Good Arrangement for Breeder Marbled Crayfish Tank

[Terrance]

How do you guys arrange the pvc pipes in your tank?

I got some pvc pipes (1.25" x ~4") and stack them all on top of each other. They keep falling off each other, so I'll use silicon glue to make them stick. Before I start gluing, do I just stack them all up until it reaches the top of the tank? Will they have trouble reaching the top pipes? I have a sealed tank, where escaping is impossible. I have 4 crays in a 15g right now. I think I can get around 30-40 pipes if I stack them all up along the back glass. I'm thinking about using some smaller pvc pipes for baby crays to hide because it seems to save more space. Seems silly to have a big pipe for a baby cray.

Btw, I been slicing up pieces of cucumber, leftover raw shrimp (from puffer meal), and goldfish flakes. Sound good? Should I add a food source with high calcium?

[J-P]

LOL!! mine don't use the PVC pipes... 1 hides under some driftwood and the other hides in a media sock.

[xrayjeeper83]

I have 4 big rocks and a bunch of 4-6in pieces of PVC just tossed in where ever they landed. They seem to hide under more then in

[Jay]

How do you guys arrange the pvc pipes in your tank?

I got some pvc pipes (1.25" x ~4") and stack them all on top of each other. They keep falling off each other, so I'll use silicon glue to make them stick. Before I start gluing, do I just stack them all up until it reaches the top of the tank? Will they have trouble reaching the top pipes? I have a sealed tank, where escaping is impossible. I have 4 crays in a 15g right now. I think I can get around 30-40 pipes if I stack them all up along the back glass. I'm thinking about using some smaller pvc pipes for baby crays to hide because it seems to save more space. Seems silly to have a big pipe for a baby cray.

Btw, I been slicing up pieces of cucumber, leftover raw shrimp (from puffer meal), and goldfish flakes. Sound good? Should I add a food source with high calcium?

Terrance,

I am using a 150 Gal for my crays and also use the PVC pipes in inner diameter sizes of ½”, ¾”, 1” and 1 ¼”. What I have done is made a basic stack varying from 15 to 20 across and 9 to 15 rows high and attached every piece to each other using aquarium silicon and allowed it to cure for a week before I placed them in the tank. I find that as they grow they pick what size they like the best and yes they can get to all the wholes by climbing. The substrate is large size aquarium gravel for all the nooks and crannies available for the newborn and 9 medium-large pieces of driftwood. Now understandably with a 15 Gal this type of arrangement would be difficult but still could be done just on a smaller scale. I would be concerned that when one of them become berried that the 15 Gal would soon be overcrowded.

I also feed a random and varied diet but as far as calcium goes I have used everything from the vacation feeder blocks to the Hikari Tropical Crab Cuisine Sticks. Along with a good protein and plant based diet, I use Anacharis as my plant source, I have never had a problem with them shedding their exoskeleton. There are different perspectives out there indicating that they need no extra calcium since the protein is used for the development of their exoskeleton and others that say they need a source of calcium. I just keep everything varied and random and it has proven to be very successful. I keep the temperature anywhere from 67-75 degrees based on outside temperatures since that tank is in the garage.

What I find to be the best source of success is water quality. I am changing 50% of the water every 10 days and find that it has worked the best. I was doing it every week but there were no recorded advantages to water quality in the tank.

Jay

[Terrance]

Thanks Jay. I ended up selling my 75g (bare) yesterday instead of making it my crayfish tank like I told you. I couldn't sell my 15g (complete with enclosed hood), so I made it into my cray tank. I'm still trying to sell the 15g. I traded 3 of my 40g breeder tanks and $ for my 120g. I'm looking on Craigslist everyday to get a bigger complete tank.

My 15g is completely enclosed with holes for air to circulate. Since you say they like climbing, then I will stack them up until 3" below normal top water line.

Digger doing well?

[chuckfriedrice]

I have used smaller pieces of egg crate along with the pvc pipe.

[Jay]

Digger doing well?

So far he is doing great. He has eaten five 3/8th” Buffalo fry and seven adult Red Cherry Shrimp. I have some earthworms I picked up at Wal__rt and will see if he eats any in a couple of days.