Fish to put with a Blue Crayfish

Hello I am looking to get a 20g tank to house a Blue Crayfish. I have done some research and found out that the crayfish can live with some fast moving fish. However due to the temp range of 55-70f I am having a hard time finding a species that would work. Please recommend some compatible species.

Thank you.

 

Welcome to the forum

I would suggest a 29 gallon tank, for two reasons. First, I think a crayfish needs a larger footprint than a 20. They really only use a small portion of the tank. Second - since you want to keep fish with it, the larger the tank the better. I have always had good success keeping barbs with crayfish. They sleep high in the water column, which is really important because any fish that sleep near the bottom is at serious risk of being eaten. Also, the constant threat of predation will cause stress on bottom dwelling fish, which is not good for their health. Barbs have a tenacious attitude and live well with them.

Why is the temp going to be so low? Low to mid 70's is fine, and fine for most barb species.

I did the blue crayfish with cherry barbs and a golden wonder killi, with black sand and a black background. Ah, in the video I have an african butterfly in there instead of a killi - I had put a killi in once I moved the butterfly to the 75.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9mhMuEqdj0

 

The problem is that a 20 gallon is not a very big tank, and if you are looking for a fast moving species that means that you will need active fish, and active fish are going to prefer lots of space to swim.

That said I wonder whether danios would work. Danios are fast. 20 gallons is a small tank for danios, bigger would be better. You would probably want to do a careful balance of providing hiding places and plants but not too much so as not to obstruct their ability to swim away from the crayfish.

An advantage of danios is that the zebra danios at least are fairly cheap and common, and thus if your crayfish is a successful hunter after all, his meal will not have cost you a fortune.

The danios will probably be fairly stressed unless they are too stupid to realize that they share a small tank with a predator.

If you do decide to get any fish to go with the crayfish, I would think it would be important to make sure that the cray remains so well fed constantly that he will be too lazy to hunt for fish - so if you go for vacation, do not leave your tank without food for a week, right?

 

Since danios stick to the top half of the tank, they will likely be oblivious of the crayfish.

I left my crayfish tanks for a week and had no predation in either. Some fish are just easier to catch than others.

 

Ha, tell that to my danios Jaysee that they are supposed to stick to top half. Mine love to cluster wiggle underneath the roots of plants, several danios in the tightest spot they can find, moving as fast as they can in that tight space. Are mine just weird danios that don't know how to be danios?

 

Yeah, they're weird. Some species, like CPDs, stay low in the water, but zebras and giants should stay high.

 

I have a red dwarf crayfish, and he originally was with a shark and some angels and pearls and did great..when he was smaller haha. I moved him to a 20g with some barbs..he ate 2 of them, The larger he gets I definately agree that a 20 g is not big enough. And a 29 would be great especially with fishies. Mine is moving to my 29 g when my 125g is up and running. I would do barbs or danios (I think I am going to try these little fellas too.


"neon red lobster" not dwarf sorry...max size 6 inches

 

I think we went over this before, but if it is eating fish and a 20 gallon is not big enough, it's not a dwarf crayfish. A 5 gallon is plenty for a dwarf crayfish.

 

Endlers might be ok they are small but the lowest mine went was to the middle also they add a lot of Colorado to the upper portion.


P.S. they need to be fed high at the top of the tank.

 

I have never been to Colorado, but I hear it is beautiful up in the mountains there, and thus I would imagine that it would be quite desirable, just like endlers sound like they are quite desirable. My to do list for the future now includes go to Colorado and/or get endlers.

 

Long fins don't mix well with crays.

Also, livebearers sleep near or on the bottom. That's the concern, since crays are nocturnal predators.

 

A 20g long and a 29 usually have the same footprint.

 

Yes, but since they did not specify a long tank, we must assume its a standard 20.

A 20 long would be good for a specimen tank, with the addition of a trio of Gw killis or maybe some zebra danios. The problem with mixing crayfish and fish in a 20 long is that there is significantly less crayfish free space for the fish. A 20 long is only 12 inches tall - when you add substrate and the air gap at the top, you are talking about only about 9 inches of real height. That doesn't leave much room for the fish, and it means that a greater percentage of the tank is within the Crays grasp.