Do you have an aquatic turtle and want to have a crayfish too? or do you have a crayfish and want to have a turtle?, if yes, you might be wondering if you could keep them together in the same tank or different tanks. Are you wondering if both of them could corporate, live together and be fine in the same tank? well, this article is for you.
Can turtles and crayfish live together? Turtles and crayfish cannot live together in the same tank. This is because turtles love eating crayfish.
Turtle is an omnivore animal and does eat things like plants, leaves, and small creatures like snails, crayfish etc, so keeping crayfish with turtles in the same tank is very risky and disheartening, as the turtle will eventually feast on the crayfish.
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Therefore, neither turtles, crayfish, crab nor shrimp can make good tank mates.
Although this depends greatly on the size of the turtle and size of the crayfish or lobster because a small or juvenile turtle cannot be able to eat a big crayfish or crab.
But nevertheless, it is very risky to keep turtle or turtles in a crayfish tank, despite the turtle’s size.
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Infact you should not do it if you love your crayfish, no matter how small the turtle might seems to be because it will eventually grow, and the more it grow, the more threat it pose to the crayfish, no matter how big the crayfish might seems to be, because it will eventually be eaten by the turtle.
Can Crayfish Kill or Hurt Turtle?
Crayfish have great and strong claws which it use to defend itself and also hunt for foods, but the great question is, ‘ Can they hurt or even kill turtles?
Can crayfish kill turtle? Crayfish can neither hurt nor kill a turtle. Turtle is greatly protected by it’s shell which renders the crayfish claws and pinches harmless on turtles.
Although crawfish is a great predator on it’s own, but it preys on smaller or far more weaker creatures, such as some fishes, etc, but when it comes to turtle, crayfish becomes harmless and a prey itself to turtle because turtle is far more stronger and larger than it, so crayfish cannot kill nor hurt a turtle.
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Another thing you might be wondering is, ‘what if the turtle is just a baby, can a full grown crayfish kill or harm it?.
Well in this case, neither the baby turtle nor the grown up crayfish could be able to harm each other.
Remember, turtles at what-ever age they might be are still covered with shell, this do prevent crayfish from harming turtles, no matter what age turtles might be.
So can you keep a grown crayfish with baby turtle?, Yes you can, but it is not advisable to keep them for long because the turtle will not always be a baby and the crayfish will not always be too big for it to eat.
Another reason why it’s too dangerous and unadvisable to keep these creatures together is due to the fact that both of them are bottom dwellers, and only goes to the surface occasionally, so keeping them together will give the crayfish no chance to escape, as both likes to stay at the bottom, and crayfish itself is a slow swimmer while turtle is both faster and much bigger, so it cannot harm a turtle, instead, it will become a prey to the turtle.
I have read many comments on forums where some people are recommending keeping both of these aquatic creatures together by providing them a tank that is big enough. Well, it might work to some extent, but I don’t and won’t recommend such.
It is still a risky thing to attempt because certainly, one must get to the other, and you might lose your precious crayfish pet because turtle loves eating them and will do anything to get to them!
