General Care Discussion :: River buddies

[Mech Cb]

I'm trying to keep with a freshwater creekbed theme for my tank, and was thinking adding a crawfish to the tank. First of all, I've always liked those little guys, and secondly I hear they can help keep the tank clean by eating any food off the bottom the turtle may have missed or just been sloppy with.

Has anyone tried this before? How did it work? I figure with them having such a hard shell, they should be pretty protected from the turtle. I'm just not sure how aggressive they will get. The last thing I want is my turtle getting bit up by the crawfish.

[tammi]

Turtles will eat them.

[adam85491]

Yeah, I just bought one on Sunday. And that was the last day I had it. I was hoping it would last until Monday because that was the day I added sand to the tank, and it would have been cool.

They're really fast but my tank isn't that big and I have two turtles, so if you have a large tank and maybe a small turtle and hiding spots, it could last.

They're only a couple of bucks, so the worst that can happen is a nice meal for your turtle.

[mikee]

While living in Louisiana many years ago we had a craw fish boil for friends and neighbors. I pulled four out of the ones to be cooked and put them in my turtle tank for curiosity. These were not tiny crawfish and three of the four were gone in about 10 minutes. The last one lasted a couple of days and poof he was gone. Turtles are merciless when it comes to food. M.

[Kemul]

If not eaten by the turtle(s), the crawfish can escape by climbing the tubings in
the tank (air bubble tube, filter intake tube, filter output tube, etc). If crawfish
doesn't like being out of water at all, then please disregard my warning.

Once I had a small prawn thingy and it escaped within a few hours.

[Mech Cb]

Man, I'm glad I asked you guys! I never would have imagined the turtle could handle a crawfish! That's nuts! I think I'm gonna have a little fun with this. Like someone said, crawfish aren't expensive, and if I can find a river I can just go catch them myself. Hell, I used to when I was little all the time. Anyways, I'm gonna put one in with the turtle having easy access to it just to watch the carnage. Then, when I get the bigger tank this weekend, I'll try to give the crawfish a chance and see how long it takes!

[tammi]

Take the claws off first. Reduces the chance of hurting the turt plus it will reduce the leftover mess to clean up. They won't eat the claws.

[adam85491]

Tammi, mine ate everything. I had nothing on the bottom because the next day I was going to put sand in there, and you would have no idea there was anything in there.

[Mech Cb]

I may just put them in a tuperware container for the first meeting and watch what happens

[SpenceMasta]

i usually keep 1 crayfish in my tank, they only costs $1 at my petstore, ive gone through 3 already, depending how skilled they are at surviving depends whether or not my turtle eats it since i have a lot of spots in my tank where the crayfish hides and the turtle cant fit

they eat left over food and feeder fish and add a nice dynamic to the tank, but i find they dont really clean the tank cause they have their own waste that is a lot denser and builds up at the bottom

if you're worried about your turtle getting nipped, crayfish tend to be more defensive and although ive seen a crayfish attempt to pinch my turtle it was the end of him after that

[tanasha93]

My sister got one for her tank the turtle didn't mind it but the Crawfish seemed like he wanted to eat the turtle. lol.

[ESG4Life]

I live in hawaii... would it be okay for me to just go get some out of a stream since we dont have any in the petstores??

[Mech Cb]

Yup, if I could I'd go get one from a stream, but all the streams out here are mosquito infested, so I don't even want to mess with it.

[queenjane]

Lol, crawfish, shrimp, krill... all pretty similar in taste... all ADORED by turtles.

My turtle freaks out when I offer him any of the above treats. A crawfish, shrimp, krill, or crab would not last 30 seconds with him.

[Mech Cb]

Well, it's been a few days now and so far my crawfish is doing fine. The first day, Tex snuck up on the crawfish and bit it pretty good but it managed to get away. Ever since then, they've both kept their space.