# will yabbies eat beef?



## wiz-fiz (Jun 1, 2008)

I just gave my yabbies some raw beef and they took a little while to go up to it and start checking it out.
tey eat fish fine, they killed 1 that I had in with them(went to school and it was fine and came back and I only had 2 yabbies and no fish).
I was thinking about getting 4 fish from the local et shop a month and feed them a dead fish each once a fort night.
but just so I don't have to kill 4 fish a month will they eat red meat or only fish?

cheers,
Will


----------



## 888lowndes888 (Jun 1, 2008)

Slice up some carrot they will eat it in minutes.


----------



## Ned_fisch (Jun 1, 2008)

They eat all meat. From Roo's to Lizards.


----------



## bump73 (Jun 1, 2008)

They'll eat red meat but if you are keeping them in a tank it will start to stink really quick...At least thats what happened to me..

Ben


----------



## SNAKEBOY33 (Jun 1, 2008)

Mostly they eat plant matter in the wild not a real lot of oportunity for red meat in the wild, but they will give anything a go just keep the fish alive so thy get a sporting chance. meat will spoil your water very quickly.


----------



## Fuscus (Jun 1, 2008)

Only give meat as an occasional treat. Even if you overcome from the problems already mentioned, too much meat upsets their metabolism and will eventually kill them


----------



## FNQ_Snake (Jun 1, 2008)

Mate I used to catch yabbies with small stew beef on the end of cotton when I was a young fella. They are certain to eat beef. Go for it.


----------



## christo (Jun 1, 2008)

Cooked pumpkin works too. True story - I once put a feeder yabby in with a young oscar. The oscar ignored it, the yabby set up camp under a rock in the tank and grew. About three months later the bugger ate my oscar. It was about 15 years ago, so lets put it down to inexperience eh?


----------



## wiz-fiz (Jun 1, 2008)

thanks guys, gonna try some carrot when ther isn't any beef left(don't feed them every day because they havn't finished what they've got, and I know it's to much,)
I have a solution for the beef problem, when there about 1" big you keep them in icecream containers and have 1 sitting getting rid of all the bad stuff in the water while the othe has the yabbies in it, curently trying it, works pretty well.

cheers mates,
Will


----------



## wiz-fiz (Jun 1, 2008)

how long does it take for yabbies to eat?
I fed them at around about 7:00PM and they havn't eaten the beef I gave them, do I have some fussy yabbies or should I be worried?

thanks in advance
cheers,
Will


----------



## MrHappy (Jun 1, 2008)

Like others have mentioned, they do eat meat but it will make your water smell. If they haven't eaten it yet I wouldn't give them any more. I feed mine peas (keep a frozen packet - just thaw and 'pop' the air out of them so they sink), algae discs and chook pellets (the ones with the most protein).8)


----------



## shlanger (Jun 1, 2008)

Hey Willia, yabbies are 'detritus' feeders, that means they feed on rotted broken down organic material, plant or animal, but they will eat fresh organic material as well. If you go to a local dam, and the water is clean and clear and has water weed growing in it, that generally means that the dam has fish in it, which eat the yabbies, and keep their numbers down. If the dam water is muddy and discoloured and you can't see into it, that generally means that it has yabbies and no fish. The resident yabbies constantly sift through the bottom mud looking for 'detritus' to eat and constantly muddy up the water. I assume that you are keeping your yabbies in an aquarium, there-for do not 'over feed' your yabbies as the excess food that they dont eat will go rotten and the resulting bacterial bloom will use up all the available oxygen in the water and your yabbies will die. If you 'under feed' the yabbies will get hungry and eat each other! When a yabbie sheds its skin it is very soft and is liable to be eaten by its mates if they are hungry. Carrot is good and cheap as it does not break-down so readily, but do not over feed them. Be vey careful to not over feed beef or any other meat. How do I know this? I have a Graduate Diploma in Aquaculture, that means I am a university qualified "fish/yabbie" farmer. I have also been keeping snakes for some forty years. Keep up the good work mate and dont let some of the 'know-it-all dorks' on this site, grind you down!


