# marbled Cray



## manmadecorals (Jan 17, 2012)

What do you guys feed them? I found them kill and eat some of my fishes...I thought they were vegan...wth??


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## randy (Jan 29, 2012)

I got one in the last shrimp meet and I feed her (pretty safe assumption ;-) shrimp/earth worm pellet, colour flake, she likes them all. She is in a 2.5G with 7 guppies, so far so good, no fish MIA yet.


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

They eat snails, fish, plants pretty much anything 

Not a community critter in anyway


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## bob123 (Dec 31, 2009)

I have one and it hasn't eaten any fish, had it for two years now. I feed it carnivore pellets and veggie pellets plus after it molts it will eat the skeleton for the calcium.


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## manmadecorals (Jan 17, 2012)

my population of spotted rasboras tremendously decreased ever since i threw in my marbled cray in with them... I saw my marbled cray chowing down on one of my spotted rasboras and all that remained was the head... also all my marsilea minuta has been cut from their roots. Some ended up floating and some just disappeared...

I've tried feeding them NorthFin Kelp Wafers and Hikari Algae Wafers but they don't seem to go crazy on it...


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## SmokeSR (Jan 28, 2009)

They are scavengers. They will eat anything they can get, however, they are not amazing hunters. Dumb or curious fish will get caught but I've had a lot of success with guppies - tonnes of babies all the time with most growing to full size. 

A friend gave me 3 small plecos for the tank. First night, one of them got consumed but the other 2 have been in the tank for 2 months now without major issues (seen a torn fin on occasion) but they now smartly avoid the crays. 

What made you think crayfish are vegan? That is very very wrong...


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## manmadecorals (Jan 17, 2012)

just from some online research...


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## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

I think all crays are omnivores, they kinda eat what ever they get their hands on. The difference between the species are their ability to catch fish/other prey.


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## SmokeSR (Jan 28, 2009)

There are some that are more plant friendly than others (like CPO) but I think all crays will eat fish if they can get them. 

My crays eat anything, literally. They will eat any plants, veggies, fruits, algae wafers, flake food (they climb and pick food off the water surface), shrimp pellets, snails, fish, etc. Yours may not have gone crazy over the prepared food if they ate (your fish) recently. 

Manhtu, also note that crays are quite messy and can cause water quality issues in smaller tanks quite easily. I'm not sure what type of filtration you have but this is something you might want to take into account.


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## macKRAZY (Feb 15, 2012)

Hitch said:


> I think all crays are omnivores, they kinda eat what ever they get their hands on. The difference between the species are their ability to catch fish/other prey.


+1 when they have babies, the babies eat each other! Lol Ive seen mine eat shrimps and snails



SmokeSR said:


> Manhtu, also note that crays are quite messy and can cause water quality issues in smaller tanks quite easily. I'm not sure what type of filtration you have but this is something you might want to take into account.


You can avoid this by feeding properly and adding nitrate sucking plants such as duckweed, wisteria, moss, etc 
I know some guys who breed them as feeders (me included) in filterless containers w/o heaters.. then again its a species only tank so no fish are in any danger


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## SmokeSR (Jan 28, 2009)

macKRAZY said:


> You can avoid this by feeding properly and adding nitrate sucking plants such as duckweed, wisteria, moss, etc
> I know some guys who breed them as feeders (me included) in filterless containers w/o heaters.. then again its a species only tank so no fish are in any danger


My cray eat all plants, including floating. This was not an issue when they were smaller, but once population increased and there were more adults, they quickly consumed every plant.

Species only is quite different because they are very hardy. I mentioned the water quality issue since OP is losing his fish - it might be part of it. I'm not sure if his cray is catching the fish or simply eating ones who die. Hopefully the remaining fish learn that the cray is dangerous and avoid. My plecos and guppies seemed to have learned that lesson.


