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Can you guys share your experience with crayfishes? I got a really cool one and hes grown so big in about 2 months and so quickly. He got blue tinges and a sort of peachy brown shell.. he was generally clearer and purple when younger.. I was wondering how he didint get more blue pr purple as he got older .. Maybe hes different type from others I seen with that coloration . Now, he has his own coconut shell to live in and his pwn space... he lives a fairly quiet and isolated life.. Hes incredibly intelligent. He had a tramutic life after jumping out of the tank 3 times since i got him but now he seems to have settled down totally!

Now, I thought it be a great idea to get another crayfish to keep him company. This juvenile is about half his length and purple/blue and I got him in the same tank and gave him his own shell and privacy so they wont get in each others way.. Well boy was I wrong because I removed all the shells so that they both can 'interact' because at first the big one was gently approaching the juvenile cray fish. Then he started attacking him with brute force and wanted to kill the little one! I had to separate them.. I guess they are indeed territorial..

So now, I dont know what to do . how do you introduce new crayfish into the tanks? Do u give each his own teritory and only introduce ones that are en par in size to those already in the tank so they dont fight? Maybe I get a tank buddy for the original cray fish who is similar in size? I have to put the juvenile crayfish in his pwn section and maybe get another buddy for him whos the same size as he. In the original fish farm, there were tonnes of them together and they all seem so fine but I reckon this big boy got too used to his own space and thus let no one new near it..

Any thoughts will be appreciated!

Hobbyists

its best to keep crays alone as they will cannibalize when the other is molting and can bring disese to the one indulging in its own flesh and blood. so i would say stray away from tank occupants unless you want a hearty fist to live with it (i would say a semi docile cichlid or aggressive barbs). make sure that your cray has lots of hiding room if you do add another and try to get it a mate. then you sould sell the offspeing at your LFS!

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

Thanks alot.. can one distinguish from the males and females? they have ample hiding space.. U talk about trying to get them to mate but thats hard if the bigger one is only attacking everyone else! So what if I put the younger one with the bigger one and maybe in time, they get used to each other? Each having his own hide out and home to occupy and just come out to observe each other.

Sure be good to get offsprings since they sell at a decent price..


Hobbyists

a google search will yeild some information on how to sex them, as i am not really an expert in this area, but this is information i got from several sources when i had a blue crayfish (australian blue yabbie). only problem is if the older of the two doesnt like the other you will have some problems. he(or she) will eat the younger. and that will cause (or might) disease. so IMO you should return the older and buy two of the same or closely similar size (after you try to sex them!) you could also look in your local calssifides for somone selling a potential mate for your largr cray!

GOOD LUCK!

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

Thanks alot... Wow.. you that blue yabbie must have been really cool... Very bright blue coloration huh? Sounds good.. my crayfish is purplish and blue but i think as they get older those coloration fades because the older one has got more sandy coloured..

I did a google search for sure and just for your benefit too, the males have an extra pair of legs just below their tail fin.. Females dont..





Hobbyists

Oh ok so here's my experience with my blue crayfish B.B. King or B.B. for short... so I got mine at the LFS and yes I all sorts of excited because the week before they sold out ... As I drove home B.B. was inside his bag all ok until I open his bag (it double wrapped one plastic and one paper) so looked at him and noticed he was on his back and not moving... I freaked out yelling "I THINK HE'S DEAD", my family looked at me like and replied "Just open the bag quick" and as I did that I noticed movement from one of his legs and then *BAM* he just molted from the store to my house... and now I'm proud owner of a blue lobster named B.B.! And then two nights later he decided to become an escape artist and got out of his tank and fell down our stairs a good 6 steps from a higher shelf. He was ok just I found him as white dust bunny the next morning. But now he has calmed down and is singing the blues... And thats my story of my crayfish...

Nice story Patches..

Sometimes once they played Houdini, these traumatic experiences can sometimes simmer them down....

Strangely enough, my crayfish lives on the bottle of the guppy tank.. I thought he will have eaten one per day but so far, all living in harmony and they are all very aware of him and dart away from his pinchers. They mostly stay to the surface.. He knows his space too and he is will fed.

Besides, shrimp pellets and bits of cucumbers or fish flakes, anything else you guys use for your crustacean dwellers?

stealth114

Hobbyists