Blue Crab Tank Mates

If you have a blue crayfish, you may have learned the hard way that not just any fish will work in a tank with a crayfish. Finding blue crayfish tank mates isn’t that hard to do, but you need to know what kind of “friends” your blue friend will like.

Bottom feeders and slow fish

Bottom feeders and slow fish are not good tank mates for blue crayfish. As you probably know, crayfish love fish of all kinds. This means live fish and dead fish alike. So if you put slow moving fish in the tank, or fish that feed on the bottom of the tank, the chances of those fish being eaten are pretty good.

Tankmates that will work

It turns out that there are fish that can be put in a tank with blue crayfish and survive. Well, fish that will at least have a much better chance of surviving. These types of fish are, of course, the exact opposite of the fish mentioned above.

Fish that can work in a tank with blue crayfish are fish that can swim fast and/or swim to the top of the tank. For example, I have a red tail shark in my ten gallon tank. He is a fast swimmer and does quite well with crayfish.

I also have a hatchet fish. Hatchet fish do very well in a tank with crayfish because they swim at the top of the tank. This of course makes them excellent blue crayfish tank mates. Two other types of fish to consider are rosy red minnows and rainbow darters; among several others.

Just do your research like you’re doing right now. There are many beautiful fish that can coexist with the blue crab. But wait for it, one day you’ll wake up or come home from work and one of your favorite little fish will be missing… And you’ll know exactly who to blame. – The little blue creature.

Other crayfish

Other crayfish can make good tank mates for blue crayfish. However, you just have to make sure that they are the same species.

The crayfish can be territorial. Therefore, it is a very good idea to have a “hide” or ornament in your tank for each crayfish. This can be something as simple as PVC pipe or a store-bought ornament.

Personally, artificial “hides” that look like logs work very well. They give the crayfish a place to burrow. – And digging and hiding will be especially important when crayfish molt.

When crayfish molt, they will go soft. – And sadly when this happens they can become the target of other crayfish in the tank.