Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

Hello,

I went in my back yard today where I am lucky enough to have a creek (no shrimp though ). It does have crayfish though, so i was wondrin. Would it be possible to catch the crays and acclimate them to tropical temps? Do I have to make another tank, or simply admire from afar?

Chris

Anybody want to reply ? I'm in need of some help.

From my own experince in collecting a wild crawdad and keeping it in a tropical tank I know they eat everything their clows can grasp, sleeping fish included.

Cool thanks.

Crayfish prefer cooler wtaer temperatures mainly unless its a yabbie, or a specific tropical cray. Post pictures and specie identification will help. Crayfish can be house with top dwelling fish as long as its not ehavily planted or the cray will most likely capture a few. Few fish safe but not perfectly to keep up are guppies, danios, etc. I have had baby guppy fry grow up them they swam with the cray he never ate them, but he loved eating my tetras. good luck

Wild caught crays are fine to have as pets. Most stores get ther crays from crayfish farms. They are caught in rivers, creeks, ponds and lakes. Keep the temperature in the 70's, if he starts looking bad, just put him back in the creek.

Most North American species prefer temps below 72 degF. Any temps higher than that & they start getting stressed which usually leads to bad molts & early death. It also speeds up the metabolism of the cray decreasing the life expectancy.

I caught 2 crayfish from a stream and keep them in a tank which hovers around 78F. I measured their stream a few days ago at 76F. I also have in the tank 2 ghost shrimp, had 1 goldfish (moved to new tank), 2 blacknose dace minnows (about 4" long each). I kept the crays fed well and they didn't bother any of the fish or shrimp.