# My new pet, Crayfish.



## bettanova2 (Mar 18, 2012)

I've just bought a new pet, crayfish last Sunday. As this is my first experience of keeping it, does anyone has the experience of being pinched by crayfish? and is it hurt? I'm also not really sure whether the pictures shown below are actually crayfish or lobster..


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## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

Doesn't hurt... 
If he doesn't let go within a minute of pinching you, run him under cold water in the tap..


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## BeckyFish97 (Apr 9, 2012)

awesome


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## bettanova2 (Mar 18, 2012)

Olympia said:


> Doesn't hurt...
> If he doesn't let go within a minute of pinching you, run him under cold water in the tap..


I see,..at first when I transferring him to another tank, I felt a bit nervous, he able to climb up the net quite fast towards me and scared me off! and he doesn't really looked stress at all walking on the floor..I actually need 2 nets to get him back to the tank lol..


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## bettanova2 (Mar 18, 2012)

BeckyFish97 said:


> awesome


Thanks! I found taking crayfish photos are much easier than bettas!


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## RayneForhest (Apr 22, 2011)

Pick him up by the saddle. Its behind his pinchers. He cant reach you to pinch you that way. When you get close, they'll flop around or try to go backwards. What I used to do is get a hand held strainer from the kitchen with a handle on the end... and put it behind them... when they go backwards, they get trapped in the strainer.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Cooking-oil-strainer-cheap-easy-and-effective/


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## bettanova2 (Mar 18, 2012)

RayneForhest said:


> Pick him up by the saddle. Its behind his pinchers. He cant reach you to pinch you that way. When you get close, they'll flop around or try to go backwards. What I used to do is get a hand held strainer from the kitchen with a handle on the end... and put it behind them... when they go backwards, they get trapped in the strainer.
> 
> http://www.instructables.com/id/Cooking-oil-strainer-cheap-easy-and-effective/


That's a good idea. I think the hand held strainer is handy too, I will try to find it in the kitchen..to be honest, I'm not even dare to pick him up with my hands and maybe this is just the beginning.


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## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

Oh, to your first question. He's a crayfish. Lobsters are salt water.


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## Cattitude (Apr 19, 2012)

He looks cool! He reminds me of the crayfish I caught in the wild when I was a kid. I kept him in my 10-gal tank for months until he disappeared. I assume he escaped, but we never found him. I have never seen one in a pet store or I might have bought another one someday. They are fascinating to watch.


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## bettanova2 (Mar 18, 2012)

Olympia said:


> Oh, to your first question. He's a crayfish. Lobsters are salt water.


Ah, really..it is nice to know that he is a crayfish, I think keeping the salt water fish or lobster is even more challenging..


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## RayneForhest (Apr 22, 2011)

What should you feed it? after all... they're scavengers


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## bettanova2 (Mar 18, 2012)

Cattitude said:


> He looks cool! He reminds me of the crayfish I caught in the wild when I was a kid. I kept him in my 10-gal tank for months until he disappeared. I assume he escaped, but we never found him. I have never seen one in a pet store or I might have bought another one someday. They are fascinating to watch.


Yeah, I feel quite excited to keep him in my 5G tank in companion with tetras and danios. I've also did some research and learned that crayfish is very good at escaping too..I can always see him trying to climb and escape..just got to make sure that my tank is always closed tightly..he also likes to dig a hole lol


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## Leeniex (Aug 14, 2011)

Ya, my kid's crayfish chased me around the house one night.


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## bettanova2 (Mar 18, 2012)

RayneForhest said:


> What should you feed it? after all... they're scavengers


At this moment, I feed him with algae wafers and I can see that he loves to hold and eat it ..


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## ReefTrooper (Jan 29, 2012)

Hey bettanova2. That is a Red swamp Crayfish and it can grow up to 6 inches long... so it is not suitable for a tank under 20 gallons... 

i suggest you put him in a larger tank or he will be stressed and will not color up nicely. I have done extensive research on them since i too have got one recently and they are truly delightful usually :-D 
i keep mine in a pond where he eats dead plant matter along with any insects or worms available. sometimes i feed him a raw shrimp which he takes happily.
They help keep your aquarium clean and look a wonderful when they are fully colored up; a deep red and sometimes with a blue sheen on the pincers  Good luck


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## Cattitude (Apr 19, 2012)

Back then (late seventies/early eighties) I fed my crayfish on a variety of foods including algae pellets, frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp, and tropical fish flakes. He seemed to thrive on those. I kept him alone because I was afraid he'd eat any small fish in the tank. We didn't have internet back then to do research.


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## bettanova2 (Mar 18, 2012)

Timothy 1998 cremer said:


> Hey bettanova2. That is a Red swamp Crayfish and it can grow up to 6 inches long... so it is not suitable for a tank under 20 gallons...
> 
> i suggest you put him in a larger tank or he will be stressed and will not color up nicely. I have done extensive research on them since i too have got one recently and they are truly delightful usually :-D
> i keep mine in a pond where he eats dead plant matter along with any insects or worms available. sometimes i feed him a raw shrimp which he takes happily.
> They help keep your aquarium clean and look a wonderful when they are fully colored up; a deep red and sometimes with a blue sheen on the pincers  Good luck


I see, thanks for the information!..it surprised me to know that he can actually grow up to 6 inches long..I would try to get a bigger tank for him as soon as possible, and hope it doesn't stress him so much..:|


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## RayneForhest (Apr 22, 2011)

bettanova2 said:


> Yeah, I feel quite excited to keep him in my 5G tank in companion with tetras and danios. I've also did some research and learned that crayfish is very good at escaping too..I can always see him trying to climb and escape..just got to make sure that my tank is always closed tightly..he also likes to dig a hole lol


put him a rock in there where he can crawl under it. When I used to find them in the creek, that's where they'd be


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## bettanova2 (Mar 18, 2012)

RayneForhest said:


> put him a rock in there where he can crawl under it. When I used to find them in the creek, that's where they'd be


I've added an aquarium wood for him to crawl, and also created an environment where he can hide


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## Cattitude (Apr 19, 2012)

Looks great! I hope you enjoy him.


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## ReefTrooper (Jan 29, 2012)

No problem at all :-D Its always nice to see someone appreciating your input. I guess hes pretty small still.. so you need not worry about him being stressed too much.. but once he becomes about 3 inches long its high time you get him a bigger home. Glad to be of help


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## bettanova2 (Mar 18, 2012)

Thanks guys for sharing experience and suggestions! I think my crayfish will grow bigger later and this will be the time when I'll get him a larger tank..


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