View Full Version : 10g Lobster?
ChilDawg
08-25-2003, 4:50 PM
Those little blue lobsters at Wal-Mart have intrigued one of my suitemates. Knowing as little as I do about Crustacea, I was wondering if they worked for his 10g tank...also, what should he feed them? TIA,
Matthew
PumaWard
08-25-2003, 4:52 PM
I think it's actually a crayfish, but I'm not sure. If it is it should be fine in a 10. Crayfish really don't move a whole lot and usually don't get larger than 6 inches.
Make sure it has a little cave or something as they like to make a little home. I am pretty sure they are well known for eating fish that get too close.
ChilDawg
08-25-2003, 5:54 PM
I guess that I neglected to mention that I had already told him that he can't have fish in with the crustacean...
I saw a bunch of the little guys at a pet store and was interested...a website with lots of blue crayfish info is www.bluecrayfish.com (http://www.bluecrayfish.com)
Bear
ChilDawg
08-25-2003, 9:42 PM
There's a website devoted to those? Cool, thanks, Bear! Gonna go check it out now!!!
GoLdFiSh_GrL
08-25-2003, 9:47 PM
i've raised crayfish b4! i hav TONS of experience!!!! ask me n e thing!
ChilDawg
08-25-2003, 10:13 PM
What'd you feed them?
How big of a tank for them?
Where'd you get them?
GoLdFiSh_GrL
08-25-2003, 10:24 PM
i got them @ a nearby river next 2 my house
i had a 20gal. 4 2 of them
& i fed them... i don't remember... i think it was fish food pellets...
i got them wen they were young... they hadn't grown their claws yet. so they fully grew & were healthy w/ the sinkable fish food pellets... they seemed 2 lyk it 2
Dragon_Lord_Tia
08-26-2003, 3:44 AM
oh here we call them blue marrons not that interesting IMO but i would feed them anything realy bottom dwelling fish or peices of meat
ChilDawg
08-26-2003, 6:47 AM
You wanna hear something funny? He said lobsters were cheap at Wal-Mart and I assumed he meant the crawdads...he thought that we could fit a Maine lobster in an unchilled 10g...yikes!
LOL!! Oh ChiliDawg...it's so nice to see you here again!!
I was wondering, how much are the blue crayfish he was looking at?
ChilDawg
08-26-2003, 7:26 AM
I'm sure they're only $4 max...the lobsters were a little more!
Thanks for the welcome, Lila! It's great to be back! :)
Wippit Guud
08-26-2003, 8:31 AM
Great, now I'm hungry... and the fall season doesn't open for another week...
GoLdFiSh_GrL
08-26-2003, 6:18 PM
don't feed them, meat, its bad 4 them... trust me... 1ce i gav them meat & i had 2 change the water of the whole 10gal. tank!!!!
Non-fatty dry meat such as chicken is a perfectly acceptable part of the diet of crays, as is fish. But land- source foods should not the primary diet. Nor should any food be given in sufficient quantity or left in the tank long enough to foul the water.
GoLdFiSh_GrL
08-26-2003, 8:47 PM
yup! RTR is ryt
Casper
08-28-2003, 1:37 AM
I have a blue lobster aka crayfish/crawdad.. :)
and he cost me $30.00 and I have him in a 10 gallon with a small cave and he uses his pinchers to carry rock and he has made a block to one of the entry ways to the cave..lol
I feed him Shrimp Pellets. :)
valerie
08-28-2003, 1:34 PM
I used to have a regular brown crayfish(blues are 20$) in a 15g. His name was dr. pinchy, he was really cool. I had some zebra danios in with him to see if he would catch any. He never did but they sure got him out of his cave, he was always out stalking them.
I fed him shrimp pellets,any sinking pellets, veggies, flake food, pieces of chicken and shrimp, worms.Basically anyhtign will do.I also added clipping from my planted tnak as I loved to watch him shred them up.
I seemed to have a good one as he didn't kill fish or kill the plants i put in(he shreded clipping but not the plants in his tank?weird). Some crayfish can't be kept with anything or usually hide all the time or esacpe from the tank.
