch.
Some wild crayfish species can live 10 times longer than a captive crayfish species. Do you want to know how long can your crayfish live? Crayfish can generally live for 2 to 3 years in captivity. In the wild, some species can live for up to 20 to 30 years! The lifespan of crayfish in captivity will depend on how are you taking care of it. If it lives in a proper habitat with proper environment, then the crayfish can easily live up to 3 years or even longer. However, with improper setup, the crayfish can die much sooner.
In order to ensure long lifespan of our crayfish, we need to know how to provide it the best habitat we can. If you can ensure these 5 factors, then hopefully your crayfish will live its life to the fullest! First you need to ensure proper tank size for the crayfish. Many people suggest to keep crayfish in a 5 gallon tank. Trust me, your crayfish can survive in a 5 gallon tank, but it will never be happy. You need at least a 10 gallon tank for keeping 1 crayfish.
If you can manage a 15 gallon tank, it will be better. However if you definitely need to keep 2 crayfish, add an additional 10 gallon for the second crayfish. Every aquatic pet needs its ideal environment to thrive. The best way to ensure the ideal environment is by ensuring the ideal water parameter ranges.
If the water parameters are right, your crayfish will thank you dearly! In general, crayfishes prefer these water parameter ranges. For any aquatic pet, Ammonia and Nitrite needs to be close to 0.
These compounds are very harmful for them. Crayfishes are not very demanding. What you can do after you collect the eggs: — put them in a fish net the one used to catch the fish in your aquarium and put in in front of the output spray bar if you have a canister filter -put them in a breeding net and place the net under the output of your HOB filter.
I had a canister filter and I used a fish net in front of the output spray bar to keep the eggs moving and aerated. Usually one or two small pellets is more than enough. Also, always check their cave during weekly cleanings, since they are known to horde food, and it can accumulate in their and foul the water. I just got an Australian Blue Lobster and I was wondering if I needed to put in some sort of bubble making machine? And how much I could fill my 10g tank upto?
Also, you can filter the tank to within about two inches of the top with no problem. This can be done by creating an environment where he can submerge or stay above the water if it chooses to at first. You can cause problems for it if air bubbles become trapped in the gills.
It all depends on the species. Cold water crayfish tend to only mate when they believe it is spring, while the tropical variants will usually mate every few months. I keep crayfish together with fish and they breed regularly. The orange ones, I find are the most passive.
The blue and white ones sometimes have a go at each other but will usually only take a pincer off. They very rarely catch a fish, even at night, because they are relatively slow moving.
If a fish is sick they will eat it. But healthy fish are usually safe. My larger fish even share wooden barrel hiding places tgether with crayfish and I havent lost one yet. Crayfish can also be trained to take the pellet from your fingers if you have enough patience and it impresses guests no end. That sounds really cool. Was it with electric blue crayfish? I may have to try that in the near future.
I posted a response to this elsewhere, but this is the thread I was searching for. Hand-feeding is indeed possible! I have three freshwater crayfish and they are amazing little critters. It took me about two weeks maybe even a little less to get them used to the idea, but now as soon as I put my hand in the water at feeding time, they come right out. It makes me feel pretty darn awesome that they now trust me enough to let me feed them.
But they are one of the most interesting aquarium pets to keep, and I would recommend them to almost anyone. Assuming that you are feeding it a high quality food spirulina, sinking pellets and vegetables , and keeping the water as clean as possible, you should add a fluorescent light to the tank. Many crayfish will become dull under an incandescent light, but a fluorescent light that mimics natural light can improve their colouring considerably.
We were wondering if it would make any sense to feed it with living bait, maybe a scrimp or clam? They definitely appreciate live food in their diet, and ghost shrimp are a good, cheap option to feed them. With that being said, depending on the size of the crayfish and the tank, they may have trouble catching the shrimp. But even if they do find a way to get at it, most clams would be too large to fully eat, and the leftovers would really foul the water. I would stick to live food, and maybe even try other aquarium staples like blackworms that are easy to obtain and feed.
Thanks a lot Robert. We have a 7 gallon tank, and it is about 8 cm long. It is pretty active and fast, but so are the shrimp I gues. Some good places to find crayfish are aquabid. Many local forums have a section where people trade and sell fish. I have purchased many on my more rare fish on my local forum. Also, many of the larger chains can custom order crayfish for you.
With that being said, the people I know who have used it, have been pretty happy with it. Another option is Kijiji which is quite popular here for that sort of thing, and the thing that I find the best is local fish forums. Most major cities will have a forum focused on the area, and you can usually find really great people through the forum. Good luck breeding your crayfish. I hope your successful. I have a red dwarf crayfish in a ten gallon with 6 guppy tank mates and i was wondering if i should buy him a protective one opening cave?
