Crawfish

Every now and then we get in interesting hitchhikers in with our feeder goldfish. Today I found a little crawfish about an inch long. I'm bringing him home and setting him up in a 14 as we have nowhere for him to go here at the store. I will post pictures soon.

Crawfish are often sold as feeder stock at the more specialized aquatic stores. I have two ecosystems with different species of crawfish - so have some experience with keeping them alive and healthy.

A few facts concerning the 'general red feeder crayfish' is that:

1. They prefer a diet of algae waifers and shrimp pellets.
2. They generally come out at night to scavage.
3. They need rocks to hide under and sand to dig into.
4. They are a primary fish food when they are small.
5. They generally won't mess with healthy fish that are a decent size bigger than they are. However, they LOVE to clean up any dead fish.
6. They generally won't mess with pecos or cories.
7. Some species are more sensitive to ammonia/nitrates than others.
8. Do NOT use any medication that contains copper - or any algaecide.
9. They are territorial, but as long as there's nice rocky 'dens' in every corner and plenty to eat - you can keep many of them in a 29-55G tank.
10. the red ones do not need a heated tank - whereas the blue ones (Florida natives) do need the water to stay above 72F.

I have some living happily with native minnows and brim mix. Also have some living happily with dinosaur bichirs and cories. They develop distinct personalities and are quite fun to observe. The only fish I'd keep them away from are ones the size of rosy minnows and under - as well as any large fish such as Oscars/African Cichlids.

Good advice

Thanks for all the awesome info! I'm not sure what kind he is. I'm not even sure what he eats. He ate a bit of flake food at the store, but I'll have to do some more research on him. Any info on what he is, care, and diet would be amazing!

Cute little guy!

I have the general red ones in my natural pond. They pinch quite hard if you aren't careful and accidentally pick one up in plants or something. I wonder if they hibernate in the winter. My water stays at 45degrees year-round though so winter is probably no different than summer for them.

He was in with our goldfish and feeder minnows which stay around 65. I'm not sure how long he's been there but its has to have been at least a week. Do they need any kind of salt, or is simple freshwater fine?

Common red feeder type. Those are omnivores (shrimp pellet/algae pellet mix is good), cold water variety. They are more sensitive to water quality and ammonia/nitrate levels than my Missouri Ringed Crayfish. Survive well in 'standard goldfish' conditions.

Can get up to 6-8" in size. Heard of them living a decade in captivity.

Wow! That's a big crawfish! So would he be fine in water temp around 70 or so? I'm setting him up on black gravel (its what I have on hand) with a fake branch decoration. I'll add more places for him to hide as soon as I can and I have tons of algae wafers. I have a variety of foods I can feed him. Will his color change at all? And how can I tell if he is male or female? (Sorry for all the questions)

Would he do well with some rosy red minnows?

Thanks so much for all the help.

He needs a mix of sand and gravel along with a rock to burrow under. Males have an extra set of what appears to be small legs under them. You can find a good anatomical chart or two on the internet since they are used heavily in biology classes for dissections.

He'll be ok with the minnows while he's very small, but may (ahem) rather enjoy them when he's big enough to catch them. Any weak/ill fish may be caught even when he's small.

I figured I'd put some minnows in there to have some "movement" in the tank and he can eat them as he pleases. Will something like this work?

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2753227&lmdn=Fish+Decor

Or is there a sand that works better? I will get him a rock to burrow under. Are there any plants I can keep with him or will he eat them? I was thinking anacharis (spelling) or something similar.

That'll be perfect sand. For a rock, just a simple piece of slate will work. Give him a few rounded pebbles so that he can build his fortress entrance.

I keep the Florida Blue crayfish in a planted tank and haven't seen much damage. Think they're busily trying to catch the feeder fish before the bichirs do. They are more of a omnivore-leaning-carnivorous crayfish species. They go after the shrimp pellets far more quickly than the algae pellets.

In the tank with the native coldwater crayfish I have bamboos. Haven't planted much else since the sunfish are listed as opportunistic herbivores. So I'm not sure how other plants would hold up to these crayfish. They are more herbivorous and relish the algae pellets. I would try some plants like water onion (your workplace should sell the little packs of bulbs) and java fern.

I'll definitely try those. Thanks! You have been so helpful. I wish these things ate pond snails. I have those coming out my ears!

I visited another Petsmart and got to see some of their crawfish they have living in their sumps. One was huge! At the 6-8 inch length what size tank do they require and can you house more than one in the same tank?

Perfect size to suck the head. Down here we love that size. Beer and boiled crawfish, You got me hungry now!

I don't want to eat him! I want to keep them as pets and possibly breed them one day.

ornate12 wrote:

Perfect size to suck the head. Down here we love that size. Beer and boiled crawfish, You got me hungry now!

. Thats what I'm talking about!

those guys dont know what they are MISSING... LOL

sorry but this post has been...............

CajunGator wrote:

cool.. let me know when you want some CAJUN SIZE crawfish...... mini lobsters.. soon to be crawfish season!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

if you are offering them live, oh heck yea, lol. Would love to throw 3-5 in one of my tanks

Do these guys eat pond snails? I brought home one and put it in with him and just went to feed him and found an empty snail shell.

They will pretty much eat anything they can catch. The bigger and more powerful the claws the more they will catch.

Cajun....are your crawfish bright red like that or just after they are cooked?

After we boil them they turn red! We put lots of spice!