# Other Animals > Other Pets >  Upgrading Zoidberg's tank!

## HerpDerp

I'm excited that I'm upgrading zoidbergs tank and I think this is a "frog forum" but I just had to share! This past fall I caught a crayfish from a small retention pond in a sand pit. It was pretty polluted so I figured he'd be better off in a tank anyways. I couldn't identify him right away because his shell was coated in nasty brown grime so I had to wait for a molt. Finally he molted and I identified him as a virile or northern crayfish. They can get about 5 inches from what I've read. He's in a 5.5 right now so an upgrade is in order!

I thought I would take advantage of the $1 per gallon sale at petco. I'm going to get a 15 long and construct my own lid for it with leftover egg crate and screen from my false bottom. I plan on having a pretty steep grade on the bottom so he can come partially out of the water when he wants to. I'm also buying sand for the new tank to mix with the gravel which I think he'll be quite happy about. I will be sure to post some before and after photos of the new set up too! I'm off to the store later today  :Big Grin: . 

Any other ideas for those of you who are aquarium/crustacean savvy? (Bill perhaps? lol)

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## Jared

Can't wait to see some photos im sure it's gonna look great and Zoidberg will be very happy in his new home, Are you going to Put live plants in there with him?

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## HerpDerp

I'll have to post some pictures tomorrow when the water clears up a bit. It's super cloudy right now thanks to a combo of the new sand and the old water used to seed this tank. I actually ended up getting a 20 long because there weren't any 15 gallons there. Can't say I regret it  :Smile: . I got 3 feeder guppies thinking maybe food, or a cool addition if he decides not to eat them. They've all survived so far so I'm thinking I may be able to get a few more and let them breed a bit. I'm sure Zoidberg wont mind the occasional snack LOL. And I know my WTFs will like the treat once in a while too. 

I tried a couple live plants in the 5.5 gallon he was originally in. They lasted about a day before they were all uprooted and snipped up. He did have some fun jamming them in the rocks on the outside of his cave though hehe. So no live plants for this set up.

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## HerpDerp

I know not many people see this, but I'll keep updating anyways!  :Smile:  I don't seem to have a clear "before" picture of his old tank since I only got close ups of him. So here are some pictures:
This is Zoidberg in his first home. It was just a 5.5 and about half full, so not much water in there!

This is the whole tank. It looks a little bare since I only have a few decorations from the 5.5, but I'm going to get some of those tall fake plants so they partially float on the surface. Not sure if you can see, but all three feeder guppies are still alive!

I did half sand and half gravel so he has different surfaces to dig in. He seems to appreciate it. These are some rocks that I took out of a river in northern Maine. I boiled them and cleaned them before putting them in.

I just threw these rocks together without really thinking much of it and he decided to dig under one and build up a gravel wall in the front. I'm very excited to see how he "remodels" the set up.


And after putting this in my bedroom it occurred to me that the trickling from the filter might bother me while I try to sleep. I was correct. I ended up unplugging it halfway through the night. SO I've ordered a high quality corner filter that's powered by an air stone to do my filtration. The water level will be brought down a little bit when I get it so he can poke out of the water if he wants. I also forgot to take pictures of the lid I constructed. I'm rather proud of it actually lol. The egg crate that I had leftover wasn't long enough so I have a second 4inch wide piece that I had to make. I left the ends open on both pieces so they interlock together. I love it because I can drop shrimp pellets anywhere in the tank without having to work around a solid lid!

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## IrishRonin

After keeping several crayfish over the years I have learned one thing. It is their tank and they're going to design and shape it as they see fit. They don't seem to like it when we remodel it for them, every time I would set up my tank as I wanted it my blue would have it completely different in 2 days. They are awesome little critters, a lot of fun to watch thanks for sharing

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## HerpDerp

His 5 gallon never looked the same from day to day! I'm just waiting for all that gravel to end up mixed with the sand. In the 5 gallon he would take all of the bigger white rocks and pile them together so I bet he makes a nice pile of black gravel somewhere in the sand LOL.

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## IrishRonin

yeah there quite the little Architects. I know mine turned all the gravel from underneath my black sand to on top of the sand, and yeah live plants just don't work.

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## bill

looks great Michelle! Zoidberg looks very happy in his new crib  :Smile:  sorry, i got tied up in a little project today. crayfish are greatlittle creatures. i never kept any "normal" sized ones. but i used to breed cpo's back in the day. since they were small, they never bothered my plants or shrimp. they would just dig their caves and crawl out to feed. i think i have to get more of those little suckers one of these days  :Smile:  now all you have to do in the summer is go scouting areas out and find him a girlfriend and you can have Zoid-ettes....lol

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## deeishealthy

The things you learn... I would so enjoy watching such an industrious creature.  Huh!

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## HerpDerp

Thanks, Bill! I just looked up CPOs. They look really cool. I wish I could get stuff like that around here! As it is, I'm "technically" not supposed have Zoidberg... hehe. I'm sure I don't have to worry about a game warden coming and busting down my door anytime soon though LOL. A female would be pretty awesome, but I'm fairly certain the tank is just a bit too small for two. Zoidberg is territorial when I put my finger to the glass, I can only imagine what he would do to another crayfish! But ironically enough, he hasn't touched the feeder guppies. So I have 5 females now and three males. And I got an odd little bonus with them: A water beetle!? I know feeders can have all sorts of weird things shipped with them thanks to being bred in outdoor ponds... but this is strange to me lol. I put it in my tank (what else can I do?? I wouldn't want to kill it) and it seems to just do its own thing... for now lol. I figure it will either control guppy populations or Zoidberg will control the water beetle population LOL.

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## exasperatus2002

Crayfish are cool critters. There used to be a site dedicated to keeping them but it shut down.

