Upgrading Zoidberg's tank!

[deranged chipmunk]

yeah Michelle, we planted tank folk are frickin nuts!!LOL a buddy of mine actually breeds cpo's and other crays, i put in a pm to him to see what info he can offer. it may take a day or two, but he will get back to me eventually. then i have to decode his pm, english is not his first language...LOL

[HerpDerp]

No problem. do you have a light you place over his tank or do you just use room light? I can't decide what to do for my future set up, I'm leaning towards a lamp with a dimmer on top of the screen so I can set it to a timer

I actually do not have any kind of lighting for him. Crayfish tend to not like a lot of light since they're nocturnal. And their natural habitat (for this species anyways) is ponds and slow moving streams which would have a lot of nice dark places for them. He definitely seems more comfortable with the minimal light that he gets. I'm thinking of getting a small strip light to put on the top for when I want to view him better but I'm going to wait until Have more fake plants giving surface cover so he can get out of the light if he wants.

yeah Michelle, we planted tank folk are frickin nuts!!LOL a buddy of mine actually breeds cpo's and other crays, i put in a pm to him to see what info he can offer. it may take a day or two, but he will get back to me eventually. then i have to decode his pm, english is not his first language...LOL

Lol I guess so! My crayfish even uproots fake plants! I can only imagine the battle trying to get everything from being destroyed haha. Any extra info would be great! Thanks!

[MatthewM1]

Yeah that makes sense I guess not much light gets down to them buried under rocks,i wasn't sure if they needed a night/day cycle

[deranged chipmunk]

the guys i know, keep them with plants that have heavy root structures, like swords, crypts, vals, and a few others. but the plants are allowed to establish themselves for a month or two before they add the crays. believe me, you leave a sword plant in a tank for a month or two for it's roots to establish, and a human has a hard enough time uprooting them...lol when i broke down my 125 for the first time, i had a sword in there for a year. i had to cut it out. when i removed the substrate, the root structure covered half of the tank.
if you want easy, quick growing live plants as floaters, anacharis is cheap, sold at the chain pet stores and is really only good for feeding animals (imho)

[HerpDerp]

Well that makes more sense. And I'm assuming your planted tanks also have a better substrate than rocks or sand lol. I actually had thought of going to some local wetlands that don't come in contact with pollutants and taking some native plants for my tank. Of course I would have to wait until spring, but I think it would really tie the "native" idea together. I might try some free floating types so they can't really be uprooted. Duckweed would look cool, as would water lilies (as long as he doesn't snip the stems). There are just so many possibilities with my new tank . It may not be the dwarf cichlid tank of my dreams but it sure will be fun.

[deranged chipmunk]

there are no water lilies small enough for your tank you can put some amazon frogbit in there to simulate it though. duckweed is the planted tank equivalent to herpes, you never get rid of it. i can toss some in an envelope and send it to you if you like.

and dwarf cichlids are over rated...lol i have had Kribensis and electric blue and german rams. ehhh.....i'll take my tetras, rainbows and other small fishies over those any day....LOL

[HerpDerp]

You know, It didn't occur to me that water lilies get huge lol. I would LOVE some duck weed actually. I think it would be the perfect substitute for rooted plants. And zoidberg would love munching on it I'm sure.

I used to have kribs and rams in a tank together actually! Kribs aren't that great, but I LOVED my ram (only one survived). They're sensitive, but they have awesome attitude. I kept him with tetras. He would "school" with them and then suddenly chase them away. Lots of fun to watch lol.

[HerpDerp]

duckweed is the planted tank equivalent to herpes, you never get rid of it. i can toss some in an envelope and send it to you if you like.

My boyfriend just read this and said, "So some guy wants to give you herpes?" LOL That was my good chuckle for the day.

[NatureLady]

duckweed is the planted tank equivalent to herpes, you never get rid of it.

LOL BILL! I would say that if you take plants from a wetland you would have the second worse thing...pond snails.