Crabs or Crawfish for bottomfeeding?

[aknif]

I just joined your family tonight and I have to say that i'm thrilled to have stumbled across your site! I was just doing a google search on the difference between two filters i'm considering and here you are! I can't pull myself away, so I thought i'd dive in and ask my question:

Does anyone here keep crabs or those nifty looking electric blue crawfish for bottomfeeding purposes?

I'm a long time fishtank keeper, tanks ranging from 5.5 gallon to 29 gallons, but for Christmas, my husband spoiled me and got me my dream tank... 125 gallons of fishy luxury! I've had it up and running for a month now, (yes, I got it early!) have been slowly adding fish, currently have 4 angelfish, 2 tiger barbs, 6 various gouramis and the most gorgeous pair of Kribensis Cichlids you've ever seen! Anyway, I am at the point of starting to look at a bottom feeder or two now. I've always had the usual cory cats, kuhli loaches, chinese algae eaters, etc, but I understand Kribensis don't hang out well with corys in their territory. Do they also not like loaches or any other bottom cleaners?

Do the crabs or crawfish do much for scrap cleanup? Are they dangerous to the fish? Especially the Kribensis because they hang out on the bottom so much?

Thank you for any suggestions!

Any suggestions?

 

[butterflylove]

crabs

i bought just two crabs from the LFS and they really kept the tank clean. they dont bother too many fish unless they are down at the bottom, then my crabs liked to TRY to catch them. if its a healthy fish, it shouldnt be able to catch it. they clean up the poop too!

 

[Seaman]

yes crayfish are scavangers, and will take advantage of sleeping or injured fish. And they can catch a fish WAY bigger than themselves. In your situation I would suggest 2-3 pictus catfish. Do a google search for information. They get about 6-7" long are very cool looking in my opinion, especially with the long wiskars, and you can get them at most local fish stores. They would be ok with the fish you have in there right now, but not with anything as small as neons, because they will eat anything that can fit in their vaccume mouths (a neon is about as big as they can eat). They arent agressive at all, but are to big and fast for the krib's to hurt them, nor will they mess with the kribs.

Here's a picture:

 

[SomethingFishy]

I did have a blue crayfish and it was very cool. I had him in his own 10 gal with a few guppies, but he was able to catch a few of them so I moved the guppies to the big tank. There were a couple of live plants in there that he completely destroyed. Then I had plastic plants which he liked to pull up and redecorate. I fed him shrimp pellets and all was well until he died during a molt. I have since read that adding a little iodine helps with molting. Wish I had found that out earlier. Anyway, he wouldn't have done well in my main tank, it's planted and I'd be afraid he'd get my anglefish at night. I don't have any experience with the fw crabs. I have a bushynose pleco that does a great job on algae & extra food. And welcome to AC!

 

[Chump]

I have two blue crayfish in a 55 gal. All the fish are cichlids and I refer to my crayfish as the "Rodney Dangerfields" of the tank because they get no respect. The crayfish posture and threaten but the cichlids just ignore them. In fact the cichlids have nipped down the antenae(?) of the crayfish. So far the crayfish have not bothered each other--they just stick to opposite ends of the aquarium. Before I got into the cichlids the crayfish were killing my smaller fish pretty regularly.
I also have two red claw crabs in another 25 gal. tank with two Jewel cichlids and these guys are pesky. They will climb on anything to try and get out-no success yet. First thing I do in the morning is check to see where they are. They are quick little guys and seem to be more of a threat to the fish than the crayfish but the cichlids seem to take care of themselves. Personally, I like the "personality" of the crayfish better. As far cleanup goes they both eat a lot and create a lot of waste-again the crabs seem a little worse.