Adding crayfish

[admin]

Poster: Should I add crayfish of a different breed.

Reply
The best way idea is no. If they happen to be different specie, they will really fight too. You insist on getting more, just watch them for the first five minutes really close, and then check on them really close for the first three or so hours. Additional hiding places will help.'),

As long as they are the same species , your odds are greatly increased with them NOT fighting. Most of the deaths occur during molting.

[CrazyFish]

Mixing different species of Crays will most usually not end well. And Never, ever mix North American crays with crays of other regions. North American crays naturally carry what is called "crayfish pestilence", which is a disease that is harmless to the American crays, but absolutely deadly to other crays. You don't even want to use the same nets, or other items that have been used with the American crays in the tanks of the others, it is that deadly to them. When I used to breed, and with the new breeding I will be starting soon, I always maintained different nets, dip cups, etc.. for the American crays that were never used in any other tanks. I have seen cray keepers get their European and Cherax crays completely wiped out almost over night from making this mistake.

[Craw Chief]

And Never, ever mix North American crays with crays of other regions. North American crays naturally carry what is called "crayfish pestilence", which is a disease that is harmless to the American crays, but absolutely deadly to other crays. You don't even want to use the same nets, or other items that have been used with the American crays in the tanks of the others, it is that deadly to them. When I used to breed, and with the new breeding I will be starting soon, I always maintained different nets, dip cups, etc.. for the American crays that were never used in any other tanks. I have seen cray keepers get their European and Cherax crays completely wiped out almost over night from making this mistake.

I really had no idea it was that big of an issue. That is insane. More people need to be made aware of that. Really good info! Thank you!!

I have a question though. Do you think P. clarkii and P. alleni would be that bad to have together if sufficient hiding places were provided? I bought what were advertised as P. clarkii online, but the guy sent me 2 white clarkiis and 1 blue alleni. It's still possibly too little to say for sure it's alleni, but I don't think it's a clarkii. What do you think about keeping them all together in a 20 long?

[CrazyFish]

Sorry for such a slow response - real life is a pain sometimes.

The two species can be housed together if there is enough room and enough hiding places. I tend to prefer to keep crays of different species apart, but I have seen these two together many times. You are probably correct that the blue would be Alleni, as most of the blue North American Crays in the pet trade are Allenis. You'll see the Allenis listed most often as "Electric Blue", but they are called many different names in the pet trade.. Blue Clarkii crays are much rarer. Just keep in mind that even though they may live together peacefully, at any time a cray war can break out. Crays do tend to be territorial especially against other species. In order to raise the possibility of success you should make sure the crays are all roughly the same size, and they should all be put into the tank at the same time. Smaller crays would be more likely to be attacked by larger ones, and a cray that has been in the tank longer will tend to "stake a claim" to the tank, making the newly introduced one seen as an intruder to be dealt with, and being dealt with usually means someone gets to die.

[Craw Chief]

Yeah so far no issues with the P. clarkii and P. alleni in the same tank, although they're all still relatively small. They were all added the same day though. As the whites are getting larger, I'm beginning to think they too are P. alleni. It's still tough to tell from the areola width because of their size.

I actually have two blue P. clarkii in other tanks right now. I tried putting those two, both males by the way, in a 38 gallon at the exact same time and they immediately went after each other. So they're in their own tanks now. I have a friend who works at a restaurant boiling crawfish and I asked him to set aside any blue ones he finds, which is where the two blue P. clarkii I have came from. I'm still crossing my fingers to get a blue female from him.

Exactly how rare are the blue P. clarkii? I have no doubt that the two blue P. clarkii I mentioned are indeed P. clarkii. That's the most common species used for food here in Louisiana and I can easily tell from their areola. But if I were to get a female and breed them, would people be interested in buying some?