# Electric Blue Crayfish



## Loop (Jan 8, 2011)

I've never had one, but thought about getting one so I did look up some info on them before. From what I read they are quite the escape artists and will crawl out given the chance. I also remember reading that most fish won't do well with them because the cray will try to catch them for food. Not sure about the other questions, but that's what I learned from my previous research on them.


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

I have also heard that they can eventually molt the blue color out and revert to brown. This came from a fellow hobbyist while I was looking at them in the fish store. He said his was nice and blue like in the store, but after a few months of molting in his tank it turned to brown. I have a feeling they require something in their diet to maintain that awesome blue shell


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## sampster5000 (Oct 30, 2010)

Interesting... I wish I could find more info on these. We have one at the fish store I work at. Just in regular tap water. Molted once that I've seen. Still doing fine. Thanks guys.


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## SkyGrl (Jan 7, 2010)

if your looking for a community tank..DON'T GET HIM. ours attacked a cichlid 4 inches. he was only about 1- 1 1/2 inches! he ate 4 catfish and 2 taiwan reef cichlids. also if you dont want him to loose his color feed him SPIRALINA. that is the veggie that keeps them blue. they wont loose color if you continue to feed it spiralina. we had to get rid of him because couldnt be with plecos either. one per tank is the recomended stocking. 

maybe we just got a super aggressive one but i wouldnt take a chance on it

Amy


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## VaultBoy (Nov 11, 2010)

i keep Cherax Destructor a relative of the electric blue cray(Cherax tenuimanus) which are farmed here we call them "Marron"

They will survive in almost any water conditions mine are in 10 - 12 DKH, PH 8.0 - 8.2. They tolerate as low as 5ppm oxygen, prefer murky water(they seem to like a thick cover of duckweed) and will grow in temp ranging from 16 - 28 degrees celsius, but can survive down to freezing point in a state of semi-suspended animation.

Here is a pic of one of the 3 i keep in the sump of my 50g corner tank. They seem to get along pretty well with each other if they have room to move and hide, but will eat almost anything else you put in the tank and will dig up your substrate so are not really any good in heavily planted tanks or tanks with mineralized top soil or other layered substrates. They love to hide and burrow under your hardscape and i have heard of people burying pieces of PVC pipe in the substrate with the ends open for them to get into.










I feed mine a variety of meat and vegetable based frozen foods and sinking algae flakes and shrimp pellets and their colours havent really changed but i know that some people have said that the blue ones have turned brown which is weird because they are blue in the wild. That said, there is an enormous ammount of colour variations and morphs in the cherax species and their colours change a little as they mature so anything could happen.

If you want more info search for "marron aquaculture australia" and look at the government information pages regarding farming them. If that doesnt help i dont know what will


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## janftica (Jan 11, 2010)

I have successfully raised 2 batches of electric blue crayfish (over 150 babies) eek! I can tell you they will escape at every opportunity! My white Alleni crawled up the divider in her tank to get away from the male in the other side even though he couldn't get at her. She fell off the tank (6 ft high up) and crawled under my storage unit and wasn't found until 2 months later, mummified. I can't tell you how often I found one crawling down the hallway after climbing out of its tank.

Having to feed these babies was an undertaking in itself and why I now raise CPO's LOL.

Electric blues do not stay blue, some will, others will turn brown, even when fed a diet of spirulina tabs they tend to turn brownish. They will kill and eat any fish that comes in range of them and unfortunately hunt at night when most fish are sleeping! DINNER yummy. They don't come out of their hidings until the lights are off so you never really get to see them, whereas the CPOs are always out and about, checking things out.

My baby shrimp ride around on the head of my CPO's and it doesn't care. 
You can keep more than one of the CPO's in a tank, but can only keep 1 electric blue per tank, if you don't want them to kill one another they fight constantly.

You would be better to go with Shudfeldt or CPOs as they stay small 1 " and don't attack other fish or eat your plants which the electric blues (Alleni & Clarki) both do.
I wondered where all my moss was going to until I read they eat plants.

Water was cold as they like cold temperatures and will not do well in a heated tank, and my water was PH 7.6. Hope this helps. I have also raised 3 batches of CPO's too and these although small are just as hard to keep alive.


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## sampster5000 (Oct 30, 2010)

Thanks guys! You've helped a lot. I am considering not bringing it home now as I know I'll just bring it back eventually. I liked them because of the blue color and decent size they can reach but dont want them killing my fish, losing color, trying to crawl out, and only coming out at night. Thanks


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## lTroy (Oct 2, 2017)

*Died after a week*

I have had a ~2.5 inch crayfish for about a week. Molted the first night, seemed fine from then on. 20g tank with plenty of hiding places, Kept at 70-74 degrees. Two air stones in tank as well. Found him last night on his back by one of the airstones. Has been there for about 16 hours, does not respond to stimuli. Tank mates are 3 guppies, a pleco, and a rainbowshark. Diet included left over fish flakes, algae wafers, and live plants in tank, Tank is relatively new. Any Ideas how he died so quickly?


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