Some you may remember a while back when I purchased two small crawdads that had come in with a shipment of feeder fish. Upon placing them in the tank, the larger one was eaten immediately by my senegal bichir. The other one had disappeared, only to be seen weeks later. When I moved some of my fish around, and moved all the substrate and tank decorations to my 10 gallon, I noticed that a crawdad had made his way over, too! After getting him out of the tank, I noticed 'Scooter' only had one claw and three legs.

He does quite good for himself. I can see one of his little claws growing back, and he makes playful lunges at his tankmates. The loach pretends like he's not even there, but the goldfish get a little too close at times. It's really funny to watch.

After keeping this one, he's quickly becoming a tank favorite. I'm even thinking about getting an extra 10 gallon and catching a crawdad or two and making a species only tank. Purchase some feeder guppies for him and let him go to town.

Seems like a really fun endeavor. Crawdads don't need a heated tank though, do they?

Just thought I would share my experiences.
I'll post some pics of Scooter as soon as I get a chance, haha!

Mazza craws do not need a heated tank. They live longer in coldwater tanks. Take a look at the Experts lounge in freshwater under invertabrates. I have quit abit of info there on these guys.

:lol: Awesome! Even cheaper on the electric bill!

I've never attempted to keep crawdads in freshwater tanks, so again, new experience. My house stays pretty hot, though. I was going to use the heater to stabalize the temperature. I'll have to figure out what the regular temperature of the room is.

Yea i had heard they are coldwater inverts. Since I see alot of them now in spring time in cold water :D

They can get up to 7" and live up to 5 years if their conditions are good. Mine has just molted the third time! The longer they live after each molt the more hardy the crayfish is. If he can survive even 1 molt you are doing great! Just make sure he has good water conditions. The first year he should not molt but 8- 10 times and every year after that, less.

Crawdads are pretty cool! That's weird how you found it! :D