Crawdad Care
Crawdads are small, lobster-like crustaceans that can be found in most freshwater sources across the United States. Crawdads are also known as crawfish, crawdads, mudbugs, and yabbies.
These fascinating creatures are one of the least demanding animals you can keep as a pet. They only require the simplest living conditions to survive. Crawdads are nocturnal. Crawdads live from 3-20 years depending on the species and how well you take care of them, and can grow pretty big.
Here are the basics for keeping a crawdad as a pet. This info has been collected from a variety of sources and have credited the ones I know at the bottom of the article.
HOUSING
Most people keep crawdads in a typical aquarium-type set up that includes a filter, pump, etc. But at the bare minimum all you need for a crayfish enclosure is a small body of fresh water deep enough to cover the animal completely, and a rock or branch that allows it to climb out of the water if he needs to. Crayfish need lots of oxygen, and in still water conditions, such as in a tank without a filter or pump, they will climb out of the water and get the oxygen they need from the air. But if they can’t climb out of the water easily, they could effectively drown. Another thing that is good to have is a place for the crawdad to hide and feel safe like a hollow rock or under a piece of bog wood, this helps reduce the stress on the animal.
If you are going to keep more than one of these territorial little guys, make sure you have a large tank as some can be very territorial and aggressive.
WATER/FILTRATION
Chlorine could be harmful to crawdads, use dechlorinator drops to remove it from tap water. As mentioned earlier the minimum amount of water is enough to completely cover the animal. If no filtration is used, the water will have to be completely changed on a regular basis, at least once per week. If you detect ammonia or nitrite in the water at any time that means that there aren’t enough bacteria in the tank as it is, and adding a filter will be useful. Undergravel filters are not the best choice for crayfish since these burrowing animals will move the gravel about creating exposed areas of the filter plate dramatically reduces the efficiency of this type of filter.
A heater is not required and should not be used in tanks holding most of the North American species, though species from the southern United States can tolerate temperatures as high as 82 degrees F (28 degrees C) without problems.
One of the biggest problems in keeping crawdads is the PH level of your tank, it needs to be neutral, or 7. An easy way to regulate this is with eggshells. Just take a few bits of eggshell from your breakfast, sterilize it by boiling or microwaving, and put it in the tank. If the tank gets acidic it will dissolve the eggshell and balance the tank again. Your crawdad will also eat the shells to replenish its own minerals and stay healthy.
FOOD
Crayfish are omnivorous scavengers, feeding primarily on plants, algae and organic detritus. Crayfish need to be fed a small amount of food every other day or so. Any excess food should be immediately removed. Foods to feed your crayfish include leafy green vegetables such as Romaine lettuce (or other varieties); dried seaweed like Nori; sinking pellet foods such as shrimp or algae pellets; flake food; and freeze dried or frozen foods such as fish, krill, tubifex worms, bloodworms, squid, clam, etc. Since animal protein is rarely encountered in the wild, it is best to feed crayfish mostly plant or algae based foods, and only supplement with animal flesh.
Crawdads need calcium to harden their shells after molting. Calcium can be added to other foods by dabbing moist food with a small amount of calcium carbonate powder before feeding your cray.
Foods that contain the algae Spirulina sp. or Chlorella sp. are naturally high in iodine and can be helpful to the craw during molting, though it should probably receive iodine regularly.
Do not overfeed. The excess food will spoil the water.
MOLTING
Like all arthropods, crawdads shed their skin as they grow old, but don’t remove this from the tank. Your pet will eat it to replenish minerals in its body.
If a crayfish remains soft for an extended period of time, i.e., for more than one day after molting, this can mean that it is not receiving enough calcium in its diet or that the pH or hardness of the water is too low. Transferring the soft specimen to water with high hardness can help if this is the problem, but it is best to avoid this problem by keeping crayfish in hard water and feeding them foods rich in calcium. Ideally, you should remove a crayfish from its tank mates before the molting process begins and only replace it after the exoskeleton (‘shell’) has completely hardened. Crayfish sometimes die during the moulting process, a problem apparently caused by an iodine deficiency. Iodine, in the form of potassium iodide, can be added to the water on a weekly basis to alleviate problems with the molting process. Iodine drops sold for use in marine tanks work well for this, though a half dose rather than full dosage is all that is required.
DISEASES
A very great threat. Known as the Crayfish Plague it is carried by North American crayfish species. It is a fungus, Aphanomyces astaci, and American crayfish have apparently evolved to tolerate the fungus without much problem. However, it is lethal to many other types of crayfish, including those from Australia and Eurasia.Never place any crayfish native to another continent together with those from North America.
Another disease that can threaten crayfish is White Spot Disease. This is primarily a disease that effects shrimps, but may be transmittable to crayfish if they are fed with raw food made from infected shrimp. Be sure that any food containing shrimp has been cooked in order to destroy the virus.
Most health issues with crawdads have no cure, but they can be avoided by keeping a clean tank with ideal temp and ph.
