Blue crays never come out of the water

[Shanna]

I have 3 blue crays in a 30 inch tank (20 gallon long). I fill the tank only half full and provide rocks and ledges for them to climb on and get out of the water, but they NEVER do!! I have had these guys for about 5 months now and I have NEVER seen one get out of the water. What's up with this??

[CanadianCray]

They have no need to come out of the water. In nature they only do so to find another source of water not for pleasure. You would be giving your crayfish a much better home if you filled the tank. More water means better quality.

[bulrush]

Though my 2 wild crayfish like to climb and explore, they will get to the top of the airline but not go out of the water.

[renichms]

I've had a total of 2 crayfish crawl clean out of my tank and then die before I found them. It might depend on species and even the individual.

RN

[CanadianCray]

All crayfish will try to escape a tank or basically explore & then not be able to get back in. However they do not need to bask as some crabs do. They are not semi-aquatic invertebrates. It is also possible that your crays are coming out onto the rocks at night when you aren't watching as they are more active at night.

[Shanna]

They climb the rocks, just not out of the water. I watch them at night too and haven't seen it.

I read an article about crayfish in a magazine and it said they need a place to come up out of the water. The guy at the petstore said this too. So this is NOT true?? I should fill the tank up??

[CanadianCray]

This is absolutly NOT true. Most people at the pet store don't even know what they are selling let alone how to take care of them. There are NO crayfish that require time out of the water.

What magazine was it you read the article in??? I would like to read that.

[Shanna]

It was the June 2005 issue of Tropical Fish Hobbyist. The article was actually about the long pincer crayfish, but it said that ALL crayfish come out of the water; and when you have a crayfish (any species) tank you should only fill the water up to cover the animal by an inch, and provide rocks and things for him to climb up out of the water.

If what your saying is true, that's really funny that the magazine allowed someone with such limited knowledge to write an article on the subject!!

[Shanna]

Wanna hear something even funnier??

The blue crays:

When they are small, Petco sells them as "blue shrimp", and when they are big, Petco sells them as "blue lobsters".

Isn't that funny? How can a shrimp turn into a lobster when it grows up?!

Even funnier.... idiot customers (or even worse.... employees) don't even realize that the "shrimp" and "lobsters" are the exact same thing; even though the tanks are very close to each other, which gives you a chance to compare.

[CanadianCray]

I'm not surprised at all. Most people in the aquarium industry really don't know much about them. You can absolutly have a setup like this for your crayfish if you want. The only problem becomes water quality. Since its not really needed I would recommend keeping them on a full tank. I have seen and heard many unbelevable things when at LFS's. The employees telling customer that no they are not crayfish & are actually freshwater lobsters. Phhfff. What a crock. "Oh sure you can put them in a planted tank no problem.", "Sure they are safe with your fish".

[Shanna]

All right, you've convinced me. I'll fill up the tank. It was always getting nasty and the constant water changes were a pain in the but, so it's probably better anyway.