# Looking for info about freshwater crayfish.



## Blackbeard (Jan 19, 2008)

I haven't been able to find much info on getting/keeping crawdads, but I'm very much interested in starting a tank with a few. 

Specifically, 
Are they community-friendly? 
How big will they get/ how much water would they need? 
Are there any species anyone would recommend that are particularly colorful or interesting? (but hardy enough for someone who's never had a crawdad).  

They're not native to Az. and I know our game & fish dept. does NOT like them in the streams. Will this pose a problem with me trying to order them? (might be a weird question, as I don't plan on putting them in a creek or anything)... 

Thank you all for the help! :fish:
-Megan


----------



## Blue Cray (Oct 19, 2007)

No they are not community fish they will eat anyfish they can catch, destroy and eat any plants you have.

Most need a 10gallon tank minimum to them selves. The will kill eachother if given the chance also.

The reach sizes of 4" to 12" in length. 

Electric blue crayfish are interesting but tiger lobsters are waaay cooler and grow alot bigger though.


----------



## fishbone (Jan 15, 2007)

10g is kinda cramped imho. Knowing how active crayfish/crabs/etc can be, I wouldn't personally go with anything smaller than a 20 gallon long. They are also dirty eaters, so it helps to have a large volume of water.


----------



## Blackbeard (Jan 19, 2008)

So, would I only have the tank for a crawdad and nothing else? I don't want any plants, fish or other crawdads in the tank, right? 
Thank you both for your help with this!


----------



## flamingo (Nov 5, 2005)

It help to know the exact species you want to keep


----------



## Blackbeard (Jan 19, 2008)

Yeah... I'm still getting information... Not even sure if I'm going to jump into it. Any ideas or links to references/research? I'm running into research road-bumps. 

Thanks, all!


----------



## fishbone (Jan 15, 2007)

My LFS has blue crayfish sometimes, they are about 4-5 inches across. I would personally set up the aquarium with gravel substrate and plenty of fake plants and rocks, to mimick their natural habitat which, afaik iirc, is rivers.
Check out the www.petshrimp.com forums as well, there are crayfish keepers there.


----------

