# Yabbies



## mcloughlin2 (Sep 4, 2007)

Anyone have some of these? I'm talking about the cherux destructor not the feeder yabbies you buy from LFS etc. 

I have 3 that were hand picked from a bunch of 25 nicely coloured ones. One is your regular grey with blue, one is completely blue and the other is grey with a pink tinge. They have awesome character and love watching them hunt down the tiny feeder goldfish. (That are housed in the tank for display purposes only of course :lol

Post some pictures if you have any. I will take some as soon as the camera is charged. I'm also keen to buy some nicely coloured blue yabbies if you have any. PM me if you do.

Sam


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## bouncn (Sep 4, 2007)

I had a crab once. It was great, but he gradually ate all my fish. Amazing how they catch their food.


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## RevDaniel (Sep 4, 2007)

A couple of years back i went to this property when i was looking to buy a house. It said that their was a dam full of yabbies. WE got given the address and told to drive their alone, i went there but brought string along with meat. Brought home a heap of yabbies and sold them to the local pet shop. I somehow convinced them that they where Russian Yabbies


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## hornet (Sep 4, 2007)

a blue cherax destructor? All i have found have been the normal tan color.


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## hornet (Sep 4, 2007)

this is what i always find. http://www.ryanphotographic.com/images/JPEGS/Cherax destructor Yabby 2.jpg also found this. just amazing. http://www.canadiancrayfish.ca/images/cherax_destructor.jpg


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## bredli84 (Sep 4, 2007)

i used to have 2 bright blue ones as pets when i was a kid. sadly they died after a couple of weeks, im not sure if that was due to the way they were kept or if they were sick when i got them.
oneday i might get some more after doing some proper research.


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## bredli84 (Sep 4, 2007)

i was told that they are all bright blue if raised in clear, clean water. but that was by the same person who sold them to me and explained how to keep them, so maybe not the most reliable source.

EDIT: here is a link to some info if anyone is interested.
http://images.google.com.au/imgres?...ies&start=40&ndsp=20&svnum=10&um=1&hl=en&sa=N


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## mines bigger (Sep 5, 2007)

i had one of them, unfortunatly he got eaten the other night juring his moult, they are really cool pets and i have never had the problem wih them eating my fish..


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## Wolfgang (Sep 5, 2007)

I've got a bunch of them in a spare tank at the moment, they are the offspring of feeders I'd bought for my cichlids and turtles. Parents were originally the muddy tan colour, but keeping them in clear clean and well aerated water they all turn bright blue. I've seen blue yabbies being sold for $30 each while the tan coloured ones got for about $1.00....dont get conned, get the muddy yabbies and watch them turn blue within a couple of moults.


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## herptrader (Sep 5, 2007)

I think yabbies (and other freshwater crays found in Australia) make great pets.

The colour will vary the moults and how they are kept. In an aquarium I think most yabbies will eventually turn a light blue.

When they molt do not remove the shed shell as they need to eat this to maintain a healthy shell.

We bought some feeder yabbies for our turtles a couple of years back. I thought the turtles had hunted them all down. (Our turtles seemed to go from cute and playful to trained assassins when there was yabbies around.) A while back when cleaning the pond filter I found about 20 tiny yabbies quite happily living in the ponds biological filter.


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## -Peter (Sep 5, 2007)

I used to buy them from the fish market, You pay a per kilo price and they are alive. Most made the transition to the pond.


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## fuegan13 (Sep 5, 2007)

kinda off topic but has anyone seen mantis shrimp (american name i know) they are saltwater but they are amazing, they can break the glass of a fish tank with their tail


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## RevDaniel (Sep 5, 2007)

Many years ago when i worked at the carlton crest hotel Sydney they had a couple of foam boxes full of live yabbies. I took a heap home and swapped them at another petshop for rats which i fed to my snakes


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## JasonL (Sep 5, 2007)

-Peter said:


> I used to buy them from the fish market, You pay a per kilo price and they are alive. Most made the transition to the pond.



I used to get them from the fish market too, only mine turned bright red, I used boiling water, then put them on a fresh roll with a touch of mayo, mmmmm!


