Crayfish are small freshwater lobsters, so similar to lobsters as positive identification can be difficult. Their unique characteristics and appearance can be the highlight of an aquarium. A crayfish is usually about 6 inches long, much smaller than the 24-inch lobster. Like lobsters, they are omnivores that will eat almost anything.
Crayfish are becoming very popular with aquarists because they do not require much more work than fish and in some cases, they can be the main attraction of the aquarium, considered by some to be an upgrade to the tank.
They are perfect for someone wanting to add to their fish tank but not to their workload.
An Overview of Crayfish
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The scientific name for crayfish is Cambarus. It is also referred to as a Yabby and also known as crawfish, crawdads, freshwater lobsters, mountain lobsters, and mudbugs depending where in the world you might be. “Crayfish” is more common in the north, while “crawdad” is heard more in central and southwestern regions, and “crawfish” farther south. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crayfish)
Crayfish can be found throughout the Northern Hemisphere where there exist about 650 crayfish species, mostly east of the Rocky Mountains.
Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans and part of Decapods which also include shrimp, crab, and lobster. They often are misidentified as lobsters, but they tend to be much smaller and live in freshwater, lobsters have saltwater habitats.
Crayfishes look like small lobsters, they have a front pair of strong pinching claws, an armored body or thorax, and a broad tail section. The front part of the body is rigid, but the back part, the abdomen or tail section, has movable segments which are sandy yellow, green, red, or dark brown in color. In the head region, 2 pairs of antennae and tiny eyes aid the crayfish in sensing its surroundings.
Freshwater crayfish are an important part of the diet of many streams and local lake fish including Rock Bass and Smallmouth Bass. The increasing crayfish populations are considered an invasive species in many areas and are causes many problems in the local environment. Crayfish rank among the chief omnivores found in many lakes and streams.
Crayfish can live to be 20 to 30 years old, they reach adult size in about 3 to 4 months after shedding its exoskeleton frequently.
The Crayfish may try to bite you with a pincher but probably will not break the skin or hurt. The correct way to pick one up is the hold it by the mid-section so it can neither bite you or getaway.
Crayfish are easily be kept in a home aquarium and make excellent pets, they can often be seen building little hills, mounds, digging, hiding among shadowy rocks and plants, and burrowing in the gravel at the bottom of their tanks.
A crawfish can survive for several days outside water as long as their gills are moist, due to its specialized gills which enable it to breathe normal air. If they live in humid conditions, they can survive for months.
What do Crayfish Eat in the Wild?
Crayfish, in the wild or kept as pets, are omnivorous scavengers. Omnivores will eat a broad diet, including any plants, small live fish, shrimp, insects, plankton, algae, and worms.
Like most creatures, a healthy crayfish diet will consist of what is available in their local environment, and being nocturnal creatures can be difficult to observe. Knowing what crayfish eat in the natural environment may help you in choosing the best daily diet for your crayfish particularly if it was caught locally.
Their main diet is composed of dead and decaying animal matter, although they do not require a lot of animal protein in their diet, and vegetation from aquatic plant beds as it is easy for them to rip apart with their claws. Their natural habitat is made up of mud, rocks, and a fast-flowing current, which makes it easy to scavenge for food trapped in the mud and rocks or catch what happened to flow in the current.
Although more difficult to catch crayfish will eat small fish and tadpoles if they can catch them. They are not strong swimmers so catching other fish can be challenging. This should be a warning if you place your crayfish in a tank with small fish they may become a part of their meal.
Food Options for Blue Crayfish
The Electric Blue Crayfish are also known as Blue Crayfish, Sapphire Crayfish, or Florida Crayfish will both brighten up and liven up your tank. Found almost exclusively in the state of Florida, this native species is often found east of the St. Johns River. With their outstanding color, particularly the bright cobalt blue ones, they are one of the most popular invertebrates in the freshwater aquarium market!
This crayfish species is very hardy and can get along great in any environment. Because of their unique appearance and the fact that they are easy to raise and care for they have become a good choice for aquarists wanting to raise crayfish.
