Hi All,
I found this crayfish in the road near a protected wetland in northeast MA. I looked it up and read that crayfish are invasive in MA so I didn't want to return it to the water, but neither did I want to let it die in the gutter (literally). As it happens, I have a 55 gallon freshwater heavily planted aquarium. I've been letting the fish die from old age and not replacing them because I would like to eventually have a single oddball species. A crayfish was actually one I was considering, so the solution seemed pretty obvious.
I have attached pictures of the crayfish in my tank. I am hoping for a few things by posting here:
1. Can anyone identify the species and sex?
2. Is it indeed invasive? If it is native, I will release it back into the wetlands where I found it (but not in the road, obviously).
3. What does it eat? I've read that crayfish eat anything and will rip up and devour my plants but this one is not doing that. I've tried feeding it 2 types of sinking shrimp pellets, dried seaweed (green & red varieties), and even a piece of scrambled egg, but I don't think it ate any of it. I don't want it to starve to death.
Thanks!
