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Crayfish and Darters

Started by Guest_Elijah_* , Jun 04 2010 01:06 AM

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9 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_Elijah_*

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Posted 04 June 2010 - 01:06 AM

The other day I caught a 1 1/2 inch long crayfish in a small stream in VT. The crayfish is brown with black markings and has smaller sized claws than many that I see. I would like to put it in my river tank, but I have some small darters in there. My smallest darter is about 1/2 inch long. I can imagine the crayfish having my small darters for a snack.
What is your opinion?
I would hate to loose any darters.

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#2 Guest_CATfishTONY_*

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Posted 04 June 2010 - 05:28 AM

The other day I caught a 1 1/2 inch long crayfish in a small stream in VT. The crayfish is brown with black markings and has smaller sized claws than many that I see. I would like to put it in my river tank, but I have some small darters in there. My smallest darter is about 1/2 inch long. I can imagine the crayfish having my small darters for a snack.
What is your opinion?
I would hate to loose any darters.

all of my tanks have crawdads (rusty) and they will damage/eat your fish for sure.i have had fish over 4" damaged.
in a small closed system they have more of a chance to feed.
it may be wrong but i started removing the front claws.
they are less aggressive on a wafer diet then meat as in dead minnows or shrimp.
most harm is done to fish at night after lights out.
i have large rocks as caves and for the most part i never see the crawdads.

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#3 Michael Wolfe

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North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 04 June 2010 - 10:56 AM

I agree with Tony... crayfish eat shiners and darters. I used to try to keep them, becasue they are so cool looking, and becasue coming from reef tanks, I wanted to ahve that extra invertebrate thing going on in my tanks... but they are (at least in my opinion) not worth the effort. They are very active in teh evenings and night, and while most people don't think about it, most native fish actually sleep (i have snuck up on a darkened tank of shiners and dace and simply picked them up). The crays just pick them off while they are lying still. Any invertebrates are never "full"... you can always eat more and shed your skin and grow bigger.

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

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#4 Guest_Elijah_*

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Posted 04 June 2010 - 11:17 AM

I agree with Tony... crayfish eat shiners and darters. I used to try to keep them, becasue they are so cool looking, and becasue coming from reef tanks, I wanted to ahve that extra invertebrate thing going on in my tanks... but they are (at least in my opinion) not worth the effort. They are very active in teh evenings and night, and while most people don't think about it, most native fish actually sleep (i have snuck up on a darkened tank of shiners and dace and simply picked them up). The crays just pick them off while they are lying still. Any invertebrates are never "full"... you can always eat more and shed your skin and grow bigger.

Thanks for the input. I figured that was the case, but just needed a little extra backing to make up my mind.

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#5 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 04 June 2010 - 11:55 AM

Cajun dwarfs Cambarellus shufeldti are usually safe with minnows and darters (and plants).

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#6 Guest_Elijah_*

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Posted 08 June 2010 - 11:39 AM

Cajun dwarfs Cambarellus shufeldti are usually safe with minnows and darters (and plants).

Cool, maybe I will try to get some. Jonah's has them sometimes I think?

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#7 Guest_JohnO_*

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Posted 19 October 2010 - 02:19 PM

I've had small craws get into my main tank when I'm tossing in a load of scuds. If the darters don't get them right away, they turn into effective algae eaters.

Trouble is, they grow fast. Within six months, they reach darter threatening size, payback time I guess. It never fails to surprise me how much a craw grows when it sheds its shell. And when they get big, they get aggressive.

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#8 Guest_davidjh2_*

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Posted 22 October 2010 - 12:34 PM

I keep adult crayfish in my 75 gallon tank but they aren't a threat to my primary fish in there which are sunfish. They probably get a Dace or killifish from time to time which is okay since they are easy to replace. I keep baby crays in my 10 gallon until they get too big. I have a cray in there now who has gotten too big for the tank I think. I've had two small darters disappear and a shrimp or 2. I also haven't seen the tadpole or newt in a while and I'm fearing the worst. I love my crays but they can be very good at fishing.

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#9 Guest_Pir_*

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Posted 22 December 2010 - 08:47 PM

I have some cambarellus schufeldti. I think that any of the larger crayfish species (P. alleni, etc.) would oppurtunistically eat a fish. What happens a lot is that bottom level fish will rest/sleep, and the more nocturnal crayfish will kill them in one pinch. I have had success keeping crayfish with guppies (the crayfish do a great job of collecting leftover food), and I probably lose some occasionally, but it's not a huge deal.