# dwarf crayfish eating fish



## fshfanatic (Apr 20, 2006)

All crayfish (to my knowledge) will attack and eat fishes.


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## milalic (Aug 25, 2005)

I keep some dwarf crays in my tanks and I have not seen them eating any fish or bothering them. I have apistos and cories which are bottom dwellers and the crays do not try to eat them...what species is yours?

-Pedro


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## pglenn (Aug 13, 2004)

milalic said:


> I keep some dwarf crays in my tanks and I have not seen them eating any fish or bothering them. I have apistos and cories which are bottom dwellers and the crays do not try to eat them...what species is yours?
> 
> -Pedro


they are supposed to be dwarf cajun...

I also have seen several places stating they should be fine with peaceful fish. per one website:

"_The cajun dwarf crayfish is a perfect little crayfish for the invertebrate hobbyist. It is very peaceful, stays small, does not eat plants and readily breeds in the home aquarium. It can be kept with both dwarf shrimp and small, peaceful fish. The species has very variable coloring with very dark, light, spotted and striped individuals_"


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## milalic (Aug 25, 2005)

from who did you bought them?


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## pglenn (Aug 13, 2004)

milalic said:


> from who did you bought them?


got them from aquabid.com, from fishyfinger007, who seemed well recomended. I dont doubt the type is correct. just worried now for my puffers (who generally sleep on leaves at nite when the cray are supposedly roaming) and my loaches (who are on the floor and in the crevices with the crays)

Patrick


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## NeonShrimp (Mar 9, 2006)

do you have another place to put the crayfish?


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## pglenn (Aug 13, 2004)

NeonShrimp said:


> do you have another place to put the crayfish?



HEH - being a true "tanker" I have 5 tanks going now, but no-where to put them other than where they are


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## YuccaPatrol (Mar 2, 2006)

Your aquarium sounds like some crazy zoo where all the animals are kept in the same cage and the zookeeper can't figure out why the tigers and bears keep eating the other animals. . . 

I'm surprised that your crab hasn't been bothering your fish as well.


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## pglenn (Aug 13, 2004)

YuccaPatrol said:


> Your aquarium sounds like some crazy zoo where all the animals are kept in the same cage and the zookeeper can't figure out why the tigers and bears keep eating the other animals. . .
> 
> I'm surprised that your crab hasn't been bothering your fish as well.


yah I know it sounds that way and that is why I prefaced this thread with "a very mixed assortment of fish"

the tank is pretty heavily planted on the sides and corners. there is a large fake root decor on the left that just reaches out of the water, and allows the crab to exit the water (and I have a female fiddler caz she doesnt have the large claw that the males do)... she was one of the first residents (3+ years) and has made motions at but never caught or even hurt any other tank inhabitant...

I have a 5.5g "feeder" tank that I raise ramshorn, ghost shrimp, and least killifish in. I put some of each in the 29g every few days so I never know how many of each are in it at any time... the "killifish" dont last but there are always a few grown snails and a few shrimp of 1"+

I used to have rainbow but got rid of them caz the dwarf puffers were terrors to them (I prefer the puffers to the EXTREMELY colorful rainbow - perhaps a rainbow only 6th tank??). the puffers have never bothered any other residents

I rarely see the pleco, in fact I only know it is there caz I only catch rare glimpses of it within the plants in the corners. The khuli's I see often within the plants and within the java fern and crypts in the middle of the tank. The puffers seem to be well fed, usually visibly full tummies from the ramshorns I add, the frozen blood-worms and mysis-shrimp, and I believe the babies born of the ghost shrimp...

The dwarf ghourami's I added about 4months ago for visual effect, I wanted a small and active resident to replace the rainbow's. they have not been bothered by the puffers nor had any problems til earlier today. The half-beaks I added about 3weeks ago caz I ALWAYS wanted them and had to get them when I saw them at LFS. I have been thinking to remove the ghouramis now that I have the half-beaks (tho again at the risk of sounding cruel, if the crays eat the ghouramis, no big deal)

so, it isnt the hap-hazard collection it may sound, at least up to the crayfish. I know what is in my tank and how they react to each other...

