how predatory are crayfish?
- Thread starter Lightning Bug
- Start date
I don't get the discussion of clipping claws when the question was about compatibility. The answer to the question is keep crays in separate tanks it really is that simple.
At this point we should agree to disagree. Your statement about cats claws seems to me like comparing apples and oranges.
cat claws and cray claws??? Really??...I think it's completely wrong to clip off a crays claws just to make it suitable to be in a community aquarium. The fact is most crays are not suitable or appropriate for community tanks. There are occasionally some that tend to be more mellow and can live peacefully in a community. Here is a picture of my female cray with my two ropefish underneith her before she past away. This was an everyday thing for the fish to lay under her. She wasn't ok around snails or shrimp though. She did a good job keeping the BBA down and eating all the extra snails. Watching her eat BBA was weird.
if you think such animal husbandry is "wrong" from some moral judgment,
then is it also "wrong" to confine fish to a few square cubic of water?
obviously we have a forum full of people who don't think that's wrong.
so the "wrong'ness" issue of clipping a few millimeters of crayfish thumb;
is being effective or not - I'm here to tell you it's VERY effective,
as it does zero harm to the crayfish, it's ability to thrive, and
increases it's potential to coexist peacefully with smaller tank mates.
just think of all the crayfish that get disposed of by their owners
because they didn't coexist in their community tanks. had this
clipping practice been maturely advocated, they'd be alive today.
then is it also "wrong" to confine fish to a few square cubic of water?
obviously we have a forum full of people who don't think that's wrong.
so the "wrong'ness" issue of clipping a few millimeters of crayfish thumb;
is being effective or not - I'm here to tell you it's VERY effective,
as it does zero harm to the crayfish, it's ability to thrive, and
increases it's potential to coexist peacefully with smaller tank mates.
just think of all the crayfish that get disposed of by their owners
because they didn't coexist in their community tanks. had this
clipping practice been maturely advocated, they'd be alive today.
Responsibly keeping fish in a quality tank environment and mutilating (no matter how small) an animal so it can coexist in a tank are completly different.
"mutilation" implies permanence.
clipping the claw thumb as I suggested,
grows back completely after 2 molts.
there is nothing "irresponsible" about servicing your animals to best care for them.
but if you don't have the stomach for it, don't do it - get more tanks, or more in
tank obstacles for them to avoid each other, bigger fish, or don't get crayfish.
my methods are only one of many semi-effective options available to you.
clipping the claw thumb as I suggested,
grows back completely after 2 molts.
there is nothing "irresponsible" about servicing your animals to best care for them.
but if you don't have the stomach for it, don't do it - get more tanks, or more in
tank obstacles for them to avoid each other, bigger fish, or don't get crayfish.
my methods are only one of many semi-effective options available to you.
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