I've messed around with crayfish in tanks a little and learned some things from my many, many mistakes:
- If there's not enough oxygen in the water, they'll leave the water. They can live at least overnight without being immersed in water.
- They'll shed their shells (molt) a few times a summer. At that point, they're pretty immobile and and unprotected, so there's a good chance they'll get picked off if there's not a lot of rip-rap to hide in.
- DO NOT PUT "RUSTY CRAYFISH" IN YOUR POND. They'll make it unlivable for fish.
When you guys put your crayfish in the water do you let the cooler temper (sit in the lake and adjust to the lake temp.) before you dump the crayfish in? I don't know how resilient crayfish are, but I know that goldfish will die if they get too sharp a temperature change.