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## leighroyaus (Sep 5, 2007)

i get them from a local breeder here, 50cents each, feed them to me croc and also use em for fishing, great eating too


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## lilmissrazz (Sep 5, 2007)

ok heres my black destructor and my female red claw (obviously not kept together) the female has just been let back into the normal tank with the other male redclaw....took her out of the hatch tank which is now full of baby redclaws.


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## Obrien (Sep 5, 2007)

i had a yabbie not too long ago he only had one claw we caught him in a pond like 2 minuites away from us. He died when i got him looked after by my uncle and aunties but the thing i found is you have to have a filter which i didnt otherwise they absolutly STINK and you have to change the water alot. Obviously i wasnt prepaired for a yabbie lol but he was fun to watch.


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## lilmissrazz (Sep 5, 2007)

lol thats sucks obrien... i havent changed the water in my tanks since like... may ..... they dont stink but i guess its coz i have filters etc lol they are use to neglect to a certain degree


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## boconnor (Sep 5, 2007)

The Lamington NP spiny crays would look good in an aquarium but obviously can't take them out of the NP. Caught a few by hand out of the creeks there to photograph, all the other crays I get now end up in the belly of the mertens.


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## Rocket (Sep 5, 2007)

At the recent 'Gawler Show,' there was a Yabbie and Crayfish Exhibitor and he had one on display labelled 'Electric Blue- $80.' and boy, was it blue!?!

I catch them all the time, although, I dont keep them...... or eat them for that matter!


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## lilmissrazz (Sep 6, 2007)

80 bucks ... tell him he's dreamin! lol


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## Viridae (Sep 6, 2007)

I used to have a couple. A HUGE muddy blue one (talking over half a foot in length) and a small black one.


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## cris (Sep 6, 2007)

The really blue ones like in the pic above are blue marron.
The destructors can also be very blue but nothing like the solid bright blue of the marron.

I have been keeping them for years and have never known one to catch a healthy fish.

I would really like to get some of the smaller species but havnt ever caught any before.


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## Radar (Sep 6, 2007)

Yeah, I had a pair of blue marrons a few years ago, but don't know that much about crayfish so thought I was just dupped into buying a normal yabbie kept in clean water till it turned blue.
Thanks for straightening that out for me, chris, LOL. 

I Havent seent them for sale in any T'ville petshops for years now......does anyone round here know of any? :?


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## sengir (Sep 6, 2007)

I understand that the change of colours in a yabbie are not so much to do with colour of water but with oxygen levels, the higher the oxygen levels the brighter the colour, they range from dirty brown to bright blue, thru to a deep purple at the highest oxygen levels, give it a go you would be amazed dirty water lots of oxygen bright blue yabbies.

CHeers


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## Magpie (Sep 6, 2007)

You can turn yabbies into the bright blue by keeping them in a white clay pond.
I catch quite a few redclaw, they also tend to go bright red, they do stink if you leave them for a few days though.
boconnor, I agree I wouldn't mind some spiny crays.


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## Radar (Sep 6, 2007)

Whats the best way to oxygenate the water, like supersaturate it, so to speak? Just plenty of airstones, a 'cascade' filter and some plants (with ample light)? You guys have got me all interested in the aquatic stuff again, lol.


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## Wolfgang (Sep 6, 2007)

rednut said:


> Whats the best way to oxygenate the water, like supersaturate it, so to speak? Just plenty of airstones, a 'cascade' filter and some plants (with ample light)? You guys have got me all interested in the aquatic stuff again, lol.




A decent aquarium filter that will agitate (ripples) the surface is all you need- I use a 500lph hang on back....that's all that airstones do as well, it's not the bubbles in the water but the agitated surface where the oxygen transfer occurs.


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## Radar (Sep 6, 2007)

Cool, there's a new five foot tank in the house from about chrissy time, so I might have to try and colour up a few crays. Thanks wolfgang.


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## bjbk18 (Oct 26, 2007)

I got this one today. He is great to watch. Only $8 and around 15cm - 20cm. Looks like his lost a nipper, as the other one is alot bigger.


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## mightymike (Jan 8, 2008)

I had a blue maron!! looks stunning!!! great to watch, but he started to eat all my fish so i swapped him for some other fish!


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