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Lighting System
A light is really for our benefit, yabbies actually prefer darker conditions
but over a period of time they will become used to the artificail light. The artificial light also promotes algae
to grow on the driftwood, more about that below.
Cover
Remember if you're a yabby owner you are now the proud owner of an escape
artist. The cover is required to keep your new pet in. Crayfish are pretty strong and if the cover is not fitted
securely your little buddy will go walkies. A real benefit of the cover is that it stops alot of harmful everyday
chemicals getting into the tank. Flyspray for example.
Water Tank
The glass water tank should be about two foot/60cm long for a yabby.
You can use smaller tanks, but the two foot size is just ideal for one, two or three yabbies. Yabbies are territorial,
that means they like to have their own space.
Driftwood
This is a yabby keepers secret. When you get your yabby go to your local
creek or stream and get a piece of driftwood, that's wood that has been in the water for a long time. Keep the
wood wet and bring it home and put it in your tank. Now why bother, well you now have a natural food source, the
wood will be cover in tiny little plants and animals, they are microscopic (tiny). The yabby actually will graze
of this piece of wood because he can have a never ending smorgasboard.
Hideout
Yabbies can become stressed and a stressed yabby won't live very long.
So a hidout gives him or her piece of mind. In the wild your yabby would have a territory and a burrow, this is
the next best thing. A piece of poly pipe is ideal.
Gravel
Gravel is important, your yabby will spend alot of time pushing around
the gravel looking for food. If the gravel is too big it won't work as a filter, if it's too fine it won't breath
and could become toxic.
Rocks
These are not just for show, the yabby will enjoy pushing them around,
bigger rocks can be used to make a hideout for your yabby.
Air pump
Buy a good airpump, they're not that expensive and it's better to have
more air than not enough. So why do we need an airpump. The water in the tank holds a balance of gases. When the
yabby breathes through its gills (like a fish) it extracts oxygen from the water which is one of these gases. To
keep the balance correct air is pumped through the water. The little bubbles you see rising in the tank do their
job when they break at the water surface. This breaking exchanges the carbon gases into the atmosphere which in
turn allows clean oxygen from the air to get back into the water. Sounds complicated but its pretty simple bad
gas out good gas in.
Under Gravel Filter
There is a suction effect when you use an undergravel filter, the airflow
pulls contaminated material down to the bottom of the tank, under the gravel to the under gravel filter. This works
very effectively and helps to keep the water clean. There is one draw back, to clean the filter is a big job. Water
quality is extremely important for keeping yabbies or fish.
Box Filter
The box filter is very effective and unlike the under gravel filter,
very easy to clean. Material like cotton wool is inside the filter. When this material gets dirty it is easily
replaced.
For more information you can always email Dave
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