Thank you! And if you want to save money on a cave, you can always do it yourself. This creates a very affordable cave, and it will grow a thin layer of algae on it to give it that natural look. Both of these ideas will cost under 5 dollars. What fish go well with a crayfish he killed all guppies and the tetra neon and the ale guppy survived but if ii start over what fish would go well with him in my 10 gallon.
He also was making my Neons part of his diet- so I moved them to another tank. He does alright with the other two varieties- I was told because they are faster moving. Hope that helps! A crayfish will kill anything you put in with it. Fish, snails, or shrimp in there with her would be like putting a lizard in a closed cage with our cat. If you don't care about the lizard, okay … or, as long as the lizard can adequately hide, okay … All fish are bait to a crayfish.
Unless you are very lucky and get a very peaceful crayfish, eventually it will catch and eat anything in its tank. A lot of people disagree with me, but I always recommend crayfish only tanks.
I have 2 large adult crays in my 40 breeder tank and have found that they will ALWAYS hunt fish, but if I supply small feeder minnows or guppies for them to hunt and eat, they leave my larger fish alone. My son bought a crawfish for his 20 gallon aquarium that also contains goldfish. Its been about six months with no problems even during moulting.
My question is now she seems to be loaded with eggs. She is a solo crawfish. Will the eggs hatch? If you have one of those species, then the eggs may be viable. What is far more likely though, is that the crayfish is producing non-viable eggs. I am considering getting a pair of electric blue crawfish for my community G. I never overpopulate with fish, have 2 magnum filters and undergravel with 4 model 5 pumps. If just the one pair would let some of the offspring survive, I would prefer that.
Thank you so much for your input, I just found the site and I am fascinated so far. What I can say is that more people have success keeping electric blue crayfish with fish than many of the other species. Eventually, the crayfish will start to pick off fish, or the fish will get the crayfish during a molting. The key to crayfish survival is giving them numerous caves and hiding places.
The more places that they have to hide, the better their chances of not being cannibalized by other crayfish or eaten by the fish during molting. Hello Robert I have a blue lobster and he likes to climb the decorative plants and water filter to try to get to the top of the water almost looks like he is trying to escape, is the behavior normal? All crayfish are born escape artists, and they will constantly try to find a way out.
Before I started carefully covering my crayfish tank, I used to come home to crayfish running around in my basement. Hey guys!
I was wondering if anyone knew if it would be safe the have 1 crayfish and maybe 2 small creek chubs together in a 10g tank? Creek chubs are a surprisingly tough fish, but you still take a risk when you put fish and crayfish together. Eventually, either the crayfish, or the fish will likely get injured or eaten. Though in some cases, you can get lucky and keep them together in a well set up aquarium.
You should also know that creek chubs get really large. An average creek chub can grow up to 12 inches in length, and will soon need a much larger tank than 10 gallons. For adult creek chubs you need something along the lines of 55 gallons at the bare minimum.
I find them a lot more interesting than most of the tropical fish out there. I would make sure to have a large tank, with plenty of hiding places for them. I would recommend at least 29 gallons, though larger would be better.
How long do they mate for. I have to crayfish that have been clutched together for over two hours now. In my experience, it tends to last about half an hour. But all kidding aside, if they mate for too long you should try to separate them.
Sometimes the mating goes wrong, and the male gets increasingly frustrated and may kill the female. Though hopefully by now, things will have worked themselves out in your aquarium. I have a little crawfish and shes been laying on her back for about a week. At first I figured she was molting, but after a few days and no progress Im a little worried. She will flip herself right side up, crawl around for awile and then flip back over.
Last night she was zooming around and then all the sudden just flipped onto her back. Today I offered some food and she chowed down, but now shes on her back again. Any ideas? The general consensus is that this is caused by iodine deficiency. I would immediately pick up a marine iodine supplement, and begin to add it to your crayfish tank. My blue crayfish had babies about a week ago. A good majority of them are still hanging out under her tail, but there are a bunch that have left her and are moving freely about the tank.
Should I be moving her away from the babies now? I would remove the parent as soon as possible. It sometimes helps to subdivide the fry into separate tanks based on size. That reduces the cannibalism a fair bit. I have a red swamp crayfish,i heard that we have to find the ideal temperatures,but the problem is my aquarium is warmer,how to cool it down? Also,how to clean a sand gravel?
There are three main ways to cool down an aquarium. The first is relocating it to a cooler part of the house. The second is to limit the amount of sunlight that the room and aquarium receive.
