What fish can I keep with my yabbies?

Question

Hi,

I have just bought a decent size aquarium and plan to put yabbies in it. I also want to put fish in it as it is quite deep and the yabbies mainly live on the bottom. What kind of fish will escape being eaten by the yabbies?

Thanks :)

Answer 1

Any fish that is bigger than the yabbie.

Don't go too big or the fish will eat the yabbie instead.

Answer 2

Hey Nikki,

Crayfish are usually not kept with fish and a star in their own tank.

However some aquarist like myself keep fish in them. If you are want to be on the safe side and not want to lose any fish, simply break off the pincers. (i would never) The pincers will always back, just stubby and not as big. I also don't break it off because I believe that the pincers are unique and the reason why we keep the crayfish. Shrimps can be an alternative if you are scared of any fish loses.

Anyway, fish that are usually kept with crayfish include fast-swimming and small fish like;

white cloud minnows

red rosies

most small characins (tetras)

guppies

hatchetfish (stay mainly on surface)

mosquito

zebra danios

leopared danios

swordtails

mosquito fish

red rosies

harlequin rasboras

etc.

If you think small fish are small and annoying and want medium to large fish, you should try various types of African cichlids. These are strong fish that can defend for themselves even with the crayfish claws. Be sure that your crayfish is not too small or else the cichlids will eat him. And also make sure that the cichlids is not small or else the crayfish will eat the cichlid. So that in that case, Dwarf cichlids are not recommended.

To protect your crayfish during moulting, you should provide hiding places, caves, pvc pipes, broken pots.. In this time of period there shells are very soft and are prone to attacks from the fish and even small fish can slowly take small chunks our of the crayfish.

Hope this all helps. I  certainnly hope you chose to keep fish with the crayfish. Warning; you may lose some fish especially small ones but yeah they add excitement and are relatively cheap. (You could also catch your own mosquito fish or guppy in your local creek)

Answer 3

danios can be quick enough to stay away, i like rosy red minnows since if the crayfish eats one it's not the end of the world

they like to hang out under rocks too though so the chances of a crayfish snagging one are decent. usually if you get a few, the slow ones get picked off quickly and the fast ones stay around forever.

Answer 4

I would,nt we tried this and the yabbies chewed off the fish,s tails and ate a couple off them