Misc: Cherax quadricarinatus (blue lobster, Redclaw crayfis)

[DrunkenPanda]

hi there, firstly before someone states it i know this is not a post about catfish.

Im thinking about getting a redclaw crayfish and was wondering if anyone else keeps these in any of thier homes. im asking because i need to know if they need high PH or low because i have read guides that say they must have high PH and vise verser.

im keeping it in a tank alone, but just to make this post alittle bit about catfish. is there any catfish/pleco that can live with this kind of crayfish?

thanks
DrunkenPanda

[sidguppy]

not only kept these, but bred these for years, by the bucketload

although the Red Clawed Yabby is fairly docile as lobsters go, combinations with any kind of fish can be tricky.

the best bet is smaller fish that do not rest on the bottom of the tank at night.
I had great success combining it with livebearers and small anabantids.

the crux is this: small resting fish might be eaten at night. it's not a piscivore lobster, unlike Procambarus for example, but bad luck can happen

on the other hand; larger more voracious fish seem to have a sixth sense when it comes to molting lobsters.
a freshly molted lobster is very soft and I've lost a fair number to all kind of fishes, even fish that were quite a bit smaller than the lobster.

especially pleco's, ancistrus etc are uncanny...they co-exist with a Yabby for months at a time, once it sheds it's tough armour BAM it's killed.

lots and lots of hiding places are good. and make sure the lobsters have plenty to eat.
this one's a true grazer and it prefers pleco-tabs and true waterplants. if it has something to nibble on, you can even keep it with Corydoras and the like.

also be advised that it likes to be kept unheated.

yes, it can handle warmer water. but often when the heat goes up, the oxygen goes down, the nitrates and nitrites go up as well. lobsters are sensitive to ammonia and nitrate poisoning.

I've kept several in a Malawi set up, but lost quite a few.
once I switched to an unheated tank the losses went down, the number of surviving babies went up.
I've kept mine around 18-22'C with great success.

they really like bogwood, lots of rocks and a fine gravel or sandy substrate. loads. they can and do dig entire tunnelnetworks.

mine ate Cabomba, Waterpest (Eleodea, Hydrilla), Anubias leftovers, Hygrophila, hornworth, even Microsorium pteropes (Java fern) wich they dismanteled.
they preferred the root of that one, not the leaves. it's the only aquariumcritter I know that really eats Javaferns.
even Silver Dollars don't like the taste of those. Yabby's do.

any dry food that comes in granules or tabs is perfect.

[DrunkenPanda]

Thannks for your reply. I'm maturing the tank that my blue lobster will be living in now, i have decided to not run a heater to keep the temp low. Your advice has been a great help and if someday i decide to breed Blue Lobsters can i come back to you for more advice?

thanks
drunkenpanda

[sidguppy]

sure, they're really easy to breed.

all you need is a pair: males have the Red lower claw wich gives them the name, females lack these.

immature lobsters can be sexed otherwise, don't laugh:......a male has two hanging thingies under the last pair of the legs used for walking......
I kid you not.

and enough hiding holes. if each (sub) adult lobster has a cave and there's hideouts to spare, especially small ones for babies, they will breed

mom will carry the baby lobsters around for weeks and protect them. baby Yabby's are brown to bright orange and look like tiny versions of the parents except for the color. they eat the same stuff

baby redclaws

I've raised a zillion of em on regular flakefood, thawed spinach and unfrozen peas.

a real treat for subadult and adult lobsters are aquatic snails. best get the common captive ones, do not use wild snails, those are riddled with nasty parasites

Yabby's even crunch up the horrible Trumpetsnails, Melanoides tuberculata.
they dig em right out of the sand and chew em up, house and all. it's great extra food and it supplies the lobster with chalc and minerals. ramshorn snails and Pondsnails are also eaten.