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Blue crayfish

Discussion in 'Invertebrates' started by Ms. Wright, Oct 8, 2010.

  1. Ms. Wright

    Ms. Wright Thread Starter Member

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    Hi,
    The parents of a first-grader in our school are redoing, or getting rid of, their tank, so he's bringing in an odd assortment of fishes. [icon_e_confused.gif] Being the Johnson School "Fish Lady", I need to sort out who goes where. I have no idea how large some of these fishes are, but I know how large they can get.
    angel fish...there's a well-filtered 10g in one room that has one angel. Temporary housing, anyway.
    rainbow shark...I haven't kept one in probably 25 years. They're not aggressive, as far as I recall, but don't they they need a biggish footprint? There's a 29H in another room, with no fishes in it at all.
    yo yo botia and clown loach...sad; two lone loaches. I know they like conspecifics. Could they go in the 29 with the rainbow shark?
    five neons...no problem there; I'm setting up a 10g in another classroom on Monday, and am bidding on some Green fire tetras; that'd make a nice group.
    And then there's an electric blue crayfish. :rolleyes: I've never kept a crayfish in my life. Googled them today; they get big, and will mess with anything at the bottom of the tank. I have a heavily planted 55 in the school office; coarse gravel substrate, two big Penguin filters, 36" of airstones, with three medium-sized) (3" body) fantail goldfish, a 7" Pleco, and a 3" Ancistrus. I know; not kosher, but people keep handing me fishes. I keep it at about 68 degrees, and everybody is doing fine. I'm feeding sinking goldfish crumbles, and spirulina wafers for the cats. Would the crayfish work in there? The kids would love it, but I don't want anybody to get hurt.
    Any info would be highly appreciated.
    And Happy Friday! :D
     
    Ms. Wright, Oct 8, 2010
    #1
  2. MOD_Dawn

    MOD_Dawn Active Member

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    If I were you I'd:
    [*]Use one of the two 10g tanks for the neons
    [*]Use the other 10g for quarantine/holding/grow plants out/fry if you plan on keeping livebearers
    [*]Use the 29H for the angelfish AND Ancistrus
    [*]I'd use the 55g set at 74F For the Rainbow Shark (up to 6") and your 3 fantail goldfish

    -> And I know you won't wanna hear this, But....
    [*]Avoid taking the crayfish because they can eat pretty much anything you put in a tank during the night and are great at finding ways to escape,
    [*]And I'd avoid the Clown Loach being they can get pretty big and require warmer water than the goldfish that are in your 55g,
    [*]And the YoYo botia won't work with what you have (needs a largeish size tank, and warmer water, and does best in groups).
    [*] And that 7" pleco just may end up going after your goldfish... and at 7" you don't have another tank listed that he'd be compatible with so I'd be rehoming him or at a minimum keeping a REALLY close eye on him.
    -------------------------
    Only other recommendation I could make would be to acquire another large tank (at least 55g), that way you could take the YoYo Botia and get at least 1 more to keep him company, Put the Clown Loach in and hope it doesn't get to be a monster (I've seen some really big ones!), and STILL REHOME the PLECO & CRAYFISH.

    If your considering keeping the crayfish you'll more than likely want at least a 20g Long...and I'll warn ya they are definately escape artists and although some have had luck with tankmates I surely wouldn't risk it!
     
    MOD_Dawn, Oct 9, 2010
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