Hi! I'm the webmaster of the
Marmorkebs.org website, and I do biological research with marbled crayfish.
Please, please,
please do
not put marbled crayfish in an outdoor pond.
Non-native crayfish just cause huge problems all over the world, and marbled crayfish are not a native species anywhere. There is no known natural population. They are known only from the aquarium trade and in places where people have released them. In many places where they have been released, they have become real pests. Because marbled crayfish are asexual, it only takes
one individual to start a whole new population.
Outdoor ponds are
not secure for crayfish. Marbled crayfish can walk on land for substantial distances to move into other water bodies (see
this paper). There are many cases of commercial aquaculture farms that tried to contain crayfish, and failed. The redclaw crayfish in Mexico is a good example.
There are
no effective control strategies to get rid of unwanted non-native crayfish. If marbled crayfish get into a natural habitat, the toothpaste ain't going back in the tube.
I can provide more data and more information if you would like. I support responsible pet ownership, but the number of ways stocking ponds with marbled crayfish can go wrong is... a very large number. Again: please don't.
Zen Faulkes Department of Biology,
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley