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Anyone know about keeping Yabbies? I saw some in the coldwater section of my lfs chewing on lettuce, and thought they might be good to keep in a 5 gal. Has anyone ever kept them?

<Vet in Training>
Blog under development: http://www.nearlydrferox.blogging4life.com/

I was told by many that a 5 gal would be big enough.Just need to keep the water clean.I would like more opinions myself.

Hi, I used to keep yabbies myself so i can say somethigs about them. First off though what are the dimensions of a 5 gallon tank? The Yabbies I used to keep (Cherax destructor or the like iirc) 6-7" mark but were lazy. when they did move around normally it was just to go hunting (It was kept with a constant supply of feeders). We have 2 Adults and A hundred or so Feeders in a 30"X12"X15" Tank with waterchanges every 3 days. I really loved keeping them and they are worth it. Want a tip on getting them cheap though? Go to fresh fish shops (Many have live yabbies from experience) but we were lucky, we used to have access to breeders damns so we would gte large ones. BTW Our best male ha claws that were about 2" Wide by About 3" inches long, Massive!

HTH, Sutto

the dimensions are 45cm long, 20cm wide and about 25cm high.

<Vet in Training>
Blog under development: http://www.nearlydrferox.blogging4life.com/

you could get away with it, but you will probably want to upgrade in 3 years or so.

they are very easy to keep, just make sure you have a good strong lid little devils love going walkabout

there are a lot of red claws available in the feeder tanks at the moment, so you could hit the jackpot and find yourself a male one, and they are gorgeous!


For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

wahhhhhh. Wish-ga wants a yabbie too.

But might put some snails in a HUGE bowl with a plants. (it is enormous and has a narrow wiggly pretty edge)

Last edited by wish-ga at 02-Dec-2004 22:34

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Most true Yabbies (Cherax sp.) get 8-10" long. A 20g tank should be fine for most of their life, though, as long as the tank is clean and they ger enough calcium and vitamins for their shell.

'water ager' puts extra salts and minerals into the water, so would that be benificial for a yabbie?

<Vet in Training>
Blog under development: http://www.nearlydrferox.blogging4life.com/

wouldn't worry about the salts.

bury a seashell or something, that will provide enough calcium.

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Some Cherax sp. might not physically fit in a 5-gallon, even as relatively young specimens; as for calcium, cuttlebone (cephalopod "pen" as marketed for caged birds) would be preferable (for ease of ingestion and metabolization; seashells present cleanliness concerns, and some commercially sold ones [as for terrestrial hermit crabs] might be coated with toxic water-soluble enamels).

Last edited by Veneer at 28-Dec-2004 11:53

er, yes, hermit crab ones are ikky, I use farmed oyster shells myself. Apprently if you bury the cuttlebone, it won't float.

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett