Hi,

yesterday at a fishing trip i caught a few crayfish, perhaps one too many . (Their sizes range from small-larger, and at least 6 of them)

recently i had a few minnows in there, but they eventually all died off so i decided to just drop the crayfish in there. The tank's area isn't that large, its base is probably 30cmx60cm, the water is quite deep (at least 20 cm) and has a carbon filter.

There's a small waterfall, but I don't know if it ventilates enough; i've seem the crayfish climb on top of each other looking like they want to reach the surface. I was thinking of creating some kind of ramp to the surface, with long twigs/branches from my backyard. Is that safe?

As for shelter, are stones from my back safe? Can i use popcans/waterbottles (with their tops cut off) instead? That is, creating little domes for the (smaller) ones to hide.
I had 2 plastic/fake seaweed plants i was afraid they'd slowly chip it and eat the plastic so i removed them (they'd climb and fiddle with them a lot). Or should i have left those in there?

I have some "complete flake food (for all tropical fish)" leftover that hasn't expired. should i be feeding the crayfish those? Besides chopped up fish, shrimp, fishfood etc, are there any "typical household" items that they can eat? like oatmeal, cereal, nuts, rice, etc?

Any other advice you can give would be appreciated.

Thank you :lol:

The tank sounds to be about 20 gallons.

Crayfish don't survive long out of water. Climbing may just be them just moving about or trying to get some oxygen at the surface. You might add an air stone or filter. Branches would deteriorate over time and discolor the water but short term probably wouldn't do much harm. If you changed them out weekly, it might work. Adding carbon to a filter would remove the brown colors leached out.

What are stones from your "back?" Inert stones are ok like granite, slate, PA fieldstone, quartz, petrified wood, etc. Limestone and other stones that leach aren't good. To test one, pour some vinegar on it. If it foams, don't use it.

You can use plastic cans. The crayfish might break off pieces but probably wouldn't eat them. I wouldn't use metal cans which would rust or leach. If the crayfish actually eat or dismantle the plastic plants, don't use those. If you didn't actually see that happen, you might try them again. I've not had fish eat plastic plants but my lizard did.

Crayfish like meats more than veggies. They will eat most fish foods (which mostly contain fish!). I would not feed oatmeal, cereal, nuts, or rice. They probably wouldn't eat them, and a mess would result. There are hundreds of kinds of fish food so I'm sure you can find a few kinds that they like.

I've never kept crayfish except for one when I was a kid that didn't live but a few days because I didn't know what to do back then.

oops i meant backyard lol

they seem to like carrots and cucumbers. but the carrots were more popular - the cucumbers weren't finished but were nibbled on. cucumbers floated around alot, maybe thats what stopped them.
are the flake foods i've mentioned safe, by the way?

it was raining where i was today, so i didn't get a chance to pick out a good rock, just by looking they all seem too big now lol. I would have dug around for worms but i didn't have time to because i had school :(

they all seem to be getting along, they're all hiding in a corner behind the carbon filter's stand/tube on top of each other, especially the large ones.

in fact, all 4 corners have a little trench. The little ones are stray & just hanging around while the rest are all cramped & stacked up in that tight corner.

Inert rocks like granite, slate, quartz, etc. are fine. Some rocks may leach and increase the hardness and pH. If you pour a little vinegar on a test rock, and it fizzes, don't use it. Otherwise, it's probably ok if you clean it well.

Crayfish like to dig around in gravel as you've found.

Tropical fish food flakes are fine to feed. Hum, they ate carrots? I'll have to remember that if I ever get any crayfish. Did you shred the carrots first or serve as they come?

they were shredded, very thin or grass-like
i decided to try frozen peas/carrots today, they are eating both. They prefer the insides of the peas but eventually eat it all.

Watching them nibble/bite off pieces is amusing to me. But it seems their sloppy eating left a horrible mess for me to clean up :rolleyes:

there's one in particular im worrying about, he's not eating, hiding in the tight corner (i've poked him to make him come out a bit but he backed right in). he's not eating and is always the one on the bottom of the "crayfish tower". He looks bluer than the rest who are brown. Is he molting or perhaps hes just a different kind

I could see crayfish going for peas.

The one crayfish that hides out could be another species but is probably just lower ranking in their pecking order. He could be ill. He could be molting. He could be a she with eggs (you should see those if that's the case).