CREDITS
Credits: Wet Web Media.com, The Real Owner
These fascinating creatures are one of the least demanding animals you can keep as a pet. They only require the simplest living conditions to survive. Crawdads are nocturnal. Crawdads live from 3-20 years depending on the species and how well you take care of them, and can grow pretty big.
Here are the basics for keeping a crawdad as a pet. This info has been collected from a variety of sources and have credited the ones I know at the bottom of the article.
HOUSING
Most people keep crawdads in a typical aquarium-type set up that includes a filter, pump, etc. But at the bare minimum all you need for a crayfish enclosure is a small body of fresh water deep enough to cover the animal completely, and a rock or branch that allows it to climb out of the water if he needs to. Crayfish need lots of oxygen, and in still water conditions, such as in a tank without a filter or pump, they will climb out of the water and get the oxygen they need from the air. But if they can’t climb out of the water easily, they could effectively drown. Another thing that is good to have is a place for the crawdad to hide and feel safe like a hollow rock or under a piece of bog wood, this helps reduce the stress on the animal.
If you are going to keep more than one of these territorial little guys, make sure you have a large tank as some can be very territorial and aggressive.
WATER/FILTRATION
Chlorine could be harmful to crawdads, use dechlorinator drops to remove it from tap water. As mentioned earlier the minimum amount of water is enough to completely cover the animal. If no filtration is used, the water will have to be completely changed on a regular basis, at least once per week. If you detect ammonia or nitrite in the water at any time that means that there aren’t enough bacteria in the tank as it is, and adding a filter will be useful. Undergravel filters are not the best choice for crayfish since these burrowing animals will move the gravel about creating exposed areas of the filter plate dramatically reduces the efficiency of this type of filter.
A heater is not required and should not be used in tanks holding most of the North American species, though species from the southern United States can tolerate temperatures as high as 82 degrees F (28 degrees C) without problems.
One of the biggest problems in keeping crawdads is the PH level of your tank, it needs to be neutral, or 7. An easy way to regulate this is with eggshells. Just take a few bits of eggshell from your breakfast, sterilize it by boiling or microwaving, and put it in the tank. If the tank gets acidic it will dissolve the eggshell and balance the tank again. Your crawdad will also eat the shells to replenish its own minerals and stay healthy.
FOOD
Crayfish are omnivorous scavengers, feeding primarily on plants, algae and organic detritus. Crayfish need to be fed a small amount of food every other day or so. Any excess food should be immediately removed. Foods to feed your crayfish include leafy green vegetables such as Romaine lettuce (or other varieties); dried seaweed like Nori; sinking pellet foods such as shrimp or algae pellets; flake food; and freeze dried or frozen foods such as fish, krill, tubifex worms, bloodworms, squid, clam, etc. Since animal protein is rarely encountered in the wild, it is best to feed crayfish mostly plant or algae based foods, and only supplement with animal flesh.
Crawdads need calcium to harden their shells after molting. Calcium can be added to other foods by dabbing moist food with a small amount of calcium carbonate powder before feeding your cray.
Foods that contain the algae Spirulina sp. or Chlorella sp. are naturally high in iodine and can be helpful to the craw during molting, though it should probably receive iodine regularly.
Do not overfeed. The excess food will spoil the water.
MOLTING
Like all arthropods, crawdads shed their skin as they grow old, but don’t remove this from the tank. Your pet will eat it to replenish minerals in its body.
If a crayfish remains soft for an extended period of time, i.e., for more than one day after molting, this can mean that it is not receiving enough calcium in its diet or that the pH or hardness of the water is too low. Transferring the soft specimen to water with high hardness can help if this is the problem, but it is best to avoid this problem by keeping crayfish in hard water and feeding them foods rich in calcium. Ideally, you should remove a crayfish from its tank mates before the molting process begins and only replace it after the exoskeleton (‘shell’) has completely hardened. Crayfish sometimes die during the moulting process, a problem apparently caused by an iodine deficiency. Iodine, in the form of potassium iodide, can be added to the water on a weekly basis to alleviate problems with the molting process. Iodine drops sold for use in marine tanks work well for this, though a half dose rather than full dosage is all that is required.
DISEASES
A very great threat. Known as the Crayfish Plague it is carried by North American crayfish species. It is a fungus, Aphanomyces astaci, and American crayfish have apparently evolved to tolerate the fungus without much problem. However, it is lethal to many other types of crayfish, including those from Australia and Eurasia.Never place any crayfish native to another continent together with those from North America.
Another disease that can threaten crayfish is White Spot Disease. This is primarily a disease that effects shrimps, but may be transmittable to crayfish if they are fed with raw food made from infected shrimp. Be sure that any food containing shrimp has been cooked in order to destroy the virus.
Most health issues with crawdads have no cure, but they can be avoided by keeping a clean tank with ideal temp and ph.
CREDITS
Credits: Wet Web Media.com, The Real Owner
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