Keeping Cray Fish

The Crayfish is a crustacean of the order Decapods. All of the members of Decapods have five pairs of legs. They are invertebrates and don’t have a backbone or spinal cord. The Decapods order also includes lobsters, shrimps etc. Crayfish also known as crawfish, crawdads, freshwater lobsters etc. All the crayfish are related to three families, Astacoidea, Cambaridae and Parastacidae. These three families have more than 600 animals.

Crayfish is an interesting pet. They are very easy to care. They can live upto 2-3 years. They are omnivores and can eat anything including small fishes, decaying plants, animals. Adding any slow moving fish can be a easy dinner for the crayfish. It is best to keep crayfish in a species only aquarium.

In wild, they live near the riverbeds and hide between the rocks and plants. They always like to hide themselves from the predators. They also like circulating water like as rivers.

Keeping Crayfish in Aquariums

Keeping crayfishes in aquarium is very easy. A single specimen can be kept in a 20 liter tank. A 50+ liter aquarium can be house more than one crayfish. It is not advisable to keep fishees as tank mates in such small aquariums. But in bigger tanks, fast moving fishes can be kept with crayfishes. Lets learn some Crayfish aquarium essentials:

1. Tank: Crayfishes can be kept in small tanks so a 5 gallon tank is enough to start. Even 2 Crayfishes can be kept in a 15 gallon of water volume. They can breed easily in suitable conditions so it is advisable to own a bigger tank.

2. Substrate:  They are scavengers so always like disturb substrate in search of food. They can survive in a wide range of pH. So keeping them with sand is good.

3. Decoration: Crayfishes likes to climb and hide. Creating small creeks between rocks provide them hiding places. Some plants like as Anubias or Java fern can be kept in crayfish aquariums. Some fast growing plants like as hornwort also provide them the natural source of food. Crayfish also known for escape from the aquarium. So tank should be closed properly. They can also escape by climbing on filter/heater wire, driftwoods branches

4. Filtration:  They like to live in clean and pollutant free, chlorine free water. Crayfishes require mild to medium high flow in water so choose filtration equipments with intermediate flow. They are scavengers and always like to dig the substrate so good filtration is essential.

5. Light: Most of the crayfishes like to hide and so they don’t like high light. Keeping them in medium to low light is comfortable.

6. Water Change schedule: Clean water is the key of success for all the aquatic pets. In a crayfish tank, water should be conditioned carefully before releasing in the tank. Remove any chemical pollutant like as chlorine, heavy metal ions etc. Also try to maintain the temperature of water same to aquarium temperature. Changing 30% to 40% of water once a week is enough.

7. Temperature: Most of the crayfishes like cold water.  Although some crayfishes like to live in tropical environment and can happily live in higher temperature. The acceptable temperature range for crayfishes is from 19⁰ Celsius to 25⁰ Celsius.

8. Food: In wild, Crayfishes eat plants, decaying and dead animals. In aquariums, sinking fish food, shrimp pellets, vegetables, fruits can be provide. They are omnivorous so happily can eat anything like as vegetables, plants, fish foods, live foods etc.

Molting in Crayfishes

Molting (ecdysis) is a process required for growth of crayfishes and other members of Decapoda order. The crayfish must molt its external shell “exoskeleton” to increase in size. A young crayfish can molt upto 11 (eleven) times to reach maturity. Molting also depends on water quality, food quality, oxygen level. A crayfish can increase upto 15% in length and 25% to 40% in weight between the every molt.

The molt or exoskeleton should not be removed from the tank. It is good feed for the crayfishes. The exoskeleton completes the requirement of nutrients and minerals of crayfish. Adding some Potassium iodide can be very beneficial for crayfish.

Precautions with Crayfish Tank

• Always remove the excess food from the tank. Controlled feeding maintains the water quality. So never offer too much food.
• Keep away all the heavy metals from the tank. Use fertilizers and algaecides carefully. Heavy dose of copper fertilization can kill the invertebrates.
• Ensure the clean and chemical pollutant free water for the aquarium.
• They are great escapers. Close all the holes from where they can escape.

Crayfishes are one of the least to care pets. Watching their activities are very interesting and full of enjoy.