live crayfish, place to catch/buy?

[radioaktiv]

the smaller the better

anyone have a recommendation?

[bra8ndy8]

Just for pets gets them in.....XTC gets his from there.

[radioaktiv]

im just gonna have to go over there this weekend

thank you

again

[bra8ndy8]

You will love it!!! It's a small LFS but they are soooo nice, and know their stuff!! If I lived closer I would be there every weekend! It's one of my faves!

[xtc]

Don't take all my JFP crawfish- :D

Fish Gallery is a sure thing- they always have em. Plano Pets has been a good source as well.

[radioaktiv]

do they not stock many?

ive never looked for them at Gallery, but im in that area often. thanks for the heads up

[xtc]

Kahn at Just For Pets generally orders them for me- I don't think anyone was looking for them before me- so he orders them for us in particular- but it's certainly not an exclusive deal. I'd suggest anyone hit em up and he'll order more.

The Fish Gallery has them in the back room- not on the floor. but they ALWAYS have them.

I haven't been to Plano Pets in a while- so I'm not sure about their current staus- they were hit and miss back in the day.

[radioaktiv]

what are you feeding? :cool:

[xtc]

Fahaka

[radioaktiv]

oh awesome

a local fahaka keeper i can direct all my questions to ;)

you already stated that but for some reason i didnt remember

im 25 with the memory of a 70 year old

[xtc]

no worries- I seldom listen to people myself. :hehe:

We keep a 30g of crawfish for Peanut. That's about all he'll eat. but after yours and Blake's chat- I'm tempted to try some frozen skrimp just too see what's up.

not sure bout your fahaka, but mine LOVES PVS tubes to hide in.

[radioaktiv]

yeah last night i put a frozen shrimp on a clip and he went right for it, so that was pretty exciting. he is learning quickly

so far ive notice mine likes hiding half in the sand under a little cave in the holey rock i have

im going to have to get some bigger pieces with bigger 'caves' once he gets bigger, or find another solution

[xtc]

good luck!

I switched to PVC because it's dirt cheap and you can go from 1/2" to 4.5" pretty easily. We got a few "L"s- but his favorite is a "T" shape so he can stop half way thru and keep an eye out two directions.

What size tank is he in right now? What other fish are in there?

[radioaktiv]

if they made PVC in black i might consider it

he's about 3 inches right now
he is currently in a 29
going in the 55 this weekend

then he will go into the 125 once i get it refinished, a canopy made, and the filtration sorted

it'll just be him and my pleco

what about yours?

[xtc]

I've thought about texturing my PVC or painting it so it's not WHITE. But my CAE keep everything crisp WHITE- so it still looks good.

Peanut is about 6-8" long now. right now, he's in a 125g and needs me to finish out his 225g that's sitting dry in the living room looking lame.:rolleyes1: He's getting a bit big for that 125.

Peanut's kind of tolerant of other fish- he's got a red tail shark, blue botia, a couple CAE and some rainbows. but honestly, I've kind of let my tanks go- so they're not pretty right now...or well stocked. Every so often, he'll catch a fish- but he generally cleans his plate- so it'll take a few days to spot it.

I hope to get some other stuff in with him once he moves to his next tank.

[radioaktiv]

i keep reading a 125 is okay :(

ugh

[xtc]

nope- I can see he doesn't like to fold his tail around so much to turn- he'll do a 3 point turn instead of a simple "U" turn.

24" front to back is the goal for a mature Fahaka's. The larger mine gets, the easier it is to see- he's just not as happy as he could be.

If you go to the Puffer Forum and tell em you have a baby fahaka in anything less than 200g- they will hunt you down and destroy your name from all history books and see to it you never procreate EVER again.

In time, I'd prefer to get him a square tank so he has more room- a 48" x 48" x 24" tall square tank would be cool. Just not sure where I'd put it...coffee table... I digress to MTS...:hehe:

[radioaktiv]

i guess my only condolence is my 125 is 4x2x2 (actually only like 118gal or something). maybe he'll be okay in there for a while.

uhhh....do you think you could be the one to tell my wife that he's gonna need a bigger tank?

[xtc]

you'll see it when it's time.

Frankly, you should be able to pick up a 200 plus for $500 when someone really needs to get rid of their big tank- and that tank should net you $300- so you won't be out that much. :twitch:

I'd certainly hold out til you see it's necessary. they're pretty dirty fish- so water chemistry is another good reason to have more water. I like the smaller fish in their cause they'll hopefully alert me (die) if something goes wrong- and I should still have time to get it fixed before it jacks with Peanut.

