crayfish for the guppy tank?

[Nepen]

Betta and Dave Thanks. I used to have a female but she never grow big and then got eaten by the male. She was half his size. When I got this female, the male was so happy. He mated with her like every 5 minutes for a day, then they mind their own business for about a week then he started again.

I read that it could take as long as a month for the female to lay eggs. I dont remember the amount. I will have to remove the babies if I wanted them. I upgraded my tank to 55 gallons so they actually have a lot of space to avoid each other.


Dave, he was eating a betta in the other picture. Betta was too slow..

 

[Dave 54]

Oops I dont think Maria would be happy to read that , Bettas are one of her favorite fish ,
isnt there some other bait fish you could put in the tank or maybe shrimp which is part of their diet I believe ?
Looks like your set for lots of babies at some time in the not to distant future , we'll done

Dave

 

[Nepen]

Haha Dave, I didnt expect the crayfish to be able to catch any fish, but they did. They can catch slow, or sick fish. I guess the betta wasn't used to having preditor in the tank with her. I was quite sad too. I got Ghost shrimp for the crayfish to snack on. I also raise meal worm and give them a few every few days.
I'llb e crossing my fingers for babies... I look at her every day and still no sign of the eggs...

 

[Dave 54]

Any news of babies yet Nephen dont forget your going to be our resident crayfish expert .
As such you may be called on to problem solve , plus we need to know as it happens and any pitfalls you find along your journey with them , right from the eggs how they hatch out etc taking us through from the begining right through to adult crayfish and everything else in between with lots of photo's too
What you feed them with as babies through to adult nutrition, now that would be interesting to hear about but we'll leave the format up to you

Dave

 

[Nepen]

No sign of eggs yet. I read that it could take months...
I'll have to figure what to do with the babies, probably put them in a small bowl.. I think I can only keep one more adult so i'll have to sell the rest. I'm sure to post about them

 

[Nepen]

Sadly, this morning I found my female to be dead I don't know what caused it, she was good 2 days ago and now she just wasn't moving and lay upside down.

no babies for me I'll probably get more female later after the house move....

 

[bettasngoldfish]

sorry to hear this nepen......

when are you moving? What are your plans for the pond fish during and after the move?

 

[Nepen]

Thanks Maria.. it's very weird the way it just died.... I've been thinking and it might be because the big goldfish is scaring them to come out and eat as often as they used to. So to make sure that isnt the case, I'll not get another cray until the big goldfish goes to the big pond. (but that's quite unlikly because I heard they can go without eating for quite sometimes...and I saw that she was eating)

We do not have set date for the move, just when ever our house is done.. which should be pretty soon, may be in a month.
We are not selling our current house so I can still keep my fish in the pond while building a new pond for them at the house. Our new back yard is a big mess so it'll take a while.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Well that should work out well being able to keep the fish at the current house until you are ready for them. Very exciting to be moving, I bet you can't wait?

I know nothing about crayfish but I wonder if they are sensitive to water conditions? It's probably a good idea to hold off on getting a new one as you said until you get moved and can get the goldfish out of the tank.

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[peter hillman]

No sign of eggs yet. I read that it could take months...
I'll have to figure what to do with the babies, probably put them in a small bowl.. I think I can only keep one more adult so i'll have to sell the rest. I'm sure to post about them

Any updates? I once kept a wild cuaght crayfish for over a year till one day it just stopped eating and a couple day later passed away. It was an interesting ordeal.

 

[Nepen]

Any updates? I once kept a wild cuaght crayfish for over a year till one day it just stopped eating and a couple day later passed away. It was an interesting ordeal.

Same thing happened here. I had it for a year, then my original male just died. I dont know why, no indicator or sign and the water is great. The only thing I can guess is that it couldnt morph right and just died. I added Iodine to help them but it might not be enough then.

The female never have babies
I now have a pair.. but they haven't done the deed yet.

 

[peter hillman]

the babies are so cute with their little arms. I did try a blue one years ago in my tank but he munched to many fish and was escorted out.

 

[Nepen]

the babies are so cute with their little arms. I did try a blue one years ago in my tank but he munched to many fish and was escorted out.

haha, I have 2 only in 55 gallon tank. So far they only manage one betta (I had to rehome the other betta) but couldnt get other type of fish I have in there. so no more betta for me

 

[HARO]

For what it's worth, I've had the same experience with several wild-caught crayfish. They seem to be doing well one day, and dead the next. I doubt your goldfish is to blame!
John

 

[Nepen]

For what it's worth, I've had the same experience with several wild-caught crayfish. They seem to be doing well one day, and dead the next. I doubt your goldfish is to blame!
John

Thanks HARO! It's not fun to not know why they die. I've been adding iodine and calcium to help with the molt, and hope that help.