Take into consideration the fascinating world of aquarium crayfish if you’re looking to give your aquarium a distinctive touch. Not only are these crustaceans fascinating to watch, but they are essential to keeping the ecosystem in your tank in balance. Crayfish have fascinating behaviors and vivid colors that make them a real show-stopper in your aquatic setup.
There are many species of aquarium crayfish, and each has unique care needs and characteristics. Comprehending your crayfish’s inclinations regarding their preferred habitat and feeding schedule will help you maintain a happy and healthy home for them. Crayfish can give you a new perspective on aquatic life in your aquarium, regardless of your level of experience with the hobby.
In this piece, we
- Aquarium crayfish, compatibility with fish
- Moulting of aquarium crayfish
- What to feed aquarium crayfish
- Reproduction of aquarium crayfish
- Diseases of aquarium crayfish
- Video on the topic
- Compatibility in an aquarium of fish and crayfish (acr)🦞🐠
- CRAYFISH IN THE AQUARIUM WOKE UP
- CRAYFISH IN THE AQUARIUM!!! Crayfish and roach from the pond to the home aquarium!!!
- My aquarium with marble crayfish
- Aquarium crayfish. Care, maintenance and reproduction
Aquarium crayfish, compatibility with fish
I was certain that aquarium crayfish posed no threat to fish or plants during the entire time I observed them. Aquarium crayfish are entirely safe for healthy fish, but they may not always be willing to eat plants, pick up dead fish, or attack patients. A goldfish was once in my aquarium, and based on its body on the floor, she was increasingly at the bottom due to her sluggish behavior. Fish that are sick and about to die are easily noticed by crayfish.
The goldfish was considerably larger than the aquarium crayfish, but it still used all of its strength to pull it to its hole. Once it had dragged the goldfish a good distance, the crayfish crawled up to it again, grabbed its tail fin, and dragged it to its hole. The fish broke free and swam away. Seeing this means of food acquisition in the crayfish’s life is fascinating.
For example, keeping two or three aquarium crayfish in a 100-liter aquarium won’t negatively impact the surrounding fish, plants, or landscape in any way; on the contrary, it will make your aquarium much livelier and fascinating. Therefore, get aquarium crayfish if you want to watch something really interesting in your aquarium. Now, let’s get more specific about keeping crayfish in aquariums.
To avoid confusion, allow me to reiterate that we are discussing species of aquarium dwarf crayfish that can survive in tropical aquariums alongside other tropical fish and under identical maintenance conditions; domestic cold-water representatives are not suited to such environments.
And if you’ve decided to keep crayfish in a separate aquarium after reading a variety of myths about them attacking fish, ruthlessly consuming aquarium plants, and rotting the water, you must first take care of the soil and plants in this aquarium. A 60-liter aquarium with a sizable bottom area, active aeration, and water filtration is the recommended capacity.
Since aquarium crayfish live in shelters and will undoubtedly dig holes for themselves and build caves, the soil itself should consist of small stones ranging in diameter from 3 to 15 mm. The building material for such needs should be easily lifted and readily available. The soil should be at least 6 cm high. River and sea pebbles, crushed red brick, soaked and crushed expanded clay, special artificial purchased soil, etc., can all be used as this kind of soil.
It is crucial that the aquarium contains root plants. The truth is that aquarium crayfish dig their shelters next to plant bushes because the roots keep the holes from collapsing. Additionally, crayfish think that a location near plant thickets is the most private. Because crayfish have an innate instinct for building their own homes, placing artificial structures like coconut shells, ceramic pipes, etc. won’t stop them from excavating holes in small amounts of soil.
The biological balance of the aquarium where crayfish reside must always be maintained, and plants are essential. Strong root systems are ideal for plants, such as those found in cryptocorynes, aponogetons, echinodorus, etc.
The volume of the aquarium and the quantity of crayfish affect the aeration and water filtration activities. Internal filters supplement biological filters in certain situations, so having a filter in an aquarium with crayfish is only advantageous if bacterial outbreaks are uncommon in such aquariums.
However, the individual is the only factor that affects the crayfish’s and the aquarium’s overall health. Similar to fish, aquarium crayfish cannot be overfed. Overfed and undernourished crayfish will hide in shelters, where, after a prolonged stay, the food will start to rot and contaminate the water. This is actually where a bacterial outbreak and water deterioration can occur.
In any case, the aquarium’s water needs to be replaced right away if it has grown extremely murky and smells bad. Going forward, the feeding rate also needs to be lowered. Fresh water that has been drawn from a healthy aquarium is ideal since it will quickly bring the biological balance back.
A crayfish aquarium needs to have its old water changed on a regular basis. This can be accomplished by replacing a quarter or a fifth of the water with fresh water once every three to four weeks. This needs to be completed right away. It is very helpful and important to replicate a natural reservoir where fresh water is periodically added, as this benefits all aquatic life. When the water is refreshed, the concentration of nitrates and other harmful substances decreases and oxygen levels rise.
