Silvers and Yabbies

Borby

Would be interested to hear of other peoples experiences in having the two of these together in the same tank.
My tank - 1500L
Yabbies - 5 (one with berries)
Goldfish - 4
Silvers - yet to be introduced

I have put some different sized PVC in the base for the Yabbies and so far they seem to be happy.

Zman

If the fish are healthy they should be able to outrun the yabbies. I have had silvers and goldies and yabbies in the same tank with no issues.

earthbound

Might want to put in something like a crunched up onion bag so there's little hidey holes for the young ones..

Charlie

Been there and tried it all.

Fish eat small yabbies and big yabbies eat whatever fish they can get their claws on. And yabbies eat yabbies.

IMO the death to harvest ratio isnt worth it. You can run into problems if anything that has died is left un-noticed or bits of carcass clogs your pump etc.

On the other hand, marron are perfect, just dont give them anything to climb up or they will escape.

BNDYBEAR

in my experience I had a couple of yabbies in a tank with a few SP and yes if the SP are too small or the yabbies are big enough they will catch the odd few. I watched as a SP swam into one of the hides that my big yabbie loved to hide and that was the end of him. lost many more the same way.
keep yabbies seperate to fish unless fish are big enough to eat yabbies.

Borby

Charlie,

Can you please bestow the virtues of Marron over Yabbies in this situation? As for their climbing abilities I hear that they are experts. What determines an escape proof tank? Side walls, pump retic to grow bed...?

Can Marron be put with other fish?

Looks like I have five yabbies to off-load. :support:

chillidude

Off-load ??? How about eat ?

Charlie

Sorry for slow reply Borby. :wave1:

Unlike yabbies, marron aren't as terratorial. They also are not a burrowing crustacean nor need to create a home or hiding hole to live, although overcrowding would create issues as is for any species of anything. In my experience this is where the problems arise with yabbies, they are extremely terratorial and agressive. You can get small numbers to live well and for a long time but you have to constantly keep an eye on things.

If you count out dam farming where yabbies can burrow and cohabitate quite well the only other successful yabbie farming is ECD (extreme density cells) where yabbies are packed into tiny cells without any room to move for there entire lifespan. This type of farming IMO is cage farming at its greatest and a disgrace. But the demand overseas is huge and this is how they do it successfully on a commercial level.

If you want yabbies, keep them in a sump tank.

To stop marron escaping you need a cover of some kind over your FT whether it be mesh, net or hard cover.

:thumbleft:

Borby

Thanks very much for the information Charlie. I will investigate putting my yabbies into my fish pond - from what I saw at BYAP there was not aeration needed with the water plus my gold fish have lived happily in these conditions for some time.

Charlie, are marron still as easy to feed...what ever floats to the bottom of the tank, and how many would you recommend for my tank with 25 silvers keeping them company and would you leave in PVC piping in the bottom of the tank for the marron to hang out in?

As for eating them Chillidude...they are only measuring around 80 - 100mm (tail to head) so would not be worth the effort yet though the thought did cross my mind.

Thanks again for your help!

BullwinkleII

I've been thinking about putting some small yabbies [or even glass shrimp] into my NFT tubes (Not really NFT as I run them deep, more like constant flood. I want something to eat the roots coming out of the pots

I've been testing the idea with scissors, and it seems to be working.

I chose two strawberry plants living side by side, and trimmed one's roots every week or two for the last 2 months. They have the same number of leaves, but trimmed root's ones are a little smaller (no fruit on either yet). If I get smaller plants and smaller strawberries, I might be able to simply grow more plants and pack the holes tighter together. But if bonsi plants are anything to go by, often the fruit is big (and looks kind of stupid), so it might all work out.

Who knows. But if it works I wont want to be cutting the roots all the time, so a yabby or two might be just the ticket

Charlie

You may find your 5 yabbies will be ok in with the perch (Im not writing it off completely). There are many fellow APers that have had success to a degree but obviously it comes down to stocking levels and the habitat you create for them, just keep an eye on things. You'll find that the females eggs will all become SP dinner for sure as thay are so light even after hatching that they fly about the tank as fish swim past.

I have had success to a point but if your looking at raising a decent batch to harvest you will be disapointed as losses are ineviedable, thats where sumps or seperate tanks are good as they are easier to control and issues can be found with little fuss and numbers can be monitored. I have experimented with all kinds of pipes, tubes, gutters, rocks, plants etc to create a complex habitat so to keep them busy and happy and seems to work well but the amount of time Ive looked in to see them feasting on a silver or each other kinda gets frustrating.

Marron will feed the same as yabbies. Bottom feeders. Your stocking level will depend on the surface area of your FT so a pic would help me on a recommendation. They will keep your tank clean and give them some pipe or something to live in for sure.

Bull, it will depend on how fast your water is running, it doesnt take much to sweep them off their feet, especially if standing on smooth plastic. Just take that into consideration or thay will all end up jammed up in your pipework or further.

Zman

Can we get Marron in NSW?

Charlie

You can get redclaw (C. quadricarinatus), in northern queensland which I think have migrated to NSW.

Borby

Charlie, before I go down the line of getting rid of my yabbies and getting some marron (maybe only a couple as I primarily only want them in there to clean up the bottom of the tank), will the marron also get hassled and attacked by the silvers as the silvers get bigger?

By the way thanks for the in-depth responses!

Here is a picture of my new system.

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