Tenacious Crayfish

[TheJerkStore14]

So I'm still very new to this hobby but my son and I started a 55g guppy tank that was doing quite well. I planted some Water Sprite that quickly grew to the point I was able to seperate into 3 sections across the tank. It was great for the fry to hide in and all was well... Then my son spotted an "orange lobster" (we live in Syracuse, NY and he is obsessed with the Syracuse Orange) and all hell broke loose! I'll admit he is a cool addition, but my beautiful plants have been stripped to stumps in little over a week!! Does anyone know of any plants that he won't devour?! I like the idea of cover for the fry, but I do have a seperate tank I was letting them grow in before the water sprite took off. At this point anything would help it from looking so bare!

Thanks a bunch,

Mike

[H.K.Luterman]

Crayfish will eat everything, including your fish (they sit up high and try to catch them as they swim by). You might want to put rock piles in your tank to give your fry and other fish little crevices to hide in that the crayfish can't fit into. As for plants, floaters might work - frogbit, water lettuce, hornwort, even letting the water sprite float. Perhaps the crayfish will have a harder time getting to them if they're out of reach. But anything rooted into the sand will be dug up.

[lefty o]

ill admit ive only had a couple crayfish over the years. but my thoughts are it is not getting enough food. try stuff like pellets for shrimp, or even corydora pellets. crayfish will even snack on fry, and small fish when they manage to catch them. heavier stemmed, and leaved plants like anubia's should fare better than most stem plants, but id still try to get the little monster fed better.

Edited January 7, 2021 by lefty o

[Socqua]

22 hours ago, TheJerkStore14 said:

Then my son spotted an "orange lobster" (we live in Syracuse, NY and he is obsessed with the Syracuse Orange) and all hell broke loose!

Syracuse! (Sorry that's all I got, I have zero experience with crayfish in an aquarium).

edit: actually, I will add something. This doesn't help you with your current predicament, but if you decide to change gears you can always trade in the crayfish and get some orange neocaridina shrimp instead.

Edited January 8, 2021 by Socqua