Crayfish Care Sheet
Topic: PetCrayfish
This is what I have come up with, anyone can add to it!
Lighting System
Cover
Water tank
Driftwood
Hideout
Gravel
Rocks
Air Pump
Under Gravel Filter
Box Filter
Lighting SystemA light is really for our benefit, crayfish actually prefer darker conditions but over a period of time they will become used to the artificail light. The artificial light also promotes algae to grow on the driftwood, more about that below.
CoverRemember if you're a crayfish owner you are now the proud owner of an escape artist. The cover is required to keep your new pet in. Crayfish are pretty strong and if the cover is not fitted securely your little buddy will go walkies. A real benefit of the cover is that it stops alot of harmful everyday chemicals getting into the tank. Flyspray for example.
Water TankThe glass water tank should be about two foot/60cm long for a crayfish. You can use smaller tanks, but the two foot size is just ideal for one, two or three crayfish. Crayfish are territorial, that means they like to have their own space.
DriftwoodThis is a yabby keepers secret. When you get your crayfish go to your local creek or stream and get a piece of driftwood, that's wood that has been in the water for a long time. Keep the wood wet and bring it home and put it in your tank. Now why bother, well you now have a natural food source, the wood will be cover in tiny little plants and animals, they are microscopic (tiny). The crayfish actually will graze of this piece of wood because he can have a never ending smorgasboard.
HideoutCrayfish can become stressed and a stressed crayfish won't live very long. So a hidout gives him or her piece of mind. In the wild your yabby would have a territory and a burrow, this is the next best thing. A piece of poly pipe is ideal.
GravelGravel is important, your crayfish will spend alot of time pushing around the gravel looking for food. If the gravel is too big it won't work as a filter, if it's too fine it won't breath and could become toxic.
RocksThese are not just for show, the yabby will enjoy pushing them around, bigger rocks can be used to make a hideout for your crayfish.
Air pumpBuy a good airpump, they're not that expensive and it's better to have more air than not enough. So why do we need an airpump. The water in the tank holds a balance of gases. When the crayfish breathes through its gills (like a fish) it extracts oxygen from the water which is one of these gases. To keep the balance correct air is pumped through the water. The little bubbles you see rising in the tank do their job when they break at the water surface. This breaking exchanges the carbon gases into the atmosphere which in turn allows clean oxygen from the air to get back into the water. Sounds complicated but its pretty simple bad gas out good gas in.
Under Gravel FilterThere is a suction effect when you use an undergravel filter, the airflow pulls contaminated material down to the bottom of the tank, under the gravel to the under gravel filter. This works very effectively and helps to keep the water clean. There is one draw back, to clean the filter is a big job. Water quality is extremely important for keeping crayfish or fish.
Box FilterThe box filter is very effective and unlike the under gravel filter, very easy to clean. Material like cotton wool is inside the filter. When this material gets dirty it is easily replaced
PetCrayfish
a-ok
celebratory