my 10gal crayfish desk tank

[spypet]

I have this wonderful heavy duty computer table & hutch that allows me to feature a 10gal tank at the same eye level as my computer screen. so instead of doing a traditional planted tank, I thought I'd have a little fun. I stocked this tank with a pair of Australian yabbie crayfish FF, and a pair of Florida flag fish MM. the crayfish keep a safe distance from each other, and no limbs are missing, so that means they are getting along as well as crayfish can. the flags are inseparable buddies I exiled from my main tank for pulling on my fine root foreground too much. I call the two flags Heckle&Jeckle as they are like two crows who seem to take pleasure in harassing my crayfish into snapping at them, but of course the flags always get away in time. notice the slate at the far ends of the tank that are propped up with a fat rock. what the crayfish do is dig the fine gravel out from under the slate, and dump it in the center rock bed - it's very entertaining to watch.

about once a Month I take all the fine gravel they've excavated from under the slate, and bury it all over again as it keeps them busy on other things besides tearing off each others limbs, or chopping up those plants. as for the plants, they are mostly extra cuttings from my main tank I bind with plant weights and simply let settle in the center. since I'm always pruning my main tank this 10gal gets a fresh supply of plant stems that I simply dispose once they get chewed up. crayfish like to "rearrange the furniture" of a tank, so the not rooted plants in the center seem to change orientation almost daily, which in itself has it's own kind of charm. while this tank won't win any awards, it makes me smile, and i hope you get a kick out of it too



no Co2, a few snails, tank is see thru into my den. i purposely put the filter on the corner long 20" end, instead of far short 10" end, in order to make half the tank with strong water-flow for play, while the other half is calm to relax. lighting is a 30watt spiral 6500k and cone reflector in an old architectural hood lamp. 50% water change every 2 weeks, wipe spot algae off the glass every 2 months.
.
Myspace Video of Crayfish Digging Gravel
.

[fish_lover0591]

wow i like that alot where are the crayfish lol

[plant_addict]

its in the front bottom right

[<Frawg>]

As well as foreground mid-right (well camouflaged on the rockpile!).

s

Originally Posted by plant_addict

its in the front bottom right

[Simoriax]

Thats a pretty nice set up. I have a crayfish in a tank on his own at the moment, bit boring for me as he doesnt move much till about 4am

Love the video of the digging

[fresh_lynny]

spy that looks very cool....I come from Louisiana, and my mouth waters looking at it..lol

[joe the pleco]

lol your video is excellent!

[spypet]

thank you, and since you saw fit to resurrect this old thread,
I may as well fill other people in on the epilogue to this tank;

The larger crayfish tore the smaller one apart a few Months later.
He then tore about one limb a day off the crabs I had added.
I filled the tank with Endler's, which annoyed him to no end.
He ultimately climbed out of my tank, and died under my fridge.

needless to say, many lessons were learned from this experience.

The tank has been converted into an Endler & Ramshorn nursery
and a refuge for many low light plants I don't particularly like,
but still save for the day I can afford to keep a 125gal tank.

In the future, I want to make this 10gal into a invert only tank,
with a few dwarf crayfish, Thai red crabs, and RCS with lots
of twiggy driftwood and lava rocks for them to climb around.

[Ukrainetz]

That is the saddest story I have ever heard! I read about your tank even before I joined the forum, and have since wanted to convert my 10gal to a crayfish tank like yours... I happened to come across this thread again and what a pity...

[spypet]

you still can, as long as.
you use dwarf crayfish,
instead of yabbies.

I would only keep a yabbie
if it had the whole bottom
to itself, with no way to
climb out. and it needs
a tank larger than 10g.

thus endth the lesson

[Saraja87]

how many dwarf crayfish can you comfortably keep together?

[spypet]

you know, it's funny you just asked that.
milalic finally let me adopt a pair of his,
and within a week one had a claw missing,
so even 2 in a 20gal tank can be a problem.
the point is, the more ways you design your
tank bottom to keep crayfish out of each
other's way, using tunnels not caves, so
they always have an escape, the better
off they will be. a great idea I have for
dwarfs is to carpet at least half your tank
with small lava rocks. the crabs can then
hide in the cracks and valleys between
the rocks, so they can always hide from
any particularly aggressive individual.

[mpodolan]

I have 5 in my 50, and they seem to do fine with lots of different places to hide, etc. So, like spy said, as long as they have some room and ways to avoid each other if need be, they seem to do well