Shhh... Be vewy qwuit, I'm Huntin Cwayfish!

[lawfish]

Hey All:

Nancy, you asked how Tralfaz catches crayfish. So, I am posting these pics of Tralfaz hunting a crayfish.

In Crayfish4.jpg He has just pounced on the crayfish (Sorry its a bit blurry, but he moves really fast when he strikes).

In Crayfish7.jpg Tralfaz is holding the crayfish away from himself while it struggles. Note that he holds the individual pinchers with his suckers so that they cannot injure him. (I think that this is when he envenomates them).

In Crayfish9.jpg the crayfish has been subdued (after about 1 minute) and Tralfaz is taking it back to his "lair" for a little mid-afternoon snack.

So as you can see bimacs seem to instinctually know how to subdue crayfish without being injured. (I assume that they learned this from hunting lobster and crab because crayfish are not present in their natural habitat). Tralfaz loves crayfish so much that anything else that I try to feed him he throws back in my face (and I mean Throws. ) He now completely ignores the 4 or 5 shrimp that live in the tank and, in fact, they make a meal out of his leftovers. Sometimes they even come up and feed while he is sitting within inches of them.

Anyway, I would not be afraid to try giving your bimac some crayfish if you can get them.

George

 

[Nancy]

Hi George,

Great series of photos. Tralfaz has come a long way - now he's a mighty hunter!

Guess I'll see if I can find a crawfish for Ollie to munch on.

Thanks for all the info!

Nancy

 

[stevesfish]

wow, those are awesome! i just tried to do the same, but Tom & Jerry are so small still i didn't do as well.

 

[squirt]

crayfish

Im new. I also fed my bimac some crayfish. He loved them and would eat as many as I threw in. This went on untill I only caught one really big crayfish. Thought Id throw it in and see how he did. Without hesitation squirt attacked. It was humorous to see because the crayfish didnt really know what to do. This thing half his size stuck to him. Squirt tried valiently but when the crayfish finally realized that this little ball of mush was attacking him and fought back. One pinch was enough to discourage squirt and scare me enough to take out the beast. But it is true. The next few times Id attempt to feed squirt fish he'd attack but realizing it wasnt crayfish would let it go