Crayfish

Oh yes yes!! :grinyes:

For the most commonly available crays: Personally I like the procambarus alleni but for a community type setting I would go with the clarkii's as they are less aggressive than the allenii's. You can get them both in different colors too with shades of blues red and white toping the list.
For more uncommon crays: There are so many very pretty North American crays such as the family of Orconectes that are so very colorful. You many have to look around the web (aquabid is a good place to begin) for starter crays as many of these crays are hard to find but they are out there for you!

To really have a crayfish centerpiece tank you should check out some of the indo-pacific crayfish--they are mostly the Cherax species. The zebra's have caught my eye but I just don't have the room for any more :cry: right now. The Cherax sp rainbow are very pretty too but my personal experience with (one of) them is that they are super shy so may not be the best for a nice tank as you may not see them to often. I don't know if this a species trait or just my crays preference. Cherax quadricarinatus also known as quads) and the Cherax tenuimanus (Marron's--but they get really large I think) There are just so many of these types that seem to get along--from what I've read--that would make an outstanding tank.

But don't overlook a tank full of the dwarf crayfish either! With most dwarf's you would be able to have a nicely planted natural looking tank as many of the dwarf's do not eat the plants or rearrange the tank on you. The Cambarellus patzcuarensis var. orange (CPO's) look awesome against a nicely planted tank--orange on green!!!! You wouldn't have any trouble seeing these in a large tank!! For a more subdued look to a planted tank you could go with the shefeldtii's or schmitti's who would get a colony going in no time in such a spacious tank! With the dwarfs you could also add small schooling type fish in the future if you change your mind and decide that you wanted to have fish after all.

Oh the possibilities!!! :headbang2::drool::headbang2:

A lil excited?

Bubbles2112 said:

Oh yes yes!! :grinyes:
Oh the possibilities!!! :headbang2::drool::headbang2:

Click to expand...

I've never heard of them. :huh: Do you have the scientific name?
I am thinking that they are a color variant of the Cambarellus shufeldtii?

If you're going to be keeping multiple crayfish in one tank, make sure they have plenty of floor space, and I wouldn't recommend mixing species, to avoid fighting.

Very good advise to not mix species! And yes, I do get excited to see someone who wants to set up a cray tank!!!

With the coloration of blue--the crayfish will not breed true but to make more have the blueish coloration you should have a darker substrate. I use eco-complete in my shufeldtii tank and have many with a blueish tone but I notice that it is mostly the mottled variant that does this and not the striped variant.

A couple of photos of my shufeldtii's:

Okay, so the last one isn't a shufeldtii! It is one of my P. allenii's but since you like blue.....