Crayfish In Community Tank

[stretchybabe]

Hi,, i was given a 7" cray by an english friend of mine yesterday,,he says it will be fine in my community tank with the other fish,,he said they are very peacefull and wont even look at the fish because they are so shy,,he also said i cud lift it out and handle it and it dosnt nip,,i was thinkin of gettin another one to keep it company,,wud this be ok,,,im new to all this so any advice wud be great thanks

 

[Fate2006]

Gotta say, a crayfish isn't the best bet for a community tank as they are opportunistic little guys, and will eat most sleeping fish... you said it's 7" so the only thing that would be "okay" for a short period of time would be anything larger than 7"... I'd say don't put it into your aquarium unless your looking forward to fish randomly disappearing with no bodies every turning up...

 

[raptorrex]

Hi,, i was given a 7" cray by an english friend of mine yesterday,,he says it will be fine in my community tank with the other fish,,he said they are very peacefull and wont even look at the fish because they are so shy,,he also said i cud lift it out and handle it and it dosnt nip,,i was thinkin of gettin another one to keep it company,,wud this be ok,,,im new to all this so any advice wud be great thanks

well whilst i would not totally agree with your English friend, if the cray has been kept in a community tank, there is no reason to think it will start killing now. though you would need to give it time to adjust.

same with the handling too, if the cray has been handled all its life, again there is no reason to assume it will start nipping now, but again, give it time to get used to you.

IMO it is true that the Redclaw, i assume that's what it is as you are in the UK, is one of the most peaceful Cray, but individuals do vary, it you plan too keep two cray in the community, i would be looking for a mate, that has been kept in a similar way to the one you have. it will be interesting to see how that goes if you do it!

my cray lives happily in my community, and so do the fish, but two cray? well maybe.