I've had three of these little demons, and they are fun as hell to watch, but there are a few things that people should know before the get them.
1) they will kill/eat all your fish
2) they molt/shed their shell about once every other month at which time they are very vulnerable to poor water conditions
There is something that can be done to prevent them from kiling your fish.
I've tried 3 methods and only one worked.
First I tried cutting the claw/arms off the buggers...this killed my first crawfish for whatever reason...
Second i tried Covering the claws with rubber cement...this worked for about 3 weeks, then the rubber cement disappeared and it looked like it actually killed the claw somehow (deformed/rotted) so this turned out to be the most evil
Finally I just decided to try cutting of the thumbs on the claws, and this has proven very effective. It causes less stress, the little bugger still looks the same and none of my fish are dying!
The little thumb will grow back, but won't be the same size as the rest of the claw, rendering it almost useless in attacks on fish
1) they will kill/eat all your fish
2) they molt/shed their shell about once every other month at which time they are very vulnerable to poor water conditions
There is something that can be done to prevent them from kiling your fish.
I've tried 3 methods and only one worked.
First I tried cutting the claw/arms off the buggers...this killed my first crawfish for whatever reason...
Second i tried Covering the claws with rubber cement...this worked for about 3 weeks, then the rubber cement disappeared and it looked like it actually killed the claw somehow (deformed/rotted) so this turned out to be the most evil
Finally I just decided to try cutting of the thumbs on the claws, and this has proven very effective. It causes less stress, the little bugger still looks the same and none of my fish are dying!
The little thumb will grow back, but won't be the same size as the rest of the claw, rendering it almost useless in attacks on fish