Help! My crayfish is stressed!

HI all. My crayfish is an 5" electric blue cray living in a 10 gallon tank. I got him when he was just a little below 2". The thing is he never witnessed me cleaning the tank while he was inside so he got terrified. Before the cleaning our relationship was good..he would come to me every time I open the lights and sit in front of tank. I usually throw him an algae waffle and he would grab it and go back to his den. However, a week or two ago I noticed when I just open the lights n sit n watch him he would scrabble over to look at me for 30 secs to see if I drop him anything, if nothing he would just scrabble back to his den for a minute and scrabble back out n see if there is food. He did this behaviour until he sees food on his third attempt. Normally he would grab the food n scrabble back, but this time he stayed with me a while and did the scrabbling back and forth until I drop another one...he would keep eating while he walks and grab the other one with his pinchers or just guard them with his pinchers. My guppies learned the waffles r "his" food so won't go near it when he is around. However, this behaviour changed after I decided to clean the tank. Like I mentioned, he never witness me clean the tank so he got scared. He was so scared he squirmed back to his den and broke the wall so to top collapsed on him. I had to fix it a few times and did moderations to make sure it is safe. Anyway, been a day or two now and his relationship with me was bad. Maybe I got him ed and now he thinks I am his enemy. What can I do? I read this article:https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...can-feel-anxiety-scientists-show-9532781.html and they said crays could get stressed too. Is there a way I could rekindle my friendship with him?

 

https://www.fishlore.com/Profiles-Crayfish.htm





Hello and Welcome to Fish Lore!

Check out the information in the links above while you wait for more responses.

I have deleted your duplicate thread to prevent confusion among members. Please only create 1 thread per topic.

Thanks! Best wishes for your Cray and I hope you enjoy the forum.

Ken

 

Does anyone have similar experience with their cray?? I need help!

 

I specifically got it to control guppy population. But seems like it does not bother the fish at all. Its an electric blue. The tank size I searched up is sufficient. He is more stable today. He roams around but still on guard when I'm around. I made his home bigger so he won't break it that easily and he managed to create a third entrance. Haha that little construction guy had so much dusty debris from the coral walls when he tries to make an entrance...funny little guy...I'm still airdrying the other fake plants after disinfection. Hopefully he will be more at ease when those go back in.

 

Crayfish are quite endearing, aren't they?

I suspect he'll get over it all. Mine have become accustomed to the tank cleanings. In fact, they think maybe they'll get fed!

But it takes them a while to get used to their environment, including the people and the periodic cleaning or moving of things. Same for the fish, too, it seems.

 

Yah. Hopefully he will get used to tank cleaning. I love my little guy. So interactive =D

 

Welcome to fishlore!
In the wild, too, crayfish do this when you go near them.
Honestly, the best thing to do here is upgrade. More space for them to get away and they won't feel as stressed. Also, your crayfish is likely to eat the guppies.
What type of crayfish is it?

So it's this species?:
Procambarus alleni? If so, they get 7 inches and aren't suitable for a 10 gallon long term.

 

I see. Originally I put him in my 30g, but I saw somewhere they only grow to 5" so don't know if its the one you said. I don't want my cray to treat my pleco as dinner. I get him originally to control my guppies population, but it seems he don't snack on them at all.

I mean I saw somewhere they only need 10 gallon if grow to 5".

 

5" imo is too big for a 10. The only crays I'd do in there are dwarf crays, like Cambarellus patzcuarensis.
I believe that these crays can also get to a foot long, but I think it's rare.

 

I see. Ill figure something out then. He seems to be doing fine tho because he is only housed with guppies and they are usually at the top of tank or swim away from him. Will he hurt my pleco if I put him to my 30g?

 

Yes, he probably would. I'd get a 20 gallon for him when you can. What type of pleco is it?

Could you get a pic of the pleco?

That's a type of sailfin pleco. They'll need a gigantic tank in the future, as they get over 18 inches.

 

I see. Hmm...I don't remember which type because my mom gave it to me, she was worried her tank was too small because he got big. But I remember researching it at the time and 30 gallon should be good. I added more hiding spaces and he seems to like it. In my mom's house he only stay under driftwood and will dash when he caught someone looking at him. But in my tank he is fine when I look at him. He looks calm with me around. My bf wanted to get me a bigger tank but our place don't have that much room. So I will observe his behaviour for few more days. Like I said. He was very happy and interactive before the water change. Ill see how he is when I put the fake plants back

Like when I got cray-ey mom didnt give me the pleco yet. So that's why poor cray-ey has to be in the 10g

Omg. Really? I'm gonna kill my mom =O

Poor thing will gotta stay here while I figure things out. What is the min size?

I mean size tank

 

150 gallons. Yeah.....

 

Anything that gets 18" + is a good pond fish IMO. You would need an incredibly large tank for it to be able to move around comfortably.

 

Omg...ok. if it gets too big I will sell it to a better home, I don't have a big place for this size tank at the moment =(

 

Omg...ok. if it gets too big I will sell it to a better home, I don't have a big place for this size tank at the moment =(

It's not so much of an "if" as it is a "when." Personally, I would start looking for a home for it now. Before it either stunts or outgrows the tank.

 

It's not so much of an "if" as it is a "when." Personally, I would start looking for a home for it now. Before it either stunts or outgrows the tank.

Sorry. I meant when.

 

Alright. Just an update. I was getting all worried about my cray-ey and all. Did lots of research and also called the fish store. Dude said it will only go up to 6" and the 30 gallon tank should be more than enough space. I moved all my favorite snails to the 10 gallon. I observed 2 days and the pleco n cray seems to be doing ok. My pleco scares my crayey and he waves his claws like some dude on the internet say: "a 2 year old swinging an adult baseball bat". Looks fierce but does nth harmful. Crayey eats now and when they cross paths crayey will try to climb over pleco rather than scare it off...guess they r both peaceful type. Whole time crayey lived with guppies he never ate em..

I think they got used to each other. While pleco is minding his own business, crayey is burrowing. Then pleco swam by and flapped his tail on crayey's face by accident n crayey responded like nth happened! They understand they both own the place and will move over when one needs to walk or swim by. I'm lucky they both their personalities are docile to other kinds of fish as ive seen crayey mean to other crays before and never hurt one guppy. Crayey is less stressed now that he has more place to walk around and more hide outs =D

 

I know it's a late response but the Sailfin we had was 1-2 inches when we bought him. 7 months later he had reached 8 or so inches and was acting like a moody, grumpy teenager whenever I or anyone else dared to invade "his" space - and that included the fish he shared the tank peacefully with up until then. He lives in a pond now for a reason and I recommend you start looking for someone with a pond now so you can do the same. Ordinarily I would tell you that IMHO, the only plecos I would recommend for a 30 are a clown pleco or a BN pleco, but with the cray around I would say skip the pleco altogether - too easy of a meal one day as the pleco chills for the day on a piece of driftwood and the cray can sneak up on them while the pleco sleeps