Inverts for my cichlid tank?

As for the blue CRAYFISH (not lobster) idea... I think people were referring to Procambarus Alleni... they get like 5-7 inches I , I've seen different numbers and are from Florida (my avatar). I've bought them anywhere from 15.99 to 29.99 here in Maryland so the price may vary depending on your loaction. The better bet if you wanted one would be the species from Australia "Cherax quadricarinatus" because I believe they can get up to 10 inches and are also a very pretty blue but not as light blue, more of a darker color. If you were able to get your hands on one of the larger adults... he could easily fend for himself except during times of molting which could be countered by adding sufficient hiding areas. Not saying there's no chance if it going wrong... just adding a bit of a "better chance" for the idea of a crayfish. Good luck!
 
any other suggestions? singapore shrimp, interesting snails???
 
Any freshwater crustacean (shrimp/crayfish/crab) will most likely be killed by the fish. Even if the critters are not eaten outright, they will suffer from being stressed by the aggressive fish.

If you are set on the idea of getting something different, I would recommend getting another tank to house them in. Crustaceans to best in species only, or invertebrate only, colonies.

If you decide to do that, you can combine multiple species of invertebrates in a single tank. I've kept crayfish, dwarf shrimp, Macro shrimp, filter feeding shrimp, and a few species of snails all in one tank. The key is to make sure that all species have the same general water chemistry requirements.

I would start out slow, go with an easy type of shrimp, such as any Neocaridina species, or peaceful Macrobrachium species. They reproduce prodigiously (think rodents or roaches), are fun to watch, and easy to maintain.
 
I still think crayfish and belligerent CA and SA cichlids is a wrong combination and is not desirable at all. Why would you attempt to mix both if the chances of them getting along for a long time is very slim? Why not just get another tank for the crays?
 
titansfever83 said:
any other suggestions? singapore shrimp, interesting snails???
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With geos? Horned nerites (Clithon corona) might work. The apple snails are unlikely to fend off any possible attacks and constant stress will eventually kill them.
 
Galliente said:
fish daze,

how large of a ble crayfish have to be to live with jacks
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I'm not that familiar wit jacks to be honest so I don't know much about their temperament or size. I had my first P. Alleni in a tank with all cichlids for 3 years with no problems. He started off about 2-3 inches long while they were all about 2 inches at first. The problem comes in finding the size balance of a cray that's not too much smaller to prevent them attacking him and a cray that's not too much bigger because he'll get the fish. Its weird though because it seems it seems that my current P. Alleni's are not interested in small fish at all because my neons will school right around their heads untouched.
 
fishdaze said:
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The problem comes in finding the size balance of a cray that's not too much smaller to prevent them attacking him and a cray that's not too much bigger because he'll get the fish. Its weird though because it seems it seems that my current P. Alleni's are not interested in small fish at all because my neons will school right around their heads untouched.
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I have found the same thing that fishdaze said.

Crayfish tend to be a bit unpredictable. They can go from mild mannered to postal with little to no warning. The advice I give anyone who wants to add a non dwarf species of crayfish to a community tank is this; Only keep those fish, plants, or other living creatures that you wouldn't mind feeding to the crayfish. You could be lucky, but if you search crawdad forums, you'll find many accounts that detail how, 'One day all I saw was the crawdad and shredded fish bits, all over the tank.'
 
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