Blue Cray help
- Thread starter noodles62
- Start date
General Info:
General rule of thumb, 10gal/per crayfish minimum. Individuals can be kept in smaller tanks, but don't overcrowd with other inhabitants.
Keep the temperature between 60-78, aim for the middle. And keep the pH in the 7 range, aim for 7.4 - 7.6 (in the 6's or 8's and it starts becoming harmful to the crayfish).
Provide multiple hiding spots (caves, PVC pipes, rocks, etc) for the crayfish to rest, molt, hide, etc in. Not providing hides can cause stress in a lot of species and individuals.
Select tankmates carefully. Usually a "blue crayfish" is a P. alleni, which generally resides more on the carnivorous side and aggressive side in comparison to other species (temperament ranges in individuals though), meaning it's likely to actively hunt. So, don't put anything with it that's going to be a problem if it ends up as a meal.
Feed a variety of foods to give it a good range of nutrients. Things like carnivore, algae and sinking pellets. Veggies, plants, meat scraps (be careful, meat fat will leave a nasty oil on your waters surface), etc. Give them a source of calcium (eggshells, cuttlebone, uh... Ken's came out with an invert food that has calcium supplements in it). Do NOT feed them shrimp or shrimp products unless they have been cooked/processed at high temperatures or freeze dried several times (shrimp can contain WSSV and other diseases that are fatal to the crayfish).
Get a lid for your tank and seal up any holes, if you haven't already. Crayfish are excellent escape artists and like to go exploring outside of their tanks.
And most importantly, enjoy. Crayfish are totally awesome pets! They have a variety of quirky behaviors, can be taught to do some very minor tricks (with the incentive of food) and are just really fun all around. ^_^
General rule of thumb, 10gal/per crayfish minimum. Individuals can be kept in smaller tanks, but don't overcrowd with other inhabitants.
Keep the temperature between 60-78, aim for the middle. And keep the pH in the 7 range, aim for 7.4 - 7.6 (in the 6's or 8's and it starts becoming harmful to the crayfish).
Provide multiple hiding spots (caves, PVC pipes, rocks, etc) for the crayfish to rest, molt, hide, etc in. Not providing hides can cause stress in a lot of species and individuals.
Select tankmates carefully. Usually a "blue crayfish" is a P. alleni, which generally resides more on the carnivorous side and aggressive side in comparison to other species (temperament ranges in individuals though), meaning it's likely to actively hunt. So, don't put anything with it that's going to be a problem if it ends up as a meal.
Feed a variety of foods to give it a good range of nutrients. Things like carnivore, algae and sinking pellets. Veggies, plants, meat scraps (be careful, meat fat will leave a nasty oil on your waters surface), etc. Give them a source of calcium (eggshells, cuttlebone, uh... Ken's came out with an invert food that has calcium supplements in it). Do NOT feed them shrimp or shrimp products unless they have been cooked/processed at high temperatures or freeze dried several times (shrimp can contain WSSV and other diseases that are fatal to the crayfish).
Get a lid for your tank and seal up any holes, if you haven't already. Crayfish are excellent escape artists and like to go exploring outside of their tanks.
And most importantly, enjoy. Crayfish are totally awesome pets! They have a variety of quirky behaviors, can be taught to do some very minor tricks (with the incentive of food) and are just really fun all around. ^_^
Great tips! thank you. I have named him Elvis (cause he has blue suede shoes!) :lipssealedsmilie: He is pretty cool!
He is in my 10 gallon tank with a mean arse Betta. So far they are avoiding eachother. I will watch and make sure the betta does not become dinner.
He is in my 10 gallon tank with a mean arse Betta. So far they are avoiding eachother. I will watch and make sure the betta does not become dinner.
Noods, if he decides the betta is dinner, it will more than likely be after lights out. The one I had hunted at night and was very good at it. He also LOVED eating ramshorn snails.
I was watching Billy last night and he's definitely a climber/explorer. He covered every square inch of the tank about every 5 minutes. He climbed everything and decided the anacharis wasnt in a good spot. As a matter a fact he's holding a 10-11 inch piece in his claw right now, just sitting there.
So yeah, give your guy lots to crawl on and crawl up, and make sure the lid is secure.
So yeah, give your guy lots to crawl on and crawl up, and make sure the lid is secure.
Haha, yes tricks for food. The easiest one that works with most species (and a lot of fish species as well), is the "glass tap". Pick a number, a low number (like 2 or 3), and every time you feed the crayfish, tap the glass that selected number before you put the food in. After a while, you can just tap the glass that number and get your crayfish to come out from wherever it is. Cool thing is, they'll respond to the specific number of taps... so if you decided 3 was your number, tapping 2 or 4 times won't work. ^_^
You can also try rewarding them when you see certain behaviors you want repeated. Or conditioning them to do certain things. For example, if you only want them to only eat in one spot (with the food you are providing, can't control hunting or scavenging) or to eat at a certain time. Also feed at that time and/or in that spot. And pretty soon you'll have them conditioned to be in that spot and/or out at that time for food. For repeating certain behaviors, I've found to be a lot more difficult because a cray doesn't do the same behaviors daily all the time, or even at the same time, so it makes "rewarding" them inconsistent. However, I have gotten one P. alleni to do a "kiss". As a juvenile she liked to press her face to the glass for whatever reason, and I started dropping in her favorite pellets every time I saw her doing it. Now, many moons later and as an adult, she'll "kiss" the glass when she sees me hoping for a pellet. ^_^ I've done similar things for my P. clarkii and Marmorkrebs. It's never anything fancy... you're not going to get a crayfish to sit or fetch or not move the plants and rocks around and sometimes they just won't "get it", but it's still something. And it's fun to try.
Good luck getting him not to try and eat you when you're fixing the plants though lol. I have one that can be dead asleep and I'll try to fix something in his tank... soon as I have my hand in the water he'll come out of no where, claws snapping, haha. (generally, a cray is going to tail flick away from you though... mine is just psychotic :evil_lol