If neither of those would work, then you can set up a fan to blow across the surface of the aquarium. This will help to dissipate some heat. As for the sand, just hover the gravel hose a few centimeters above the surface, and it will pick up the waste without the sand. You may need to experiment a little bit, but the waste will always be lighter than the sand. There could be several reasons for this. It may be stress, water quality, or nutrition. I would start with checking your water quality, and looking for sources of stress other crayfish, aggressive fish, etc.
If that seems fine, I would try a marine iodine supplement, to see if that helps at all. I got two crawfish from the WARF can I put them in my 29 gallon tank with my goldfish,gubbies,black mollies,neonfish. A slow fish like goldfish would become a quick meal for the crawfish. And this is sentiment that is pretty widely shared by other aquarists. They are a cold water fish, and if the temperature is too warm, for too long, they will start to suffer nerve damage, and may die.
If at all possible, I would transfer them to a cold water tank as soon as possible. I would recommend a minimum of 19 litres at the minimum. And then it would only keep very young hatchlings alive.
In my experience, you start to experience massive cannibalism by the time they reach about a centimeter in crowded conditions. It all depends on what country you are in. However, with that being said, you can often find very cheap, very basic aquariums at any of the major chain stores.
Ignore the big kits that cost cost dollars. I know in Canada, you can purchase a setup like this for about 25 dollars. The sponge filter is about 15 dollars and the aquarium about 10, and then I use play sand for the substrate and river rocks to create caves. Very cheap, and yet still a great place to keep crayfish. Some turtles enjoy eating crayfish, but those are mostly larger ones like snappers.
Do you have a turtle in mind for keeping them with? My crayfish is being still for the second day now, he moves a little bit and than freezes like dead, also his eyes start to seem blurry. Before a molt, its common for it to really slow down, and it will most likely try and find a hiding place soon. Beyond that, just make sure that your water quality is alright, and continue to try and feed it a high quality food removing any excess, since they tend to stop eating before a molt.
Thank you for the reply! Water quality is ok. My money is on it becoming ready for a molt. My crayfish would often get cloudy eyes right before a molt. Keep an eye on it though just to be on the safe side. You can tell from the filaments protruding from between the plates. I have a red clarkii crayfish and it has molted…. It is blue now! Is that a common thing? I cant seem to find info about a red crayfish turning blue on the internet. The decorations in the tank are all red, and the gravel is black.
I dont know if this has anything to do with the color of the crayfish. I have one shrimp in the tank with it, and nothing else. I hope you can give me an answer on this topic. I wish that I could help you with this one. It definitely makes the crayfish a lot more desirable though. I only saw this site on pintrist today March 3, but if you are still there I have also had red crayfish turn blue. I heard that if common crayfish like the ones I caught in my local river are more red when the water is colder and more blue when the water is warmer.
So it will get bluer after each molt if the water is kept at normal room temperature. At least that has been my experience. Shrimp pellets should make up most of their diet.
But you should also add blanched vegetables and frozen fish food too. As for the fish food, I occasionally offer cubes of bloodworms and brine shrimp to mine. If they are breeding, you may also want to consider adding a marine iodine supplement that you can pick up at fish stores. Just be careful having that many crayfish though, unless you have a huge aquarium.
I have 5 red 3 white and 2 blue with the 1 white one having eggs on her back, when she still with the other crayfish, she eat her own egg by pick it up from her back. So i move her to new aquarium, she always climb my pipe and then she fell, will the egg hatch?
Crayfish will often eat their eggs if they are stressed. I would expect that the eggs will still hatch, as long as they were fertilized in the first place. She chilled out quickly. Still waiting on the rest of the eggs to hatch. I separated my female into her own tank last night as he young were being released. I last looked at her around 1am and all was still good she was still releasing them but when I checked again at am the female had de clawed herself and all the young were dead with half still attached to mum.
What did I do wrong or why do you think this has happened. I wish that I knew. Was the water treated, and how did you introduce it to the tank? I have a white crawfish, female. She just went through her second molt. Her first one white and her second one blue, Im not sure what this means, some kind of nutritional deficiency?
Also, she seemed to have injured her claw. Ive heard of them declawing themselves in certain situations, was this injury or stressed based? The injury during molting is a far more common problem. While there are numerous possible reasons as to why this may have happened, the most common one is that there is an iodine deficiency in your crayfish. In most countries you can order it online. And if it really becomes a problem, just make your own fish food and use it for crayfish food.