If you have the room they are great pets, I would get one again.
ps: the only thign i had trouble with was temp, some species like cooler temps and some like tropical temps. Except at teh LFS they dont' tell you what species you have. I just kept mine around 75degrees
ChilDawg
08-28-2003, 2:34 PM
And I may well get one even if Josh doesn't. Thanks for the info, all! :)
If I decide to get one, I'll outline the tank plans here just to make sure that I got it right.
dethjam316
08-28-2003, 4:03 PM
Originally posted by Casper
I have a blue lobster aka crayfish/crawdad.. :)
and he cost me $30.00 and I have him in a 10 gallon with a small cave and he uses his pinchers to carry rock and he has made a block to one of the entry ways to the cave..lolmine is constructing the crayfish equivalent of the great pyramids! he's been molting with renewed ferocity since i've moved to florida (probably just because of increased metabolism due to warmer room temps since his tank is unheated), and i believe he is plotting to take over the world. HAIL BITEY!
ChilDawg
08-28-2003, 4:08 PM
Note to self: get crayfish after moving to FL...not before! :)
dethjam316
08-28-2003, 5:22 PM
i believe there is a reasonable probability that bitey will soon develop a rudimentary system of writing and, after that, who knows! the sky is the limit for his size and intelligence. he seems to be evolving at an alarming rate, and i'm just trying to stay in his good graces, so that when he emerges from the primordial stew (ie, his tank) and takes to the land and conquers (read: eats) all in his path i myself am not devoured.
Frameshift
08-29-2003, 1:38 AM
I've gone through more crawdads than I can count...
http://pic6.picturetrail.com/VOL154/1404506/2675645/32756723.jpg
http://pic6.picturetrail.com/VOL154/1404506/2675645/32756718.jpg
They are a great clean up crew for a messy tank, they eat anything, dead plants, live plants, dead fish, live fish, any prepared foods, any fish deficate (yes, even that!). The ones that survived the longest seemed to prefer the shrimp pellets I feed my bristlenoses.
Be forewarned - if there is any way to escape the tank they will. They climb plants, cords, anything. If they do get out they always seem to make it to the one spot far away from the tank that you don't think of checking and then die.
They are an awesome live food source. No invertabrate to vertabrate parasites to worry about, high in color producing agents, and the ones that live for a while eat the dead pieces! Out of at least fifty these past two months I'm down to four I think.
This one was the biggest I've ever caught...each claw was about 3" and "it" (on a side note, anyone know how to breed these guys?) was 7" long. Didn't even fit in my hand. He lasted two months until he got caught out of his log one morning. The oscars only ate "its" tail, as it was all they could fit in their mouths :mad:
http://pic6.picturetrail.com/VOL154/1404506/2675645/32756712.jpg
ussmickey
08-29-2003, 2:00 AM
those are great looking fish...not to sound too stupid....what is the black and red one called.
ChilDawg
08-29-2003, 10:09 AM
Kathy: The black and red one is an Oscar.
Frameshift
08-30-2003, 1:48 AM
Yep, a good ol' tiger oscar. Whose sensory pits really stand out with that pic...
Both the fish are oscars, and you can see a firemouth and pleco as well. :p
ChilDawg
08-30-2003, 10:51 AM
Frameshift, is the one at top a "Wild-Type" O?
Those are great pix! :)
Frameshift
09-01-2003, 12:47 AM
Wild type? Heck no, it's a lutino oscar. Selectively bread to lack pigment, but they still have black pupils and some black on the unpaired fins. Not an albino, but close. The "wild type" are a more olive green and lack most of the red, but have one, two, or three ocelli spots on the body. (There is some debate as to if the different numbered spots denote different species.)
25 years ago I gave a guy with Oscars and Pirhana in the same tank :eek: a crayfish I had caught in an Ontario lake. The fish thought they would make a tasty snack of the crustaceon but the 4" crayfish had other plans. He took a few aggressive pinches at the predators snout while advancing, not retreating, and proceeded to find a small rock cleft to make a home in. I asked about him a couple of months later, and it turns out he was more or less a permanent resident.
Guess they're just made of tougher stuff up here in Canada ;)
ChilDawg
09-01-2003, 8:02 AM
I'll just have to have Matak send me a crawdad, I guess! :)
Frameshift, I can see the Lutino qualities now...I wasn't thinking about that being one of the choices when I posted. Either way, they're both great-looking fish! :)
PumaWard
09-01-2003, 10:42 AM
I had a large female crayfish (with eggs) in with the oscars I used to have (they were 4-5") she was about the same length as them. Needless to say, she pushed them around. Her babies eventually hatched, boy did the oscars love those little ones.