----------



## yeldarb (Jun 1, 2008)

hi willia6 
yabbies prefer to eat vegetable matter. but will eat meat occassionally. they only like fresh food, or pellets. if food is left in the tank to long it will polute the water. if you have it in a small tank it will need oxygen pumped in via fish tank pump, but if in a tank with a bigger surface area you may get away without the pump. as yabbies are cold blooded animals you will need to keep the temps up for there motabilism to get working. below 10 deg.C yabbies don’t feed. from 10 – 14 deg.C they feed but no noticeable growth, above 14 deg. C noticeable growth. best growth when water temperatures are between 22 – 28 deg. C. 
any way good luck with it 
cheers yeldarb


----------



## wiz-fiz (Jun 1, 2008)

OK looks like the yabbies will be in my room because I think it gets below 10C at night.
and now I know why they aren't eating the beef, it's isn't anywhere near rotting.

thanks guys and can you have a look at my propesed diet for them?

cheers,
Will


----------



## bk201 (Jun 1, 2008)

beef in the water will mess with the water conditions and could kill them.:shock:
its best to feed them vegetable matter, mine eat carrots, beans and peas, they also like frozen bloodworms and live garden worms. if you want to feed them meat its best to buy a few prawns or some white bait and chop them up and feed them it. left over food should also be removed daily.


----------



## Miss_Croft (Jun 2, 2008)

willia6 – I agree with Shlenger and would suggest avoiding feeding your crawfish (yabbies) on raw meat. As many other posters have stated – they will eat some vegetables. I believe there is a yabby pelleted food available in Australia. I remember reading an article about an Australian invention for raising yabbies, that keeps them in a bottles and feed them on pelleted food. They were keeping the yabbies in bottles to avoid cannibalism and escaping. 

Some food suggestions:
Carrot, Squash, marrow (vegetable), pumpkin. If the vegetable floats – try tying a stone to the food item to force it to skink. (Read about feeding Bristle nose catfish) . 

About temperatures – it depends on the type of yabby you have. In Australia there are crawfish from Tasmania to tropical rainforests. Each with their own specific temperature requirements. The reference was to water temperature and not air temperature. Place a thermometer in you tank and take it from there. 

Avoid putting fish with your yabbies – as they will catch and eat them. They will make a trap with their body (Like a funnel with their legs). The fish will swim into the trap, they then trap and then kill the fish. They will eat a little fish, but will leave most of the corps to rot and pollute the water. *I have witnessed a crawfish catching a perch a little bigger than itself. 

As Shlenger said – Don’t let the “Know it all dorks” and bigoted counters get you down.


----------



## Smellie (Jun 2, 2008)

My sisters have got a couple of yabbies and from time to time we feed them beef, but also those sinking fish pellets are perfectly fine for them too. Hope this helps


----------



## wiz-fiz (Jun 2, 2008)

OK, I've made up my mind.
this is the diet I will give my ybbies if it is OK for them to live on a diet like this.

monday
1 dead guppie each

tuesday
1 eight of a carrot toatal

wednesday
some baked pumpkin

thursday
hunt fish in there enclosure(optional)

friday
hunt fish in there enclosure(optional)

saturday
peas

sunday
hunt fish in there enclosure(optional)


so is that Ok for my 2 yabbies?
and how do you sex yabbies?


----------



## Ned_fisch (Jun 2, 2008)

willia6 said:


> and how do you sex yabbies?



I don't know if this is right but here goes. Males are higher in colour then females...... Correct me if im wrong.


----------



## daniel1234 (Jun 2, 2008)

FNQ_Snake said:


> Mate I used to catch yabbies with small stew beef on the end of cotton when I was a young fella. They are certain to eat beef. Go for it.