The Blue Crayfish has an average life span of 5 or 6 years if their environment is properly maintained and they are cared for correctly. Maintaining good water parameters, proper ammonia levels, and a disease-free tank are the secrets to a long and healthy life.
The type and quantity of food fed to the crayfish is an important step in maintaining water quality. As omnivores and bottom feeders, these crayfish will eat almost anything. They can get by being fed once a day and a diet of fish foods including sinking pellets, dry flake, and algae wafers work well with shrimp or blanched vegetables added as a treat.
Blue Crayfish are very active and one of their favorite activities is to attack live foods from behind, then eat them. You can give Live Brine Shrimp and Live Earthworms to the Blue Crayfish which will keep them busy and they will enjoy the challenge. This food will supply essential nutrients, protein, and fiber to the Crayfish.
If you overfeed your crayfish clean out the uneaten food so it does not decompose and ruin the water quality.
Food Habits of Dwarf Blue Crayfish
Another popular crayfish is the Dwarf Blue Crayfish. Again, because of its bright blue color and its small size, it is a unique, attractive, and entertaining addition to many freshwater aquariums.
Most Dwarf Blue Crayfish are tank bred but they are indigenous to the southwestern US, primarily Southeastern Texas, and can be found in small rivers and streams, as wells as lakes and ponds.
This crayfish is a bright blue and looks like a small, small lobster. To maintain the blue coloring the tank water needs to have a pH consistently below 6.8, otherwise, its color can turn back to a brown when it molts.
They can grow up to 1.6 inches long and unlike many crayfish are active during the day, adding to aquarium entertainment. Because of their small size, these crayfish do not usually pose a threat to other tank inhabitants.
Adding invertebrates to freshwater aquariums has become very popular. They adapt well to an assortment of conditions, eat algae to kelp keep the tank clean as well as scavenge the bottom for forgotten food and their color and personalities are attention-getting.
They can be fun to have in your aquarium because they want to be the center of attention.
The Dwarf Blue Crayfish are scavengers and bottom feeders so not too picky about their diet. As omnivores, they will eat anything, aquatic plants, vegetables decaying animal matter, fish eggs, live food like an earthworm, and brine shrimp.
Many Fishkeepers feed their crayfish fresh vegetables being sure to clean and blanch any vegetables first. When buying packaged foods make sure that nothing you add to the aquarium has any copper in it as copper is deadly to invertebrate.
What to Feed Crayfish in the Aquarium
The unique and rare appearance of Crayfish plus their adaptability and hardiness have made Crayfish popular aquarium pets. They have proven to be easy to care for and with the proper diet can live up to 7 or 8 years.
Crayfish will easily join a community fish tank and will eat much of the same foods. Being bottom feeders crayfish are great for finishing fish food that has made it through the top and middle-level fish.
All crayfish whether large or small, wild or kept in a tank are omnivorous scavengers and will eat whatever they can find, including aquatic plants, vegetables, fish food, other fish, the algae in the tank, or each other.
A crayfish diet will vary depending on where they were raised and what foods they were raised eating. In the wild, a crayfish was probably used to eating dead fish, shrimp, insects, larva, or live plants since this would be the easiest to scavenge, and the decaying animal flesh and vegetation is easy for the crayfish to rip apart with its large claws.
Crayfish do not need much protein and as they get old they require even less. Much of the protein they consume is to create the exoskeleton or body shell, that they shed as they grow but as they reach adulthood that slows down to only once or twice a year. Also, as they shed the exoskeleton they will eat it over time so both they are resupplied with protein and you need not worry about removing it from the tank.
Most crayfish hide during the day and only eat at night so when you feed them let the food sit overnight before removing any uneaten food so as to not damage the quality of the tank water.
Shrimp pellets are a common food fed to crayfish and if used should be fed to them once daily. Frozen aquarium foods can also be fed to them as a treat, these include daphnia, bloodworms, frozen squid, and brine shrimp. Never feed your crayfish live or uncooked shrimp as they can have diseases that may kill your crayfish.