GoLdFiSh_GrL
09-02-2003, 6:33 PM
WOw! Matak's crayfish was aggressive! lol! well, evrytym i wud stick my hand in the 10gal. tank 2 take out the rock & clean the tank, he'd lift up his claws @ me and ram himself in2 the glass. lol! i miss him... & Crabby was his name-o. O, i had 1 named Lobby 2... Crabby & Lobby wud fyt all the tym. :( I hav some now w/ some Albino Oscars, and they're perfectly fyn! :D
dethjam316
09-02-2003, 7:10 PM
english translation with comments of previous post in part:
well, evrytym i wud stick my hand in the 10gal. tank 2 take out the rock & clean the tank, he'd lift up his claws @ me and ram himself in2 the glass. lol!& Crabby was his name-o. O, i had 1 named Lobby 2... Crabby & Lobby wud fyt all the tym. I hav some now w/ some Albino Oscars, and they're perfectly fyn! Well, everytime I would place my hand into the 10 gallon tank, the crayfish would lift up his claws at me and ram himself into the glass. Hilarious! I miss him. Crabby was his designation (though he in fact was not a crab). Oh, I had one named Lobby, as well (though he in fact was not a lobster). Crabby and Lobby would fight all the time (since keeping multiple crayfish in a 10 gallon tank is as inadvisable as keeping multiple male bettas in a 2.5 gallon tank). I have some now with Albino Oscars, and they're perfectly fine! (which they will be until the oscars get large enough to eat them; hopefully multiple oscars are not kept in a 10g with multiple crayfish...)
note: i really have no problem with the shorthand of "to" becoming "2" and "4" as "for", except that it really doesn't save a lot of letters. and "lol" is fine, i just like saying "hilarious!" the "y" in "fine" and "time" (etc) is just inexcusable as it makes it harder to read. "wud" is even worse, and that spelling, shorthand or not, makes me cry.
Ahhh, now I understand.
DJ, you be da' Wizard of Ahhhhs :D
ChilDawg
09-02-2003, 8:45 PM
I'm glad to see that someone has translated pseudo-Leet Speak for me! :)
dethjam316
09-02-2003, 11:54 PM
dude, it's like airplane. remember that woman who's like, "i speak jive"? great movie!!!
ps: crayfish are good. (had to keep on task here)
ChilDawg
09-02-2003, 11:56 PM
They are very, very good...but I hear that they also work well in tanks! :)
I think that Joshy's warming up to the idea of getting a Blue Lobster, so any more info? Keep it coming!
P.S. I think the crawdads are in her brand new 200 with four Oscars.
dethjam316
09-03-2003, 12:55 PM
i wish i had a 200g tank. but i don't think i'd put oscars and crayfish in it. besides, my crayfish is evolving lungs. he'll soon be sitting beside me at the other computer with a cup of coffee, ripping off credit card companies and buying stock...biding his time and waiting for his chance to bring down the man!
info...let's see...temp effects metabolism to a more visible level than with fish. will eat ANYTHING. in warmer waters, they are capable of catching fish as fast as zebras. they molt frequently when they're small, but this slows down as they get larger. mine is now 5-6 inches, only molted twice since may, both times were after i moved and his water was a bit warmer. during this time they are sensitive to attacks from fish, other crayfish, etc. this is the best argument for keeping only one, unless the tank is 20+ gallons and you have plenty of hiding spaces for them. i think they prefer sand or small gravel, as they can dig around. bitey used to have a favorite rock he would dig under, which was cool to see.
now i have him in a temporary rubbermaid tank while i set him up in a 10g of his own, the water is lower, so he can stand up and reach to the top of the water with his claws! he follows a trail of pellets / flakes / whatever around as i deposit it in the tank, waving his claws at me! that's a lot of fun...as crayfish go. i wouldn't recommend getting pinched, i've had a couple close encounters but have been lucky. with his current size, i think it would hurt. i generally try to corral bitey into a cup when i have to move him. he would just wreck a net anyway.
anything else you want to know? i might be able to answer.
Pamthefishfreak
09-03-2003, 12:57 PM
oops, wrong post
CordyRoy
09-03-2003, 4:54 PM
Are the blue crayfish injected with dye, or do they come by their color naturally? Anyway, they are uber-cool and I would love to have one but unfortunately I'm planning a community. They wouldn't do well in there, right?
