# The villainous crayfish.



## TheJakeM (May 11, 2013)

I know you guys are going to be angry with me when you see this, but please don't harp on me to bad, I realized my mistake.

While at the petstore purchasing goldfish for my outdoor pond I noticed a crayfish. He was housed with goldfish and was only 5 bucks. After repeatedly asking the LFS worker about compatibility, he continued to say that crayfish were fine with goldfish.( I should have checked with you guys first). I bought him and put him in the tank with a few of my younger goldfish. He was fine for about 5 hours. Then I went to a friend's for about two hours. Upon returning to my home I noticed a slit that ran through my largest goldfish's tail fin, from spine to end(also a few smaller ones on his pectoral fins). I quickly removed the crayfish to a bowl on the kitchen table with a cave and water aerator. Where he is now happily munching on an algae wafer.

My main question though, is whether or not my goldfish's find will heal? He is my favorite and really is quite beautiful.


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## TheJakeM (May 11, 2013)

Update: The crayfish is now in a friends tank while I figure out a plan for him.


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## Jaysee (Apr 24, 2010)

Yes the fin will heal in time. And yes, goldfish are awful tank mates for crayfish. In my experience successfully keeping crays with fish, they have to be fast, they cannot sleep near the bottom, and they have to have an attitude. I have had nothing but success keeping various barb species with crays, as well as top water fish such as danios and golden wonder killis.


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## TheJakeM (May 11, 2013)

Thanks, will tetras work? He's actually all by himself in a 29 gal now.


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## Jaysee (Apr 24, 2010)

I've found crayfish to easily catch tetras.

A 29 is a good tank for it and some fish. I kept one with cherry barbs and golden wonder killis and another with tiger barbs - both in 29s. I would not recommend keeping tiger barbs in a 29 though - in my experience they need a 4 foot tank for long term housing.


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## TheJakeM (May 11, 2013)

So cherry barbs, anything else you've heard of?


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## TheJakeM (May 11, 2013)

Are there any inverts that will work?


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## Jaysee (Apr 24, 2010)

I fed my crays ghost shrimp as part of their diet - they get nutrients for good shell growth that way. Speaking of which, do not remove the crays shell when it molts. They will eat it to recycle nutrients.

Crayfish will eat other crayfish, shrimp and snails, including MTS.... So no I would not try to keep them with other inverts.




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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Its not the cray's fault. It just eats fish. The villain of the piece is the is the person who told you the equivalent of "this cat will be great friends with mice, it only eat vegetables.

Even the mouth size rule doesn't apply as they have a handy cutter built in to chop food down to fit.


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## TheJakeM (May 11, 2013)

Good thing they eat snails, I've got an abundance of ramshorns in my other tanks. Buy five and you get a few hundred.


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## TheJakeM (May 11, 2013)

The goldfish is now about halfway healed.


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## TheJakeM (May 11, 2013)

I am having great success with ghost shrimp, cherry barbs, and zebra danios in with the crayfish. With only 7 little on inch fish the 29 is a little under stocked now. After realizing that there is no possibility of him catching them he ( Took him a whole week of chasing them back and forth ) he has become very docile to both the fish and myself. He no longer comes after my fingers or tools while I clean the tank or do water changes. Any ideas for new fish? It seems like small fast fish are the key, I would like some livebearers. Know any that might work?


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## Jaysee (Apr 24, 2010)

Livebearers will surely be eaten.

If the tank is looking empty, its because there needs to be larger schools of the fish that are already in the tank. Something to keep in mind is that the fish will grow.

I think zebra danios, cherry barbs and the crayfish are good for a 29 gallon tank.


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## TheJakeM (May 11, 2013)

Ok, I will do some more of what I already have.


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