NOW, all that being said... I really only wanted to solicit opinions on anyone who has had dwarf crayfish, and what experiences were had with keeping these with other fish. I dont want to go 5months of peace and then in the 7th lose all my puffers and khulis

Patrick


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## Dwarfpufferfish (May 29, 2004)

I have dwarf crays, both cajun and orange, I have no problems with them at all... 

It is odd that the crays are getting what are normaly top dwelling fish??? I am not sure what is going on there! You wouldnt think a cray that small could pull a fish like that down? Do you have pics of these crays, I have a feeling that they may not be dwarfs!


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## pglenn (Aug 13, 2004)

Dwarfpufferfish said:


> It is odd that the crays are getting what are normaly top dwelling fish??? I am not sure what is going on there! You wouldnt think a cray that small could pull a fish like that down? Do you have pics of these crays, I have a feeling that they may not be dwarfs!


I dont have any pictures of them, but they do look enuf like the pictures I have seen online of dwarfs... any place you know of that has a really good selection of pics? I know of http://www.franksaquarium.com/crayfish1.htm which has alot but the pics arent real clear... colorations match (kinda speckled brown and tan, with line along sides), only thing I can say which "may" be different is the claws seem maybe a little thinner than pics I have seen and the claws are tipped with a bit of red

as for the surface dwelling ghouramis, well mine roam the entire tank and like swimming thru the lower plants, which is likely how the cray caught one

as of this morning the "caught and freed" one is still doing well so I dont believe he was sick or hurt yesterday

Patrick


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## Dwarfpufferfish (May 29, 2004)

Your crays have red tips on them? That is bad news, they may be young red claws, or another cherax sp. I dont know of any dwarfs with tips on its claws!


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## pglenn (Aug 13, 2004)

Dwarfpufferfish said:


> Your crays have red tips on them? That is bad news, they may be young red claws, or another cherax sp. I dont know of any dwarfs with tips on its claws!


I dont think so, the pincers/claws arent so thick and both are red tipped unlike the thick and one red "finger" and red "joints" I have seen in the cherax. one other thing on studying pictures today, mine have a very light colored tail and no dark blotch like the dwarfs should have??


wish I had a camera :-(


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## SCMurphy (Oct 21, 2003)

Have you tried increasing the amount of food the crays are getting?


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## spypet (Sep 15, 2006)

not a lot of FW planted tank owners put a crayfish in their tanks, and for good reason; they can attack live fish and dig up your plants. I currently have a 3" Yabbie isolated in a 10gal tank that I'm experimenting with him and some of my other fish, and can share with anyone considering a crayfish *my own observations*.

- no matter how much you feed your crayfish, it will still hunt and gather any new food and drag it back to it's lair. certainly an underfed crayfish will be more aggressive in the hunt, but even a well fed crayfish will go after anything it can grab and hold long enough; it's simply their nature to do so.

- this type of crayfish that is famous for destroying farm irrigation ditch dams by clawing holes through them is actually pretty good around my plants. he seems to spend most of his exploration efforts around the tank glass itself, so as long as the first inch near the glass is free of plants and other obstacles, he seems content to leave everything alone.

- many crayfish including this Yabbie are omnivorous and do appreciate greens. my Yabbie does sift the gravel surface a bit, and climb around in the plants, but he does not seem to eat them, dig them up, or rip them apart. He did eat the carrot shavings I threw in the tank.

- while my tank has lot's of places to hide, my Yabbie is happiest under a slab of slate I have leaning at a 45% angle against my tank glass. I used a suction cup on the bottom glass to keep if from sliding flat. It is good to have an open hiding place so you can see what he's dragged back to his den to feed on, and he seems to prefer watching what's going on around him, as long as his rear feels safe.

- *any fish timid enough that it could not get away from you trying to scoop him up with your hand, will not survive in a tank with a crayfish.* so putting him with my Dwarf African Frog, Otto, or Farlowella would be a fatal mistake. Ironically other bottom dwelling fish like my SAEs are safe around the crayfish - just try catching an SAE even with a fish net.

- while most imagine crayfish grab live food with their large pincer claws, the reality is they try to pounce and grab live food with as many of their lesser feeder claws as they can, so trimming large crayfish claws in an effort to disable their offensive tools is simply not going to matter.