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## HerpDerp

> Crayfish are cool critters. There used to be a site dedicated to keeping them but it shut down.


It's surprisingly tough to find good info on keeping crayfish. It all seems to be the same info over and over again. And even though most are cold water species the majority of info I've found was on tropical species, go figure! A site like that would have been helpful lol. So far I've just used my knowledge of typical Maine habitat and waters do care for him, along with some further research on their typical habitat. This has got to be the easiest species to care for though since they're known to be invasive outside of their typical range lol. And I found him in a nasty pond full of chemicals and very low oxygen levels. 

On another note, the bug in my tank is NOT a water beetle. After some research I have discovered that it is a water boatman bug that is herbivorous. So much for it controlling baby guppy blooms! Very cool addition to my tank though! Wonder what other critters I could keep to make it more natural... LOL.

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## NatureLady

I keep some at my work also. They are my little interior decorators and mine love minnows as a snack. I house mine with a Green Sunfish and two very quick rosy minnows. I put plant cuttings into my tank to allow mine to explore, eat, and destroy every now and then.

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## Heather

Very cool! I like the set-up. Can't wait to see his remodeling. I do hope you'll keep us updated. 

We used to catch and release crayfish every year from a nearby creek. Fun  :Smile: . 

He's great! I love the photos of him peeking out.

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## MatthewM1

heres a care sheet I found for north Americans, it's written for blue cray's but they are just a color morph of the common ones. I've been looking around for info as I'm thinking about getting one in the spring. NORTH AMERICAN CRAYFISH CARE SHEET  North American crayfish should be kept at 55

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## bill

Michelle, hit plantedtank.net go to the shrimp and inverts subforum. If you don't find the info you are looking for, just post your questions. It may take a day or two, but there will probably be someone who has or who has kept your species. I know a lot of people keep crays in planted tanks. Just don't go asking for a caresheet, we don't do them.......lol

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## HerpDerp

Matthew: Thanks! I had found that page when I first got my crayfish and hadn't been able to find it since then! A lot of useful information there. 

Bill: I can't believe anyone would want to keep crays in a planted tank! I had plants in his tank originally and the pulled them all up and ate them within a few days LOL. I will definitely visit that site though to make sure I'm not missing any good info to have! 

And I'll definitely update as he moves things around and as I add more fake plants. I plan on getting some long plastic plants that will come up and partially float on the surface so he has something climb on besides the rocks. I think I may have sent the tank into a mini cycle with the new guppies. It's extremely cloudy now, but I don't have a test kit (I know, shame on me). Not much I can do now but keep up with water changes until it's over and hope that the new filter comes soon!

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## MatthewM1

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

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## bill

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

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## 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!

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## 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

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## bill

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)

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## 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  :Big Grin: . It may not be the dwarf cichlid tank of my dreams but it sure will be fun.

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## bill

there are no water lilies small enough for your tank  :Frown:  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

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## 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.

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## 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.

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## Heather

Ha ha ha!!!!  :Big Grin:

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## 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.

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## bill

hahaha......laugh all you want Amanda, did i neglect to tell you my aquatics and marginals come with free, all you can breed snails??  :Wink:  you might even with the luck of the draw and have a malaysian trumpet snail baby in there  :Smile:

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## HerpDerp

LOL So really what you're saying is free cray food? :P The more the merrier, I say!

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## bill

then michelle, you'll be in luck, when i send you the duckweed, i'll make sure i toss in a few mini pond snails and a couple egg sacs. Zoidberg will be snacking for weeks....LOL

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## HerpDerp

LOL I'll be sure to post some pictures once I get the duckweed in!

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## HerpDerp

I came home from work to baby guppies!  :Big Grin: . I'm curious to see how many survive!

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## bill

Good for you!! I came home to find several shrimp that were pregnant  :Smile:

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## Heather

Snack time! Ha ha!  :Stick Out Tongue:

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## HerpDerp

Well Zoidberg fails as a crayfish. I don't think he's eaten a single baby guppy. The parents have munched on them more! Now I just need to figure out what to do with excessive guppy populations... haha.

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## HerpDerp

The duckweed and snails from Bill arrived safely last night. There were a couple extra bits of plant in there too  :Smile: . I tried to keep them out of Zoidberg's reach but he already discovered one. The other one seems safe though. Once I get the light for I'll be able to take some good pictures of it. That will also give the duckweed a chance to explode!

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## bill

Glad to hear the plants made it there safely. Did the snails survive? That duckweed will grow insanely for you once you put a light over it. I don't remember adding any plants, but i have been known to just start tossing things in bags....lol

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## HerpDerp

I'm pretty sure ALL of the snails survived. I was pretty impressed by that lol. The plants were really small. You probably didn't even notice them. One of them is less than an inch tall and kind of looks like Amazon sword or java fern not sure which. The other one is like a viney looking thing... but it's half eaten now LOL. I can't wait to see the duckweed grow!

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## ab positive bulldogs

LOVE THE NAME! LOL! Cool pet...I've been looking for a crayfish for my snapping turtle...i hear they like them as treats...LOL  :Frog Smile:

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## HerpDerp

Thanks! The pond I found him in was full of painted turtles and had tons of raccoon tracks around it. So I guess I saved him from being a meal! 

I haven't gotten any pictures of the "completed" set up yet. The tank is STILL cloudy. It's so frustrating! I just can't figure out why it wont clear up. The duckweed is growing VERY slowly. I think that has to do with the water temp. I read that it grows slower in cooler water. I fished out the adult guppies and most of the babies and replaced them with silvertip tetras. I was getting a little overwhelmed with babies that Zoidberg wouldn't eat! But of course the silvertips have already laid eggs! Thankfully they likely wont survive to hatch. I guess despite the cloudy tank it's a breeding paradise LOL.

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