Yeh so did I. Used to like the challange rather than using a pod. Proberbly got to good at it. But I agree, stick to stuff they would find in the wild. You can buy frozen meat and stuff from aquarium shops such as beef heart, brine shrimp, worms. All proberbly cheaper than live pet fish, although I think you can buy feeder fish (or do what I did and put a male and female guppy in a lone tank (instant community!!!!).


----------



## Casey (Jun 2, 2008)

I think colour has more to do with water quality but i might be completely wrong as I'm sure someone will let me know, I had one for years who was fed mainly on vegies, snow peas carrot even fish food flakes. his tank had a filter but still got completely cleaned out reguarly. He was the brightest blue I had seen. I remember when i used to catch them out of dams they were all a dirty blue


----------



## Ned_fisch (Jun 2, 2008)

Casey, reading that, I think your totally right. But out west, this place I go to called Moonie, we get Yabbie's from there, and the one's with the eggs are alway light in colour, practicley white and the other's are a very bright blue, yet a dirty colouration to it and this water is dirty but swimable.


----------



## wiz-fiz (Jun 2, 2008)

1 has these brown dirt like camoflage spots and without them it would be clear (If thats possible) and the other has the same but the clear has a bluish tint(the bluish 1 is smaller, if that matters).


----------



## mcloughlin2 (Jun 2, 2008)

Sexing yabbies can be difficult and it really does not matter what sex they are unless you plan on breeding them. It can be done however. Males have on a pair of legs two small extensions. Females have two small holes. Hard to explain so best to google it as pictures are available. Colouring has nothing to do with it. as has been said they change colour in different water values.


----------



## FNQ_Snake (Jun 2, 2008)

The best way I was told my my grandfather was the old 3 ring circus routine. For a female, on the middle set of legs on the part where they join the body, there should be rings. A ring on each. It is hard to find, but they are there.

A male has spurs on the same spot but on the rear legs.


----------



## wiz-fiz (Jun 2, 2008)

I found this site and it says that the females have these dot things and the male have these apandages on there 4rth pair of legs.


----------



## Miss_Croft (Jun 3, 2008)

Willia6 - this should answer most of your questions on crawfish...

http://www.growfish.com.au/Grow/Files/fn082.pdf

It tells you what they feed them on in fish farms and also how to determine their sex. Hope it helps...


----------



## redbellybite (Jun 3, 2008)

will you can buy feeder fish from the petshop i can get like 10 for 6 dollars just put them in the tank with the yabbies feed the fish as you would and the yabbies will take them when they want, give them vegies as was said too but dont stress to much and yeah dont give them meat cubed as it does stink up your tank its disgusting and it can cause problems aswell ......


----------



## mattooty (Jun 4, 2008)

The males have a wart like extrusion at the base of their bottom pair of legs. the females have small bubble like dots at the base of the 3rd set of legs from the bottom. This is very easily seen on cherax destructor. We've got 6 dams on our property, 3 with yabbies, 3 with silver and golden perch. The dams without yabbies are clear, have amazing plants and are flourishing. The dams with yabbies are all murky and brown. 
I've found that when keeping yabbies in captivity that males will get territorial if they are kept in an area less than a 2ft tank. Even that is pushing it for size. 
If you're breeding them, lower the water height and stick in a fish tank heater. this will stimulate summer and get their reproductive organs going. Remove the males after the female has been in berry for a day or so. Once they drop off mum, take her out to a seperate tank. I've mostly just used tubs for the babys with a couple of rocks, and some rags tied in knots then tied to the rocks. the rags make amazing hiding places for the babies.
When you're feeding them, adult or babys, they will flourish on plant matter. boiled lettuce goes great, pea and carrots are tops and best of all is the (now noxious) fish tank weed elodia;.


----------



## Noongato (Jun 4, 2008)

Feed them a worm or two, they love them. But feed the normal earthworm, tigers and nightcrawlers are a little spicy for them.
You can get away with not feeding them at all if there is a bit of algae growing in the tank, as they generally eat the algae and keep the tank clean anyways.


----------

