Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Wildlife Management Accidental Crawfish Farmer

Hi,

So, I recently decided I wanted to add "Crawfish" to my 48 Gallon fresh water tank. I started looking online for different colored crawfish and I found plenty! But the asking price was about $10.00 per crawfish. That was not in my budget, and I didn't know if it would even work. Would they eat my other fish? Would they die? Dejectedly, I went to Kroger and saw they were selling "Live Crawfish" for $4.37 per lb. I bought a pound. About 35 crawfish. They delivered the crawfish in a bag and they weren't moving. I was then educated the crawfish were kept at about 36 degrees and were "dormant". I took them home and put them in a Wok pan and ran cold water over them. They slowly began to come to life and I picked about 7 out and dropped them into the tank. After a bit they began moving around and unbelievably they all lived. I turned the others out in the creek behind my house for the neighborhood kids. After about a month I only had one fatality. "Overlord" named by my daughters was cut in half through its carapace. So I took out the little ones and that left me 3 grand daddies! Turns out 2 females and one male. Now the females are pregnant and will have the babies in about 10 days. I decided to turn my girls above ground pool into a crawfish tank and I will be moving the babies into the pool. I'm hoping to have enough offspring by next summer to release into the creek behind the house and have a crawfish catching tournament.

I'm thinking an aerator and heater.

Any suggestions on keeping these crawfish over the winter?

I may add a couple more pounds of crawfish into the tank when the offer presents itself.

Just make sure the crawfish you are releasing aren't considered invasive species in your area.........

They are very very dirty to try to keep in a tank. The biggest problem I had with keeping them inside was keeping the water clean. They are the dirtiest creature alive to keep in a tank.

Cheers Don.

That's a great point! Thanks Esshup!

I'm running an over kill filter on my tank so fortunately the mess hasn't been out of control. But, that is part of the reason to move them to the pool and get the babies out of the inside tank.

Thanks all! I'll post some pics soon.

Came home from work and I have baby crawfish. Very small and cool looking.

really... just please don't release the crayfish into the creek behind your house. They are considered invasive in many areas, wreak havoc on local biodiversity, introduce diseases, and introducing species in public waters is straight up illegal in most places.

Sounds like jambalaya time in a few months! Yum!