Dwarf crayfishes with zebras ok?

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leeac
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Dwarf crayfishes with zebras ok?

Post by leeac »

Thinking about putting some Dwarf Crayfishes (Cambarellus shufeldtii) in with the zebra plecs. These dwarfs max out at about 1-1.5 inches. Has anybody tried this? Think this is ok?
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Barbie
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Post by Barbie »

They're still carnivores. It's a terrible idea, IMO. I've not kept the crayfishes, but I definitely wouldn't try it.

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Ameekplec
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Post by Ameekplec »

crays of any size will go after anything they can grab after. When I was a kid, I thought minnows 10 cm long would fare well against similarly sized crays (1 -1.5 inches), only to wake up to an eaten minnow.
I wouldn't risk it. Unless you're into really really really expensive feeder fish.
leeac
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Post by leeac »

Thanks everyone. What about dwarf cories and/or the yellow variant of the cherry shrimp? Does that combo sound ok?
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Ameekplec
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Post by Ameekplec »

Corys and shrimp will be fine, IMO. Corys will not be active at night so won't compete for food, and the shrimp will hardly be competition.
That being said, I support shrimp fully, as I am personally convinced that newly born shrimplets are a very very good food source for all fish, and plecos are no exception. The shrimplets of caridina/neocaridina are the same size/smaller than BBS, so they're definitely game for our little plecs.
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Post by NetsuaiAngel »

The temperature for cherries vs. the zebras have a small window together. Zebras like their warm very warm (80-86F) whereas cherries prefer temp range of (70-80F).

I have cherries in my community tank and the temp ranges from 80-84F. The lights and additional powerheads I have really heat up the tank. The cherries are doing fine but from my original purchase, only a few have survived.

If you're looking for a shrimp/zebra combo - you may want to look at Amano shrimp (Caridina multidentata). Their best temp range is 70-78F but they can tolerate higher temps than most shrimps. I've had them in my zebra tank and they were not a threat to the zebras.

Just watch your tank mates if you plan on trying to stimulate your zebras to mate. Mating temps are 84-86F according to the breeding article.

-Angela
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