Louisiana Crawfish (Mudbugs)

[Pat James]

I'm curious if anybody uses this type of crustacean as a scavenger in their systems? I am going to try them to consume the detritus in my fish tank. Right now I have a large amount of algae, but when I add fish i will have algae plus fish waste. i want something to help break up the fish waste, consume any small bits of uneaten food etc.

At this point even if the crawdads I put in the the pool all die, they will provide nitrogen for the cycling process. So it is a win/win situation right now. But i would like to have some permanent scavengers.

[Bob Terrell]

I have about 15 in the bottom of my 300 gal tank.   be sure to give them some type of cover to hide in.

[Pat James]

Thanks Bob, I caught probably 200 of the little guys today. Alot are 1/2 inch long at most with the biggest about 1 1/2". I rinsed them with water from my pond and then discarded that water. Right now the water is opaque. Nobody In my neighborhood threw away Christmas trees this season. I was hoping to grab a few to use as cover for my fat-head minnows and crawdads.

[Bob Terrell]

so you have your own pond with the crayfish?

[Pat James]

No, I caught them in a rural drainage ditch. It has been a fairly consistent source for bait-sized crawdads. This is the earliest in the season I ever caught any there and each net I pulled up had several small ones.

[Bob Terrell]

lol  around here we can't even find a ditch with water in it.  maybe I need to do a rain dance.

[Tim Sumrall]

[jim mckee]

Hey Pat

I call'em Ditch Lobster  (hopefully by the bucket and suds on the side).

I'm trying to get to the Ausi red claw because they are big.  I'll raise them separate though.

jim

[Bob Terrell]

Have you been able to find anyn red claws?

jim mckee said:

Hey Pat

I call'em Ditch Lobster  (hopefully by the bucket and suds on the side).

I'm trying to get to the Ausi red claw because they are big.  I'll raise them separate though.

jim

[jim mckee]

http://farmingcrawfish.com/index.html

They are in Fl.  I'm not yet ready for creyfish. For them I'll  need another tank.  I'm thinking of growing them in stacked cages in a tank to maximize the square footage for them.  Sounds like they breed easy also so I'll need a breeder tank.  Or I may also try making the bottom cage of the stacked cages empty so they young'ins can drop down to the bottom and be safe in their own cage.  Grow'em then rotate cages putting a new empty cage on the bottom.

jim

Bob Terrell said:

Have you been able to find anyn red claws?

jim mckee said:

Hey Pat

I call'em Ditch Lobster  (hopefully by the bucket and suds on the side).

I'm trying to get to the Ausi red claw because they are big.  I'll raise them separate though.

jim

[Bob Terrell]

I don't think they will ship to Texas

jim mckee said:

http://farmingcrawfish.com/index.html

They are in Fl.  I'm not yet ready for creyfish. For them I'll  need another tank.  I'm thinking of growing them in stacked cages in a tank to maximize the square footage for them.  Sounds like they breed easy also so I'll need a breeder tank.  Or I may also try making the bottom cage of the stacked cages empty so they young'ins can drop down to the bottom and be safe in their own cage.  Grow'em then rotate cages putting a new empty cage on the bottom.

jim

Bob Terrell said:

Have you been able to find anyn red claws?

jim mckee said:

Hey Pat

I call'em Ditch Lobster  (hopefully by the bucket and suds on the side).

I'm trying to get to the Ausi red claw because they are big.  I'll raise them separate though.

jim

[Pat James]

Here, they are often referred to as "mudbugs". They can be found in most ditches here that hold water for any length of time. I am thinking about putting a few in all my DWC growbeds as well as my fish tank/pool. I plan to use them as scavengers.

jim mckee said:

Hey Pat

I call'em Ditch Lobster  (hopefully by the bucket and suds on the side).

.

jim

[Bob Campbell]

Make sure they are big enough.  I've seen tilapia bite the tail, but when they get big they can defend themselves pretty well.

Pat James said:

Here, they are often referred to as "mudbugs". They can be found in most ditches here that hold water for any length of time. I am thinking about putting a few in all my DWC growbeds as well as my fish tank/pool. I plan to use them as scavengers.

jim mckee said:

Hey Pat

I call'em Ditch Lobster  (hopefully by the bucket and suds on the side).

.

jim