Since crayfish are not very fast they rarely will catch any fish or shrimp in the tank and will prefer invertebrate pellets or cleaned and blanched green vegetables like zucchini, carrots, shelled peas, spinach leaves, or even aquatic plants like Java Moss. If live plants are in the tank it is suggested to use fast-growing hornwort and java moss. Using vegetation as a food source is just as healthy as meat and is much cheaper.
Shrimp, small fish, and other small live food are appreciated and will make feeding time more entertaining since they have to actually hunt their food.
By putting leftover vegetables from your own meal into the tank you will be giving the cray plant nutrients and something a little different while cutting down on your food waste. Changing the diet will provide ample nutrients and keep their food interesting.
What Do You Feed Fry and Juvenile Crayfish?
When crayfish hatch they will be probably invisible to the human eye and they will live under the mother’s tail. It will take about 15 days for them to grow large enough to start eating and will be about one-half inch long. One way you may notice they have grown is that the food put in the tank will disappear at a faster rate, CLUE!
At this point, they will usually still stay under the mother’s tail and be eating tiny bits of floating food.
The larvae are both big eaters and aggressive eaters so it is important to keep sufficient food available so they grow and do not turn on each other. The larvae are small and have small mouths so they will only be able to get small pieces of food into their mouth.
You can find baby shrimp food online or at some pet stores and the is prefect or feeding larvae at the stage. This is usually in powder form which can be sprinkled into the tank, watch to be sure it is the larvae eating this food. Sometimes larvae will wander away from the mother and you will need to put food around the tank so the larvae can find it.
A big problem for larvae is finding food and a major cause of mortality.
After the larvae stage, the baby crayfish will have grown into juveniles and look like crayfish just smaller. At this point they can be fed the same foods as adults, making life easier. It will be very important that all the fish have plenty to eat because if not they will start eating each other, including the mother.
If possible any adults should be moved to another tank so they do not eat the fry. The juvenile crayfish can be feed blanched cabbage leafs and lettuce leaves as well as detritus. Be sure these small crayfish are being fed every day until adulthood. You will need to break the adult food into smaller pieces so that these new crayfish can get it into their mouths.
As the juveniles grow the larger ones will need to be moved into the other tank so they do not eat the smaller ones. If the tank is large enough and there are plenty of hiding places this probably will not be necessary.
How Much and How Often to Feed a Crayfish?
As an adult, your crayfish will need to be fed every other day and if using pellets as a food source only feed them three-quarters of one per crayfish. If you have multiple crayfish in a tank try placing the food in the various areas where only the desired crayfish will get it, blunt tongs may be useful.
Your crayfish will eat your aquarium plants and a variety of other foods, including romaine lettuce, fish flakes, shrimp or algae wafers, clam, krill, squid, and tubifex worms. Some attention will need to be paid as to what food sources are disappearing.
When there are fish in the same tank it becomes more difficult to see what fish food drops to the bottom.
Young crayfish need to be fed every day at about the same time so a pattern is formed. If you notice them not eating try another food.
Since the cray is nocturnal the food may not be eaten right away, but it should be gone in the morning after a night of foraging.
If they are not eating they should resume once they become hungry. It is important to keep them fed so they do not eat their tank mates or each other. If they stop eating completely check the water quality and try different food.
The crayfish usually stay in its hiding spots but if you want some entertainment try placing the food elsewhere in the tank so they have to go and get it.
By keeping a feeding routine they make start coming out of their hiding spots at that time knowing food is on the way.
Summary
The crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) became the official state crustacean of Louisiana in 1983.
One of the most popular uses for crayfish is that of food. Crayfish are a delicacy in many parts of the world and a popular dish that is made with these creatures is called crawfish boil.
Another use of crayfish is as fishing bait for resident anglers as they attract fish like pike, smallmouth bass, and catfish.
They are becoming very popular as pets by many people. Their unique and attractive colors make them a good choice to enhance an aquarium.
One of the great things about crayfish is they eat many of the same things as the rest of the fish in the tank, they are scavengers, and require good quality water just as any fish does.