Cherax quadricarinatus: More New Pics 4/19/11

Hey guys/gals,

Just wanted to share my latest crayfish experiences. This is a new crayfish I've bought and it has molted twice in my care.

Before 1st Molt:




1st Molt:




2nd Molt:




Recent Pic eating a zebra danio fish:


As you can see, these crays sure go through drastic color changes. It was about 2 inches when I bought it and now it's about 4 inches. The first molt was within 28 days and the second molt happened in only 21 days. As long as they're fed and the water is warm, they will grow and be active. This has got to be the most active pet I've ever owned as well. I'm the kind of person who likes to feed my pets until they can't eat anymore, but she has been the only pet that can take my feeding habits and crave for more. She scours the bottom often looking for food and likes to eat the anacharis plants I have in the tank as well as gnaw on the malaysian driftwood. I'll feed her 10 times a day and she'll still want more--it's pretty insane. She's a very nice pet for a display tank and I hope to raise her to reach 8 inches in length.

That's a cool animal

Too bad it doesn't keep the blue colour from the first molt, still pretty though!

Crays are really cool little creatures. Does yours ever nip at the fish that share the tank?

Kristopher wrote:

Crays are really cool little creatures. Does yours ever nip at the fish that share the tank?

Yeah, it's a shame they don't keep the color, but I've seen a few that have.

Oh yeah, if they get a chance, they'll eat them! This particular species of cray isn't great at catching fish, but the last picture you see of her, she actually caught that fish on her own. She really loves to eat raw fish too, which is what I feed her every now and then. Other types of cray are much better hunters and will ambush fish.

Update:

My cray recently molted It only took around 20 days, too.
Recent Pics of it munching on a moss ball, enjoy:







It's pretty large now, about 4-5 inches and an impressive 7 inches alone in antennae.

i moved mine into a bigger tank today because it was getting too big lol. have you ever seen them molt? im amazed i managed to after i saw it, he was wrigging a bit and was about a quarter of the way out, then suddenly he shot completely out of his skin and was laying on his back for a bit. amazing.

what do you feed yours (except danios lol!) mine loves those big morio worm things.

Hey! I'm glad to see a fellow crayfish keeper

Yeah, these guys grow amazing fast! I need to get a larger tank for mine too, haha.
Yes, I've actually been lucky enough to see its second molt which I capture on video. I'm hoping to post it here soon. When I saw it molt I was in awe too. It did exactly what you said, come out a bit like a scorpion, and then shoot right out and wiggle around upside down.

Awesome, after seeing your sig, I now know you own a Cherax quad. too
See, those sigs are useful haha

How big is your cherax now and is it a male?

I am feeding mine anacharis plants I buy, the moss ball you see in there, shrimp pellets, algae waffers, tropical fish flakes, and occasional boiled cucumber or raw carrot. Sometimes I'll cut a small strip of raw deli fish for it to eat too.

mine must be about 5" long by now (i sense an out of context quote....) and i think its male.
EDIT: actually not so sure its male looking at some google pics lol!

Nice! One easy way you can tell it's male is by looking at the claws. If it has that strip of red on the side, it's a male. As you can see from my pictures, I have a female. You can also tell by looking at the underside. Here's a good pic:
http://aqua-terra-vita.com/Images/Crayfish/SexingCherax3x5%28300ppi%29-1.jpg

Just the other day I went to my local pet store and I saw one with a red strips on the claws. I really wanted to buy it because I wanted a male from the start, but unfortunately I have too many critters already and these crays get pretty large, so I'll just have to be patient. The males grow to have larger claws with that colorful red lining. Although mine's a female, she's the most active pet I've ever owned because she literally never stop moving around the tank. She's also a bottomless pit because I can feed her all day--best pet ever haha

Update: She recently molted about a week ago:



Sorry for the pic quality, but she's about 5 inches long now and continues to wreak havoc in my tank. I take back what I said about them not being great hunters. She has eaten numerous fish in my tank, including about 20 feeder goldfish, countless danios, and one 3 inch plecostomus. She is a beast. On top of that, she continues to obliterate any plants I put in there. I buy the plants for her to eat, but she goes through them faster than I can handle. She eats any and all anacharis and onion plants as well as one rooted anubia plant I really liked. I have literally put 10 small goldfish in there and found 0 the next day-it's terrifying.

Absolutely the most active non-furry pet I've ever owned. Never stops moving and never stops eating.

Here's a feeding vid I just got of my crayfish with my friend's camera. The quality isn't great, but it does the job. If you don't like watching fish get eaten, this is not the vid for you I am hoping to catch her in action with the HD camcorder my other friend has. Until then, enjoy:



By the way, the external noises (screams) are from my very loud neighbors. I currently live in a small, but rowdy town full of college students who don't sleep.

i need to raise the water level in my tank, im down from 17 fish to 3... i think i will get some danios, they are really fast.

I was feeding mine on danios, but after I moved my crayfish to a 14 gallon tank, the water level became too high for it to catch any of them. The danios are getting too small for her, too. She's been having great success catching minnows and I think I'm going to fully switch over to those because they have a long, slim body which makes them easy to catch.

we dont do feeder fish over here in the UK. i want a few fish in there to add a bit more movement and colour.
when my cray is nearer full size, (they get to a foot long dont they) i dont think she will be too interested in eating tiny fish, so i will put some guppies in, but until then im sticking to fast fish.

Ah ok. I wonder why you guys don't have feeder fish. Yeah, I stopped buying fish for looks in my tank because all of them get eaten lol. I buy an $8 fish, check up on it the next day and go "Damn it! That fish cost me 8 bucks!" haha

Danios are a good looking fast fish, so they will be a good choice. What do you think of tetras? I don't know if you have those in your area, but they are a neat schooling fish.

