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Re: NFC: crayfish tank

Long time no type. :)  Thats winter for us!

Aquascaping isn't hard.  Avoid live plants.  Make sure there are plenty
of hiding places.  Keep the gravel a large size if you don't want it to
burrow.  When I decorate for them, I typically use a lot of slates in
all sorts of positions, providingplenty of caves for them to hide in.  
As far as food goes... Anything.  They'll eat litterally anything, from
live to dead fish, to bologna, to the foods you've tried.  Plants and
such will be uprooted and eaten as well, implying a diet which may
require plants.  In the wild, they're typically scavengers, feeding on
various bits of detrituous, including leaf litter, carion, and the
like.  
Water Depth doesn't seem to matter.  I've found the same species of
crawdad in the yard with 2" of water in a hole and off a drop-off in a
lake.  A ten gallon should be fine.  I don't believe they actually need
to come out -- anyone want to correct me on this?
They are rather territorial and will fight, especially the males.  You
can keep quite a few in the tank, and they'll eventually settle down. 
You'll still lose a claw every now and then, and possibly a crawdad....
Its much like keeping some cichlids.
Filtration isn't a big factor. . . . I've always used an over the tank
power filter, simply because it won't be destroyed by moving crawdads. 
They'll ruin UGF, eat sponges, and so forth.  
Females with eggs are fun!  Especially when you see the little baby
crawdads crawling free from her tail.  DO NOT PUT ANY OTHER CRAWDADS IN
HERE WHILE SHE HAS EGGS.  SHe will be killed.  Remove her when the
little ones start moving around, and watch them grow.  It truly is a fun
experience. 

Josh.


CEFCHURCH at aol_com wrote:
> 
> I am set up a crayfish tank at a library branch.  Right now I have one large
> one in a plain 10 gallon with some large gravel and a piece of slate if
> he/she chooses to get out of the water.  Right now, the specimen seems to
> hide in one corner.
> 
> Subjects I need help on:
> 
> - aquascaping for Crayfish
> 
> - food options (so far I know about shrimp pellets and fresh shrimp)
> 
> - water depth
> 
> - what happens when you put more than one in the tank.  What if I do to a 29
> gallon tank?
> 
> - filtration
> 
> - general behavior of crayfish in a tank
> 
> - ideas about putting a female with eggs in he tank
> 
> - Anyhing else anyone can think of!
> 
> Chuck Church
> Indianapolis, Indiana USA

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  ____^__
><,Darwin,>
Joshua L. Wiegert
NFC Lists Administrator                          Wiegerj at paulsmiths_edu
www.geocities.com/RainForest/Jungle/1680/        owner-nfc at actwin_com
ICQ 1918889                                      AIM UID: Etheosoma
Feel free to contact me by any of the above means for any reason.
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