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Are there such crayfish critters that can be kept along with freshwater fish? I am basically just curious at this point. I read a post where someone mentioned having crayfish and I thought it might be an insteresting addition once I am fully cycled. Or would some sort of shrimp be more appropriate to my kind of tank?

I currently have a 20 gal with 3 Tiger Barbs, 14 days old at the time of this post and still cycling. Plastic plants, pea gravel (yes Git- multi-colored but pastel/desert tones) with plans to fill out the Barb School with either more Tigers or Greens and maybe a Red Tail Black Shark.

Anyone keep crayfish (or other similar clawed critters) that could add some insight?

Thanks!

There is a type of dwarf crayfish but they are hard to find and the only source I've seen is a seller on aquabid.com. Pretty much all other crayfish sold at stores or that you might find living in your area are not compatible with fish. Either the crayfish will eat/injure the fish or the fish will eat/injure the crayfish.

Shrimp might work. With tiger barbs nippy attitude I'm not sure. Most schooling fish don't go after things living on the bottom of the tank but I've never tried it with a fish like tiger barbs. You could try some feeder ghost shrimp if your prepared for them to potentially become a snack. Alot of stores sell these for really cheap specifically for the purpose of feeding them to fish and they aren't very colorful but they still make interesting tank additions and are some of the hardiest shrimp. Absolutely do not add shrimp to an uncycled tank. They die very quickly in the presence of ammonia or nitrites. Make sure you have a well established tank with no sign of either before considering shrimp.

A shark does not fit in a 20g. Possibly a lightly stocked 29g but I'd recommend a 40-50g tank. They are also fairly agressive and will eat smaller fish.

With the crayfish critters as you call them could easly be a snack when the Barbs grow to full size even if they are compatable there could easly be just one barb that is aggressive. The other thing if a critter gets big it might also attack the Barb at night when the fish are resting.
The RTBS is certainly not suitable for that tank. Even my 5ft tank was too small for my RTBS they can be rather aggressive when they get large.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

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Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

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