Self Cloning Lobsters

So my 8 year old son won an auction at a local aquarium club meeting last night. He jumped up and bid before even asking me. Silly kid.

Anyway, he won something labelled self cloning lobsters. Can anyone give me some insight into these guys? Tank size? Tank mates?

 

I would help but I have never kept one before. I know they do destroy plants. If someone else doesn't help soon maybe you could look online. Like on seriouslyfish.

 

The self cloning lobster or crayfish is a highly invasive species and cannot EVER be released into wild lakes, rivers or streams. Keep that in mind !!!

He will uproot plants, chew on all of them eventually, if not kept well fed.
Carrots, peas, parsley and frozen bloodworms are excellent. Once in awhile I give mine Krill ( frozen ).

You cannot use treatments that contain copper or malachite green and high temperatures kill them, too.
Crayfish are a giant pain in a community planted tank and you should probably get him his own 20 breeder with a cave and a few rocks.

 

I would help but I have never kept one before. I know they do destroy plants. If someone else doesn't help soon maybe you could look online. Like on seriouslyfish.

That's the first place I looked. But they didn't have anything. I've been frantically googling but all the sites are saying different things. Frustrating. So I came here.

The self cloning lobster or crayfish is a highly invasive species and cannot EVER be released into wild lakes, rivers or streams. Keep that in mind !!!

He will uproot plants, chew on all of them eventually, if not kept well fed.
Carrots, peas, parsley and frozen bloodworms are excellent. Once in awhile I give mine Krill ( frozen ).

You cannot use treatments that contain copper or malachite green and high temperatures kill them, too.
Crayfish are a giant pain in a community planted tank and you should probably get him his own 20 breeder with a cave and a few rocks.

Noted! I would never release anything into the wild anyway.

Can I feed algae wafers and shrimp pellets as well? I have a supply of those. As well as multiple kinds of frozen food.

Annoying about the plants. Every tank I have is planted fairly heavily. I had no where else to put them (there are 4) last night so I just plopped them into a 2.5 gallon that was recently vacated by a betta who was moved into a QT tank until I can figure out something else. At least its a nice long tank for it's size (18")! Will have to set something else up I guess.

Can they have any tank mates in a 20G?

 

Also crayfish have a heavy bioload, it is ok to cycle a new tank with them but they become restless, look for places to escape and seem to be doing " Yoga ".

When ammonia turns to 0 they settle down and just twitch their antennas around while sitting peacefully in a cave, til its feeding time, which should be in the evening.

 

We should be good for cycling. We have 5 other tanks running so we can just grab some media from one of those tanks.

Are these guys considered to be the "marbled cray". I know it's hard to tell in the pictures above. That tank has tannin stained water so it washes them out a bit.

 

If the tank is small with no filtration make sure he can get on something to stick his head out the water.
When oxygen drops they CAN drown. Also it gives him a chance to escape his own urine.
A 2.5 gl will be smelly in no time.

The best tank mate for Crayfish are fish that feed on plants, are bigger than the cray and the cray is too small to do any harm to the fish.
Goldfish in a Pond with crays as bottom feeders are a good match.

Otherwise, the best mate for a cray is a dead fish so he can eat it ! LOL

I've kept mine with minnows, minnows are fast and bold and at times pester the crays ( nip at their butts ). My crays swat them aside if the minnows get in their face.

My crays are spoiled.
No mine are Northern (common) Crayfish.

 

Right now, the tank is filtered. Good amount of surface agitation. They are still fairly small. Approx 1" so I'm hoping they are ok for a bit until I figure out what to do with them. By a bit, I mean a week, tops 2. I will just keep on top of the water changes. We were already changing out water 3 times a week to begin with for the betta.

My son is so proud of them. But we are running out of room for tanks! We had a serious conversation about jumping in to things without researching first. lol

What are your thoughts on Platies? I wouldn't mind something that would help with population control a bit. I heard these guys are very prolific and make good feeders. I'd never thought of raising something for that purpose before.

 

Can I feed algae wafers and shrimp pellets as well? I have a supply of those. As well as multiple kinds of frozen [\QUOTE]

Yes

Platys prefer warmer temperatures than your marbled or self cloning cray.

 

Platys prefer warmer temperatures than your marbled or self cloning cray.

Noted! Thank you for answering my many questions. I usually do all my research BEFORE we bring something home. So now am panicking.

Would these guys require a heater at all? That would be a bonus if they didn't as I don't have an extra.

I happen to have an empty 23 gallon tank I was going to sell. So just need to find a space for it as we don't have a stand. Also convince husband 6 tanks are definitely required. Also need a filter. Assuming it should be quite strong since these guys are so messy.

 

No heater required if temperature is around 64-70 naturally in the house. Filtration is ok x5 if it's a 20 gl with 1 cray. Add another x5 if you have 2.
So 23= around 230 gallon per hour should be plenty.

You convinced your hubby 6 tanks are def. required?!
You're funny!

 

No heater required if temperature is around 64-70 naturally in the house. Filtration is ok x5 if it's a 20 gl with 1 cray. Add another x5 if you have 2.
So 23= around 230 gallon per hour should be plenty.

You convinced your hubby 6 tanks are def. required?!
You're funny!

Haven't quite convinced him yet. lol

Its a work in progress. I will set my son on him. He can't say no to those big eyes. Haha