[radioaktiv]

how long do you think mine would be okay in the 120?

its easier to work on my wife over a period of time and get her used to the fact that i'll need a bigger tank...rather than dropping it on her all at once :rolleyes:

[xtc]

Mine started in a 10g- then went to a 90g and he didn't like the huge open expanses. Then he grew up a bit and chilled out and got active. We had him in a 200 for a while, but it sprung a second leak and we sold it- he didn't like it as much cause it was SOOO big. So, we moved and put him in the cycled/ready 120 and he's fine and likes it- I'll have to figure out when we got him (I'm pretty sure there's a thread about it somewhere...). but he's still ok in the 120- I'd say for another 6-12 months. so let's guess 2.5 yrs old before he needs an upgrade. But my 120 is 18" front to back- so yours won't look as bad as mine does. -so, 3-3.5 yrs...

[radioaktiv]

gotta say thank you for taking the time to write and reply

he would still be growing after 3 yrs? :eek:

i still have a lot to learn about these guys. when do they reach adulthood?

[AndrewH]

if they made PVC in black i might consider it

You can get the PVC in black. 4" dia. made for/as drainage piping.

http://www.bestnest.com/bestnest/RTProduct.asp?SKU=PAE-0150-870-50

I'm pretty sure Lowes has it.

[radioaktiv]

You can get the PVC in black. 4" dia. made for/as drainage piping.

http://www.bestnest.com/bestnest/RTProduct.asp?SKU=PAE-0150-870-50

I'm pretty sure Lowes has it.
will look next time im there
thanks for the tip :D

[xtc]

No issues- I had the same questions...but I went to the Puffer Forum- BOY was that a mistake!

Sup 'drew!

[radioaktiv]

haha, yeah ive read plenty from the 'elite' keepers

there's a lot of info out here. hard to know what is inflated BS and what is real-life knowledge

but like biggun (sp) said, just because an 'expert' says it on a forum doesnt make it true.

id much rather hear from guys like you who have the real-life experience

[AndrewH]

will look next time im there
thanks for the tip :D

No problem. It's in the irrigation/lawn sprinkler section. Pretty reasonably priced IIRC.

No issues- I had the same questions...but I went to the Puffer Forum- BOY was that a mistake!

Sup 'drew!

Sup buddy. You doin' aight?

[rolloffhill]

You can get the PVC in black. 4" dia. made for/as drainage piping.

http://www.bestnest.com/bestnest/RTProduct.asp?SKU=PAE-0150-870-50

I'm pretty sure Lowes has it.


Beat me to it, but you can't make Tees out of a roll of pipe...;)

ABS pipe...

http://www.hardwarestore.com/media/product/456277_front500.jpg

[AndrewH]

VGP (very good point).

Forgot about the black ABS. The one in your pic is 1-1/2" do they make that up to 4"?

[rolloffhill]

Yup

ABS San-Tees
AKA 'Sanitary tees'
Hub x Hub x Hub
Size Price & Quantity
1-1/2" $1.72
2" $2.68
2" x 2" x 1-1/2" $2.34
2" x 1-1/2" x 1-1/2" $2.46
2" x 1-1/2" x 2" $2.54
4" $13.46
4" x 4" x 2" $12.49
4" x 4" x 3" $10.84

[sap]

any decent bait store by a lake will have crawfish and they are a lot cheaper than a pet store...

[radioaktiv]

well hell
i live 1mi from ray hubbard
i'll have to give that a shot

[xtc]

they aren't clean-

[doughboy]

As for black pvc, you can go ahead and spray paint it with Krylon Fusion. It's pretty common and you should be able to find it at a Walmart. I was interested in that for a while and it seemed that most of the saltwater guys recommended it.

I went ahead and gave it a couple days to cure and then I soaked it in some water for a while. There's been no problems since I put it in my tank six months ago.

[AndrewH]

painting the white pvc is definitely another option :hehe:

[radioaktiv]

they aren't clean-
i wouldnt think so

but do you think there would be a problem with quaranteening them for a while, then feeding?

[xtc]

IMO- why bother? Establish the relationship (plan on buying 20 at a time every month) and pay the $20-30 and be done with it. It's better on your fish (which will soon be a worthy investment)

IMO- black would be too dark.

http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/8140/cimg0342vq2.jpg

His teeth will love the crawfish!! :D

http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/5871/cimg0349bf3.jpg

[bra8ndy8]

That last pic looks like something ate Peanut's tail.

[AndrewH]

You need to do a vid of peanut eating :hehe:

[xtc]

I'll get Megan to feed him tonight and see if we can catch it.

[bra8ndy8]

Cool!!! Can't wait!!!

[radioaktiv]

beautiful

and i like black tanks :shrug:

[sap]

they aren't clean-


if you want to clean them out put them in a bucket with a couple tablespoons of salt.....

[mrsadler]

cool

[zoohouse]

I have had some from a baitshop on RayHubbard climb in the filter of my amazon tank, and reappeared months later as adults with all sort of cool crazy colors,blue, purple, red, green, gold, all mixed all over them. But yes definitly treat them w/salt. The first couple of times I got them I didn't and ended up w/a massive fluke infestation. If I would of paid attention you can actually see them on them when you first get them.

[masroberts9]

the little white string lookin things?

[masroberts9]

i have red crayfish with white string looking things on its head I figured they were worms.