Crayfish in a community tank ?

Hi People , Loving the look of the place , very easy to navigate !
Found you from the snail shop email i got advertising you .

Anyways , I've 4 tanks of tropicals & in my newly acquired 4ft tank i'm quite taken with the idea of adding a blue crayfish/lobster
but can't seem to find enough info on how they would go in a community tank.
They would be along side a common plec, syno nigraventis as the only bottom feeders, The other fish would be a rtb shark & various mollies, platys, tetras, zebra loach & the likes, I'm just wondering what the chances are of the crayfish eating my other fish, Are they ok
in community tanks as sold in some pet shops or are they meant to be in crayfish only tanks?
Tank is 48" long, 18" high & 15 " wide .

Thankyou for any advice given.

The chances of the crayfish eating at least some of your fish are very very very high.Crayfish are not suitable for communitiy tanks, they will find a way to catch all edible fish. They might be alright with the plec assuming it is large, but the other fish would be at risk of being eaten.

Hi midnight!

It really depends on the cray...

Cambarellus patzcuarensis sp. Orange is a very attractive and most sought after dwarf crayfish. They get to be about 1 1/2" in length and will not eat live aquatic plants or disturb your substrate. They can be kept with dwarf shrimp and fish without problems.

Dennis

The only trouble is that here in the UK, for very little reason, all crayfish species are banned apart from C. quadricarinatus, which makes it hard for people in the UK to try other species.

Hi midnight
I have been breeding C.quadicarinatus (blue crayfish) for three years I keep a large breeding pair in a tank the same size as yours. with three golden pleco one large lace tail cat and several platy.
If you keep them well fed with plenty low hideing places and a well planted bottom you will have no problem they feed constantly and prefer a vegetable diet they only trap fish when hungry I lost two platy one weekend when on holiday because my son forgot to feed them.
Mine feed and breed well on a diet of cucumber slices boiled lettuce and cat fish pellets the young are quickly eaten by both parents and fish when they become free swimming so if you want to keep some net them into a breeding trap.

Hi there, I keep a 'blue lobster' in a community tank with no problems, it has plenty of places to hide and you're right about the feeding! Keeping it well fed, I've had not a single casualty - just hours of entertainment from watching it excavate and build - brilliant!