I have discovered...
- Thread starter Brinny-chan
- Start date
I find it fascinating to watch various predator-prey relationships play themselves out in my fish tanks.
My bias is in watching crays catch and devour various live food items.
I recently witnessed a 2.5" cray catch and devour some sort of feeder (likely a platy/swordtail mix) that was almost as long as it was in a matter of a couple minutes. It ate the tail first---likely to quickly restrict its ability to escape---and then briskly finished-off the rest of it.
I also witnessed Sunny, my brown female cray, dismantle a slightly smaller cray within minutes. Claws were removed first, along with the rest of the appendages (again, thereby restricting mobility). The body was then eaten from the head down...receptors/feelers first, followed by the brain, then everything else.
Yes, this all sounds gruesome, and I can see how many folks would probably find it quite disturbing to watch. But does this make me some sort of calculating sicko? No, I don't think so.
Granted, I did in fact expect the feeder fish to be eaten at some point. No big deal. It was a foregone conclusion that this would take place.
But as for the crays...
I was temporarily housing several together in the same tank (this is a big no-no, by the way
). They got along fine for some time, but then the tide turned during the second night that I had them situated together. Under ideal circumstances I would not have liked to see any of the crays get eaten by one another (what with my goal being to keep them as pets), but by the time I caught them cannibalizing each other, it was too late.
Crays have been (and will continue to be, for quite some time) my favorite aquarium pets. But does that mean that I would accuse anyone of doing the "wrong" thing just because they used crays as feeders for their fish, etc.? Of course not!
It's up to the individual aquarist to do whatever he/she feels comfortable with.
Big Vine
My bias is in watching crays catch and devour various live food items.
I recently witnessed a 2.5" cray catch and devour some sort of feeder (likely a platy/swordtail mix) that was almost as long as it was in a matter of a couple minutes. It ate the tail first---likely to quickly restrict its ability to escape---and then briskly finished-off the rest of it.
I also witnessed Sunny, my brown female cray, dismantle a slightly smaller cray within minutes. Claws were removed first, along with the rest of the appendages (again, thereby restricting mobility). The body was then eaten from the head down...receptors/feelers first, followed by the brain, then everything else.
Yes, this all sounds gruesome, and I can see how many folks would probably find it quite disturbing to watch. But does this make me some sort of calculating sicko? No, I don't think so.
Granted, I did in fact expect the feeder fish to be eaten at some point. No big deal. It was a foregone conclusion that this would take place.
But as for the crays...
I was temporarily housing several together in the same tank (this is a big no-no, by the way
). They got along fine for some time, but then the tide turned during the second night that I had them situated together. Under ideal circumstances I would not have liked to see any of the crays get eaten by one another (what with my goal being to keep them as pets), but by the time I caught them cannibalizing each other, it was too late.Crays have been (and will continue to be, for quite some time) my favorite aquarium pets. But does that mean that I would accuse anyone of doing the "wrong" thing just because they used crays as feeders for their fish, etc.? Of course not!
It's up to the individual aquarist to do whatever he/she feels comfortable with.
Big Vine