Because the hydrochemical parameters of water and the maintenance requirements for various kinds of aquarium crayfish vary slightly, it is important to choose the kind of hydrochemical parameters of water that, under the recommended maintenance, will be more comparable to the parameters of the water in your aquarium when selecting and purchasing crayfish.
The hydrochemical composition of water is thought to not be a concern for aquarium crayfish, so in reality, no one follows strict guidelines or abides by them; instead, there is a single general requirement for all varieties of aquarium crayfish, which is: dH up to 20 °, pH 6.5-7.8, t 18-26 ° C. It is important to be aware, though, that crayfish may suffer damage during their molting and chitinous shell transition if they are in extremely soft water.
Because they are most active at night and in the evening, aquarium crayfish also do not seem to be sensitive to lighting. It must be noted that aquarium crayfish are true fugitives, capable of escaping at any time.They will perish if they are left without water for an extended period of time. As a result, the crayfish aquarium needs to have a lid or cover glass on it.
Moulting of aquarium crayfish
Aquarium crayfish grow in the interim between molts. In the first year of life, crayfish are thought to shed up to eight times; in the second, by five; and finally, 1-2 times annually. Individual shelters (ceramic and plastic tubes, shells, etc.) are necessary for weakened and moulted individuals whose bodies are still soft and exposed. p.) where they have to wait for a new shell to form while hiding from predators. Crayfish can grow a new shell in two to ten days.
The crayfish molt is indicated by their refusal to eat and their scratchy back movements, which typically occur two to three days in advance. The molt can also be detected by the presence of a removed shell, which can be removed in a matter of minutes. The hard, translucent shell of the crayfish is distinctly shaped like the crayfish.
It is evident that crayfish always underwent their molt at night. I had to watch aquarium crayfish go through this process multiple times, but I never saw the molt itself—that is, the removal of the crayfish’s shell. It takes a lot of calcium to form a new shell. Through food and water, crayfish restore calcium levels in their bodies. There’s a belief that the old shell is high in calcium, and that crayfish that are low in calcium consume the shell.
Because of this, some aquarium keepers choose not to remove the shell from the tank. In addition, calcined cottage cheese is fed to the pet and a "Calcium-active" tablet is occasionally added to the aquarium to help replenish the body’s calcium stores. The crayfish I kept in my aquarium never had a calcium shortage, and their molting process was always trouble-free.
Aquarium crayfish are fascinating animals that can give your tank a special touch. They have eye-catching colors and intriguing behaviors. Although they are not too difficult to care for, they do need certain things in order to flourish, like good water quality and compatible tank mates. You can guarantee that these fascinating aquatic animals thrive in your aquarium setup by creating a healthy environment for them based on your understanding of their needs and characteristics.
What to feed aquarium crayfish
Because they are omnivores, aquarium crayfish can have a wide variety of foods. Food derived from both plants and animals may be included. Exotic aquarium crayfish prefer animal food over other types, so you shouldn’t worry about feeding them anything that comes from animals, unlike their cold-water counterparts. Fish and aquarium crayfish share a lot of food.
For instance, the crayfish consumed the bits of meat that settled to the bottom when I fed them grated beef heart. Aquarium crayfish can also be fed with simple foods, such as lean minced meat, fresh fish pieces, frozen or live bloodworms, and special bottom fish food. This will provide them with more than enough nutrition.
The only rule is to avoid overcrowding the aquarium with crayfish. If you do this and someone suggests that you feed the crayfish mollusks, insects, worms, and tadpoles, disregard their advice and let them go catch cockroaches and flies, dig up worms, and visit the pond to get tadpoles.
Regarding plant foods, the question of whether or not to add them to the aquarium arises, as to which plants are suitable candidates? It’s not that I didn’t try to feed my aquarium crayfish plant foods; I just never did. The truth is that the aquarium the crayfish lived in already had a large number of plants, so there was really no need for this.
Although they occasionally ate roots, I have never seen crayfish munching on aquarium plants’ leaves. Instead, they only intentionally consumed roots in the vicinity of their burrows, rarely causing any damage to the surrounding plants. Furthermore, why was it determined that crayfish would reject young, tender aquarium plant shoots if they were fed plants such as nettles, water lilies, pondweed, algae, carrots, cucumbers, zucchini, spinach, and parsley? However, you should still experiment and see if you can give aquarium crayfish a small amount of different plant food; who knows, maybe they’ll take to it.
Reproduction of aquarium crayfish
Should you find aquarium crayfish to be sufficiently captivating as aquarium inhabitants, you have the option to breed them. Aquarium crayfish can occasionally be impossible to breed due to the common occurrence of all offspring from a limited number of individuals being the same sex. In order to avoid this, you must be able to identify the sex of aquarium crayfish or raise the population so that there are unquestionably both males and females.
