Freshwater crayfish as pets

[Fluffy]

I have been meaning to post a thread on my freshwater crayfish (commonly referred to as Yabbies in Southern Australia) since I first introduced myself and a couple of posters wanted to see them. The kind I have are the most commonly found species in freshwater in Southern Australia, cherax destructor. They were destined for the dinner table but I saved them and me being me "Can we keep them, dear?!" went out and got them a small aquarium set up and then, pretty shortly after that, a second aquarium. The more I researched them the more evident it became that they would likely injure or kill one another as they are extremely territorial. Since I have had them I have become completely fascinated with their body structure, the way they move through the water and how receptive their antennae are. Unfortunately, while I was on holiday, my largest passed away due to a filter blockage in his tank. Sadly we were delayed back because of transportation issues and I was most upset to find him DOA. So now I just have the one fellow. He is not as outgoing as his late friend, but he is still very interesting to watch as he is more tank-proud and likes to rearrange his rocks, gravel and fake plants. Since I have had him, he has almost doubled in size and has moulted 4 times which is very interesting in itself. Anyway, enough of my chatter- without further ado, here's some pictures of my freshwater crayfish.

 

[Jennacide]

Yabbies are fun pets!!! I had a few i caught myself when i was a lil kid. They love raw mince om nom nom

 

[Joel's Hear]

Awww... The crawfish looks so sweet!

 

[kay]

Adorable!!! I love watching and picking up crawdads whenever I go fishing. Didn't realize they made good pets.

 

[toothless]

i have a similar boy to yours,i dont think hes classed as crayfish,but he is a large vampire shrimp and looks similar to cray fish i think?,he is named beastie:

 

[Fluffy]

Awesome pic, toothless! I think they are really nifty creatures. I like to just watch them do their thing. At present Mayonnaise (the yabby) is having a chew on some cucumber rounds.

 

[Danny 74]

Very interesting animals...!

 

[Fluffy]

Adorable!!! I love watching and picking up crawdads whenever I go fishing. Didn't realize they made good pets.

They sure do. The only thing you have to make sure you have pretty good filtration and aeration as they are huge waste producers. I got a secondary cheap sponge filter which I run in addition to the pump filter just to keep the water as aerated as possible because if you don't, it can get smelly pretty quick. But they are very simple and CHEAP creatures to keep happy and they are absolutely fascinating to watch. Their anatomy and movement is something I have watched for hours (much to the disbelief of my fiancee) and the sound of running water is rather soothing so all in all I would recommend them.