There are numerous great recipes online, and most of them will still work well for crayfish. You may want to reduce the amount of shellfish and fish in the recipes slightly though, and increase the amount of vegetables. Ladies and Gentle, please advise??? Just keep the tank clean, and her well fed, and assuming that the eggs are viable, they should hatch in the near future.
After they hatch, and the hatchlings become free moving, you should the mother from the tank. I saved my crayfish from my biology class. He is a 3 inches long and mostly brown with a touch of red. I bought him a 1 gallon tank with a filter, lid, a hollow rock to hide in and a fake plant to climb up.
I have been feeding him blood worms, lettuce and carrots. He was covered in a fuzzy fungus so I used Pimafix to treat it -per the reccomndation of the pet Co employee. He has barely moved since day 6 of the 7 day treatment. Could the treatment be causing this? I have had him for 8 days now and he was fine before! Treatments like Pimafix can be very hard on even healthy invertebrates.
It may be that the crayfish is just having a hard time recovering from the treatment, so you may just need to give it time.
Just keep offering it high quality food, and keep the aquarium clean. Good luck. What do we need to keep it? At the very least you need a 5 gallon container of some sort. Then you will need to add a filter. Probably the cheapest and easiest to find is a sponge filter, though you have to watch out for it crawling up the air hose. If you do that, then it should be happy and healthy. Are there any household foods i could give it until im able to get some pellets?
I put a couple leaves of lettuce in the container a few hours ago but so far it hasnt touched it. Also how often should it be fed? Some of their favorite foods in my experience are lightly boiled zucchini or cucumber medallions, boiled broccoli florets and shelled peas.
You can also offer very small amounts of salt water fish ie. Also, they generally prefer to feed at night, although they can be trained to be fed very early in the morning, or later in the evening. I know mine tend to be most active after the lights go out in their tank. Move female dwarf crayfish with eggs — How to Can I move the female dwarf crayfish with eggs to a different tank?
Any advice would be appreciated. You can move her, but it can be hard on your crayfish to move it into an uncycled tank.
If you move her, then you will need to change the water daily, at least until the conditions stabilize. Also, you may want to find a more gentle way to move her. If possible, try using a large container to gently move her out of her tank.
A net may be too hard on her and the eggs. Robert, thanks for all your crayfish knowledge. I am a third grade teacher and we teach with the FOSS kits.
For the first time, we found a mama on Tuesday morning with eggs. We had worked with her on Monday so we have a pretty good indicator when the eggs were laid. Today, Thursday, we came to school to find another mama putting eggs under her tail.
Pretty fascinating We have them in tubs so the kids can see them and work with them. We move them to a separate basin to feed them except for elodea in their containers. I have separated the mothers. How often should I feed them? Will the babies be okay in the basins as long as I put in homes and things for them to hide under??? The sad part is we will probably be out of school before any of them hatch.
They should be fed every day, but you will always need to searched for any food they have hidden during the weekly water changes and cleaning. We have a blue crayfish and we are getting ready to move, we have planned on rehomeing things out of our 30 Gallon tank. It is a big move.. A good rule of thumb is that a crayfish will try to eat anything that it shares a tank with — be it plant or animal. I hope this helps.
We have three freshwaters and I wanted to confirm that this is indeed true — I hand feed them all! Hey my blue crawfish had no then mate and all of a sudden it had a sack of eggs weeks pasted and it buried the eggs after that the eggs turn pink? And the crawfish died what do I do with the pink eggs? This is especially true since they were discarded by the female. However, on the off chance that some might still hatch, the only thing to do in this situation is to keep the aquarium water clean, and watch and wait.
When I bought my blue crawfish, it was alone in a tank with a lot of tropical fish. Months had past since I had him and all of a sudden my blue crawfish had a black sack of eggs.
The tank I had my crawfish was a 15 gallon, with two neon tetras. So my crawfish ended up burying the eggs after a while the eggs stated to turn pink, my crawfish ended up dying a few weeks later, but the pink eggs are still there what should I do? I have a really ill crayfish she is beautiful but has been itching like mad the last week and running around the tank like she is trying to climb out.
Within the past few years, however, researchers have discovered that lobsters have teeth in their stomach that persist through all of the molts. These teeth have lines akin to tree rings, which can help decipher the lobster's age. Researchers are determining how these lines are formed, and whether the temperature of the water influences their appearance or growth rate.
For instance, if a lobster spends time atop a seamount an underwater mountain where the water is warmer, and then returns to the colder water on the ocean's bottom, does that influence the growth rings on its stomach teeth, Matthews wondered. But though there is much to learn about lobsters, one fact is clear: They don't live forever, he said. Original article on Live Science.
Laura is an editor at Live Science.
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