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## manmadecorals (Jan 17, 2012)

I didn't take any chance and immediately seperated them in small betta containers...threw some moss in there and done... I don't really care for these guys...i thought they would be fun to have but i was wrong...they destroy my plants and eat my fish...i also don't want to over feed and poison the water just to satisfy these crays. I only have 4 tanks... 1 garden, 1 shrimp, 1 fish and a small betta tank... I don't really have anywhere to put these guys...

wait...can i put my marble cray with my betta?


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## macKRAZY (Feb 15, 2012)

SmokeSR said:


> My cray eat all plants, including floating. This was not an issue when they were smaller, but once population increased and there were more adults, they quickly consumed every plant.
> 
> Species only is quite different because they are very hardy. I mentioned the water quality issue since OP is losing his fish - it might be part of it. I'm not sure if his cray is catching the fish or simply eating ones who die. Hopefully the remaining fish learn that the cray is dangerous and avoid. My plecos and guppies seemed to have learned that lesson.


Yep! U r right they r VERY hardy! And Thats why I said those plants cuz they grow like weeds and very easy to obtain lol

Id say no to house with betta as they will surely nip at its fins!


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## SmokeSR (Jan 28, 2009)

Indeed, I also say no to cray + betta. Betta is not a great swimmer and have long, easily accessible fins to the cray. Plus, depending on the size of the cray, the betta might eat or harass it when it molts. 

Most cray are hard to keep with others.

OP, if you are interested in cray that you can keep with fish and plants, look into CPO's (mexican orange dwarf crayfish). They're plant and fish friendly and much smaller (much less bio load than most other cray).


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

I have no issues keeping P. Clarkii with bigger fish, my FRT, snails and plecos. They're pretty calm crayfish and don't attack other things. They only kill each other if there's not enough room.


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## prolific8 (Jan 10, 2013)

*crays*

I have no issues keeping marble crays with other fish, shrimp, or same species. they are oportunistic eaters (like every thing that we find in our aquariums typically) but will not go out of their way to kill something. they scavenge and do hunger for a more protien rich diet (so algae wafers cant make up up a large part of their diet). they will go after soft and tasty plants when there is nothing to eat.
They tolerate their own genus very well unless you do not provide caves for them to claim, they select a territory and protect it. if that territory is enclosed than they will limit this behaviour to with in the cave/tunnel/plant alcove. BUT if it is wide open they will roam alot and there will be squabbles/fights.

slow swimmers/curious/otherwise stupid fish will become snacks if they sit infront of the crays and invite death, other than that the marbles have small claws for their overall size and are not efficient at huntung at all (scavengers plain and simple) They ARE very adept at "hunting"  snails, they remove the snails from shell with ease using claws or pincered legs, and may later return to shell for calcium. Trap door type snails are usually safe as there is too much hassle to get past the plate.

Hope that helps.

My experience comes from keeping a fair sized colony of varying ages in a 20gallon tall. along with MTS, Ramshorns, Gold Cloud Minnows, and regular Cherry Shrimp. No casualties yet (beyond the ramshorns that are feeders) aside from one cray that molted badly losing its claws/couple legs and met a tragic end. I have an intricate pile of rocks that cover some PVC pipe cuttings and other tubes along with river stone bed which gives many hiding spots and territory "pockets"


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## manmadecorals (Jan 17, 2012)

SmokeSR said:


> Indeed, I also say no to cray + betta. Betta is not a great swimmer and have long, easily accessible fins to the cray. Plus, depending on the size of the cray, the betta might eat or harass it when it molts.
> 
> Most cray are hard to keep with others.
> 
> OP, if you are interested in cray that you can keep with fish and plants, look into CPO's (mexican orange dwarf crayfish). They're plant and fish friendly and much smaller (much less bio load than most other cray).


Very interesting...i might just go that route then...


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## spanosilvio (Jan 4, 2008)

I keep in my 125 gallon 2 self cloning crayfish and maybe 15,18 cpo with other caridina shrimps, german rams, laetacaras, pencilfish and tetras, no problem whatsoever, just make sure you give them lots of hiding spots, i have lots of Driftwood and plants. 

Silvio


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