There are variations in the size, fertility, sexual maturity, and breeding conditions of the various kinds of aquarium crayfish. For instance, it takes three months for the dwarf swamp crayfish (Cambarellus puer), about which I am actually writing this article, to reach sexual maturity. The female rarely grows longer than 4 cm, and the male rarely reaches 2-2.5 cm in length. Conditions for preservation: pH 6.5-7.8, hardness dH 5-10°, and water temperature between 15 and 27°C. These crayfish species have a two-year lifespan on average.
After molting, the mating season typically starts. A minimum of two or three females for every male is ideal. It is advised to use a specific soil that has been saturated with pebbles, alder cones, and almond or oak leaves for breeding. When bearing and feeding her children, the female will dig a burrow and hide in this soil. Following mating, the female deposits between 40 and 50 eggs on average and then hides, hardly coming out of the shelter until at least 14 days before the offspring emerges.
Diseases of aquarium crayfish
A lot of diseases that affect crayfish in aquariums are linked to unfavorable maintenance conditions. A high nitrate content in the water can cause crayfish to become sick and even die. Population mortality and reduced fertility are hallmarks of infectious diseases. The most deadly ones are porcelain disease, rusty spot disease, and crayfish plague. There are currently no established treatments for these illnesses.
The fungus Aphanomices astaci is the cause of the acute infectious disease known as crayfish plague (Pestis astacorum, Aphanomices astaci). All ages of crayfish are prone to infection. Both fishing gear and waterfowl can spread the pathogen. All of the fish in the aquarium could perish from an infection caused by one sick crayfish. Black spots on the shell and white or brownish-red spots on the tail muscles are indicative of crayfish infected with the plague.
The behavior of crayfish also varies: they typically live a nocturnal life, but they can be active during the day and attempt to escape. Their "gait" takes on the appearance of walking on stilts, and they exhibit obvious signs of confusion. They move by using their tail end and their extended limbs. Next, limb cramps and lethargic behavior are observed. The crayfish die at this point in the process when they stop moving, fall on their backs, and experience limb cramping.
No treatment has been created. The key to prevention is to keep freshly purchased crayfish in quarantine. The fungus’s spores are sensitive to both high and low temperatures; in water that is 30 °C, they will die after 30 hours. Reduced sporulation is aided by magnesium chloride (bischofite) and malachite green.
A fungal disease known as septocylindrosis (Mycosis astacorum) or rust-spot disease is contagious and affects crayfish. Mucedinaceae. Fungi use conidia to reproduce. The disease-causing agent comes from sick crayfish, primarily from their corpses and shells that are thrown away after molting.
Eating infected lower crustaceans or coming into contact with fungal conidia directly on the shell can both cause infection. Unfavorable habitat conditions promote infection. Rusty orange, dark brown, or black spots of varying sizes appear on the body of crayfish affected by rusty-fuel disease, and ulcers develop where there is muscle damage.
Chitin tubercles are formed when ulcers are scarred by cancer that has become infected. However, new ulcers develop elsewhere. Patients with crayfish develop seals in their liver that are brownish or golden yellow in color. Crayfish die slowly, and cancer fertility declines. No treatment is created. The same precautions apply as in the case of the crayfish plague: a three- to four-week quarantine for recently purchased crayfish. Dried beech, oak, or almond leaves added to the aquarium will be beneficial.
Theelochania conteyeani is the spore that causes porcelain disease, also known as body-chainse (Theelochanosis), an invasive crayfish disease that primarily affects the limbs, abdomen, and rotary apparatus muscles. The mouth apparatus, legs, and abdomen muscles are all penetrated by microsporidia. The underside of the abdomen turns white in sick crayfish. The paralyzed crayfish dies after contracting a microsporidia fungal infection, which causes its muscles in the legs, abdomen, and mouth apparatus to become immobile. Interaction with an infected animal can result in infection. There is no developed prevention or treatment.
Crayfish Species | Tank Conditions |
Red Claw Crayfish | Requires a 20-gallon tank, pH 6.5-8.0, temperature 72-78°F (22-26°C), plenty of hiding spots. |
Blue Crayfish | Prefers a 30-gallon tank, pH 6.5-8.0, temperature 70-75°F (21-24°C), needs rocky areas for hiding. |
Electric Blue Crayfish |
Aquarium crayfish can add interesting behaviors and vivid colors to your underwater world, making them a fascinating addition to your tank. Despite their relative low maintenance requirements, it’s crucial to keep in mind that they do have particular requirements and behaviors that may have an impact on their tank mates.
Giving them a neat and orderly space with lots of hiding places and suitable substrate will help maintain their health and happiness. Maintaining a healthy habitat for your crayfish and preventing problems also require routine water condition monitoring.
Crayfish add dynamic presence to your aquarium, provided you understand their needs and create an appropriate habitat. They are a rewarding option for aquarium enthusiasts because of their unique appearance and intriguing behaviors.