Wow! Ive never thought of raising crawfish as pets. It looks fairly rewarding. That is a really cool video of the crawfish eating the fish. It looks a little messy though. do the fish chunks and liquids "gunk" up your water at all or does the placostomus do a pretty good job of cleanup?

Yes indeed, these are highly underrated pets! The crayfish I've kept over the years have been one of my favorite animals to raise and keep. They never stop entertaining me because mine have never stopped eating nor have they stopped walking all over their tank picking up food, shoveling gravel, trying to escape, chasing fish, and rearranging my entire tank setup lol

I will try my best to post an HD vid of her eating fish when I throw in a bunch of new feeders or put in fish flakes because she goes absolutely berserk. When I was watching her eat the fish, small bits of flesh would come out and a bunch of scales would as well, but to my surprise, after she ate the whole fish, she went scrounging around for the scraps and ate up everything. It was as if the fish never existed. That's what continually amazes me, that she eats and then continues to eat afterward until every bit of food is gone and the tank is spotless. Even when the filter tube is clogged with leaves from the aquarium plants, she will climb up it and pick at it until nothing is left. Saves me a lot of trouble clearing it out

And as for the plecostomus, it was eaten a few days after I put it in hahaha
"Damn it, that fish cost me five bucks!"

I had one once, of whatever species lives in rivers and ponds in Oregon. We caught hundreds with my in-laws' traps and they gave me a bunch to take home and cook for my parents. One seemed too small to cook, so I kept it as a pet. My roommate named it Mr. Tasty. Very entertaining, and even molted in my care once!

Unfortunately, he managed to climb out on an air hose while we were away for the weekend . . .

Quote :

The crayfish I've kept over the years have been one of my favorite animals to raise and keep.

Have you kept more than one species, and if so which were they?

Quote :

They never stop entertaining me because mine have never stopped eating nor have they stopped walking all over their tank picking up food, shoveling gravel, trying to escape, chasing fish, and rearranging my entire tank setup lol

I dont know much about crawfish, but they seem like theyd need an awful lot of room to really feel comfortable in a tank. When i think of them here in Oregon I see them somethimes just swimming backwards down the river. I imagine they dont like to stay in just one spot. Do you think that limited tank space is a stress factor for them? And if so what types of indicators would you expect to see from an unhappy cherax?

It sounds like they may be equally effecient cleaners as any other cleaner animals one may put in there aquarium. And it sounds like theyll eat pretty much anything. Very efficient and adaptable. A fine quality in an animal. Like a river roach

Mr. Mordax wrote:

I had one once, of whatever species lives in rivers and ponds in Oregon. We caught hundreds with my in-laws' traps and they gave me a bunch to take home and cook for my parents. One seemed too small to cook, so I kept it as a pet. My roommate named it Mr. Tasty. Very entertaining, and even molted in my care once!

Unfortunately, he managed to climb out on an air hose while we were away for the weekend . . .

So im doing a little research here and it appears that we have several species of crawfish in Oregon. Here are a few:

These two species are an invasive species which is quickly cropping up throughout "our" lakes and rivers:

Orconectes rusticus:



and Procambarus clarkii:





Ive never seen this one before. Its commonly called the "red swamp crayfish"

Than we have the species which are more common to our rivers which include:

Orconectes neglectus neglectus:



Pacifastacus connectens:

(couldnt find a picture)

Pacifastacus gambelli (extinct)

Pacifastacus leniusculus having three subspecies; klamathensis, lineusculus, and trowbidgii:

Mr. Mordax: wow, "Mr. Tasty" lol. I've had the pleasure of having mine molt 4 times and see it triple in size over the past few months. That's a shame about it escaping because I lost one like that too. They're really good escape artists!

Troglodyte: Yeah, I've kept several species. In addition to the Cherax quadricarinatus, I've kept the Orconectes rusticus you posted and also the Procambarus clarkii. The rusticus is very aggressive and powerful with its claws. That thing is beastly lol and can grow enormous claws. The clarkii is medium in size, but also very aggressive and are not intimidated by people (it would face me and charge). They are excellent hunters and the adapted shape of their claws only add to their success. When I kept them, they would climb up plants or hides and sit there with claws open for any fish to swim by. They would then lunge at them--a very active hunter. The quadricarinatus doesn't do that and I didn't see my rusticus do that either. By the way, you have pretty neat crayfish in your area. I would go crayfishing if I was there

Depending on the species size, tank size isn't that much of a problem. I like giving my pets space, but not ridiculous amounts of space like other people do. I think my Cherax quad. will get up to 6-8 inches (larger from other sources), but I'd be comfortable putting her in a 20 gallon tank and if there's space, max it at 30-40 gallons long since floor space is more important for them. And you're right, they move around often, but adding pieces of wood, decor with height, etc will allow them to climb and help with their activity. I do think that limited tank space will stress them, however, because they love to move around, rearrange objects and dig, but if you give them adequate space, it's fine. I'm guessing an unhappy cherax would act lethargic and slugglish.
These guys also love to eat fresh or decaying matter, so they do a good job cleaning. They're not great algae cleaners, but my tank doesn't have a problem with that so I'm good. And they sure do eat everything lol.

I love to go to the coast (florence area) and scour the river inlets for these guys. I used to catch and eat them by the bucket full! I wish i had the room or id definitely give them a try!

Let me rephrase myself. I have no idea what species it was. Just that we caught it at Timothy Lake.

Hey everyone, here are some recent pics of my Cherax quad. I've named "The Kraken."
Note: it's annoyingly hard to take pics through a fish tank!











And just for the heck of it, some striped shore crabs I found along the beach:

aw the crabs are cute...um what is your Cherax quad doing in that last pic lol