Crayfish and heaters -- a good combo?

S

SnowHeart

AC Members
Aug 27, 2005
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Washington, DC
I've heard that crayfish prefer cooler temperatures than most tropical fish, along the lines of room-temperature water. I've also been told that using a heater and sustaining a temperature between 75-78 degrees can be very bad for a crayfish in the long-run. Anyone know if this is true or not?

If it helps, I have one of these.
 
i don't know about the temperature for crawfish, but i remember hearing a story about a crawfish that love to hang out on the heater until it eventually cooked itself.

sry cant be of more help than that.
 
I cobalt lobsters can handle temps from 68-84 or somthng like that, I can't remember the exact number but they can definatly live in temps hotter than you would ever have your tank.
 
Agreed. I've seen native crayfish (i believe cobalt blue lobster's are just a mutated form of one of our native species) in ponds that can get quite warm in the summer. They survive the winter fine too. I would think anywhere form 65-80+would be fine.
 
Experience

I had two crayfish (native to NE where I live so used to fluctuations) in my 29G tank since it started almost a year ago. It has been kept between 75-80 the whole time and they have had no issues. One was small and has molted repeatedly growing from 1" to over 4" now. The other escaped (be sure your lid has no openings, this one crawled up the air hose, around the lip to the front of the tank, and up through the front gate, then made it down a flight of stairs, and two rooms over where he was found several months later dried out :sad: ...).

The big thing to remember with invertebrates like crays is they need really clean water, and like a little bit of current. I also have places for mine to climb out of the water and he does so on occasion.
 
Thanks everyone. This actually mirrors my own (albeit limited) experience over the last few months. I just heard over at www.bluecrayfish.com that crayfish need cool temperatures and heated tanks can lead to disaster, but few to little details. I have turned the heat down a bit regardless to mirror "winter" conditions (72 degrees instead of the 78 it was at) but I don't want to turn it down any further because then it will go into the very bottom of the range for some of the fish in the tank.

Many thanks,
~Snowy
 
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