Since my community tank has too many fish I want to keep that this crayfish could attack, I will keep him in my 10gal desk tank for now. If I had fewer "timid" fish, I'd give them away, and put the crayfish in the large community tank as he is so entertaining to keep around. but for now, I have enough spare fish tank stuff laying around, that keeping a second little planted tank works out well for this little Yabbie and me.

If you don't want to risk a crayfish in your tank, but still kind of miss the idea of having a large invert around, consider getting a female Vampire shrimp as they get bright orange, 3-4" large, can be day active, and are totally harmless to any animal you could possibly keep in your tank. Shrimp are far more water quality sensitive than crayfish, so be sure your tank is stable before adding any kind of shrimp.

_Yabbie_

_Vampire_


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## LGHT (Aug 21, 2006)

Wow that's a nice looking crayfish. where did you get him. the gf is still considering shrimp, small fish, but may like crayfish!


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## spypet (Sep 15, 2006)

I recommend going with a mix of small fish, frog, shrimp, snails and lots of plants :flick: 
in order to enjoy the widest range of animals in the same community fish tank.
getting a crayfish will limit everything else you can safely put in your fish tank. :icon_evil
don't get an eel as they will starve unless you regularly feed them live worms.


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## rspiegel (Oct 3, 2006)

I have a craw fish I got from local bait shop for free. Its a grey crawfish? He was very small when I got him? (no black pinchers underneith) Ihave 5 green cory cats 5 black berry barbs and 4 gorami's. None have died yet going on 2 mths. He has molted 2 times and has grown from 1 inch to 2 1/2 maybe 3 inches. He has gotten crazy now when I feed. and runs around trying to find somehting. To bad. LOL All the other fish can swim and are to fast. In the end he will win. Someday  I hope not. Tank is 26 gl hex and has little bottom area. If he kills one he goes on a hook. Or maybe a 10GL tank. He has 2-3 hiding holes for him. The gorami's and other fish know he is the man and stay clear but they chance it all the time by getting to close. We'll hope this helps just get a tank for him and get some others. 10gl tanks are cheep. I like to watch him and hope he does not get to big. Thanks Richard


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## spypet (Sep 15, 2006)

that single crayfish will do just fine in a 10gal tank, it's only when you have two or more crayfish that they each need a lot more territory. you are lucky that so far the Corys have survived unscathed. I suggest your tank have a few rigid horizontal leaf plant stems such as Ludwigia repens so the Corys can rest on their leaves, out of easy reach to that bottom dwelling crayfish.


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## CAF (Oct 22, 2006)

As has already been said, crays will eat anything they can catch. When I lived in GA I bought a blue cray and put him in my holding tank with some guppies. As soon as he hit the bottom he had grabbed a guppy and had eaten the tail up to body before I could get to the tank and get him to drop it. I have found that to be the standard activity of the crays... even when I KNEW they were well fed... Most people who are really into crays keep them seperate from everything else including each other unless they are trying to mate them as they are canibals and will eat one another (generally after a territoral dispute...) Wish you the best of luck.


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## 1FISH1 (Jun 28, 2013)

pglenn said:


> I have a 29g planted tank, with a very mixed assortment of fish. I have 3 dwarf puffers (who dont bother any of the fish), 5 dwarf honey gouramis, 3 half-beaks, a small rubber-nosed pleco, 1 khuli loach, and 2 black-khuli loaches. also 3 otto catfish.
> 
> I also have a few ghost shrimp (number unknown but probably 4-5 at this time), 6 dwarf crayfish, and a female fiddler crab. The fiddler crab has been in the tank since the beggining, 3+ years, and has never bothered anything else but the occasional ghost shrimp so I dont worry about it tho I did in the very beginning.
> 
> ...


I Just Bought a Dwarf Crayfish and they do fine with non-aggressive fish like glo-fish or
fish you get at the planted tank stores or petco i got my dwarfs at the planted tank store 
and it is really good i just dont know what to feed them so are your fish aggressive or 
non-aggressive??


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## somewhatshocked (Aug 8, 2011)

Welcome to the forum.

This is a post that's nearly seven-years-old so it may be better for you to use the search function to find threads to be more helpful on the Dwarf CPO front. 

Though, note that they can and will kill other Crays, fish and shrimp if given the opportunity. 

You'll want to feed them a mix of something like crab bites and a veggie-based food. Maybe even the occasional snail.


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