ChilDawg
09-03-2003, 5:27 PM
I think that's just a mutation...and if you are planning a piscine community, I'd leave the crawdad out of it. :)
Traci
09-05-2003, 11:41 AM
Bob at bluecrayfish.com is really great. A few weeks ago I purchased 3 immunis from him (1 female, 2 males) for $15 + shipping. The two males died unexpectedly after molting. Bob replaced them with 3 alleni (1 female, 2 males) which arrived yesterday. Since the surviving female immunis is considerably bigger than the new alleni, I have them set up in two 10 gallons, with airstones and filters. The immunis has a mixed white gravel and large pebble substrate, with 1 large holey rock for a "cave" and 1 "tent" made of a large flat stone perched against another. The smaller alleni are in a tank with a tahitian sand substrate and 3 small holey rocks for caves. I intially planted about 6 anubias and crypts in the immunis tank, but between the original 3 crays, all plants were uprooted. When I find an LFS with the supplies, I intended to pick up some floating plants! There is also a small school of white clouds in that tank. There were 6, this morning there were 5, and the immunis was munching on a tasty snack! I think she has just gotten a little bigger and a bit more agressive. I'm planning on switching out the crays so the smaller guys are with the white clouds. Maybe I'll pick up some other fish to go with the immunis. Anyone have suggestions on a cold tolerant (down to 72 degrees) fish that'll reach maybe 3 or 4 inches?
Oh, I feed the crays shrimp pellets once a day...
...and the occasional white cloud, apparently!
ChilDawg
09-05-2003, 2:40 PM
Okay, so now the next question. Josh is standing over me, slingshot pointed, and wants me to ask it. What temp do true lobsters need? Can they survive for a year in a 10g with ice added twice daily?
PumaWard
09-05-2003, 2:43 PM
True lobsters are saltwater (I figure you know that, but just in case). I don't know about temp, but probably no higher than 65 degrees.
dethjam316
09-05-2003, 3:44 PM
a real lobster in a 10g? don't know about that...i would think it would be a rather cruel and short existence.
ChilDawg
09-05-2003, 3:56 PM
The slingshot is gone, so I think I can respond freely...I figured as much on the size of the tank...and I think that he's going to be unpleasantly surprised when I tell him that he needs different filtration to be ready for SW...
I'm just gonna get him a crayfish soon and put it in that tank (along with gravel from a cycled tank...)
Gealcath
02-22-2005, 5:06 AM
A true lobster can live over 100 years and be longer then 2' long (largest recorded was estimated to be 100-110 years old and was 2.1 feet long), so a 10gl is abit small :)
GreenGrass
04-22-2006, 2:22 PM
If you really want to make this work, then a 75 gallon is best. You would need to use saltwater techniques, but I don't believe they are as sensitive to water chemistry and you may forgo the protein skimmer people usually use. Simple aquaclears, simple subsrate, and no specialized lighting is needed. Good Luck!
CoverMe
04-22-2006, 2:40 PM
I imagine the original cray (the post was from 2003?) is long gone?? :D
Having a ginormous lobster, however, would be sort of neat!!! I wonder how good of shape those lobsters are in the tanks at the fish market?!?! Not nearly as expensive as many huge species you might otherwise buy to populate your tank!
Did you check out the original post date on this thread?
CoverMe
04-22-2006, 2:55 PM
si!! Which is why i surmised that the original arthropod of which they type has probably gone on to the happy hunting grounds!! :)
GreenGrass
04-22-2006, 3:16 PM
You know, on another post someone said this. I was using the search function on something and found some interesting threads that didn't really have anything to do with my question. Never noticed the date, just reading and posting.
Pufferpoison
04-22-2006, 6:41 PM
I imagine the original cray (the post was from 2003?) is long gone?? :D
Having a ginormous lobster, however, would be sort of neat!!! I wonder how good of shape those lobsters are in the tanks at the fish market?!?! Not nearly as expensive as many huge species you might otherwise buy to populate your tank!
hey i never thought about that!!!!!!!!!!!!! hmmmmm
I wonder what wal-mart keeps their salinity at? off to walmart.........................................
A blast from the past for sure.
ChillDawg! Are you still kickin around?