What Do Crayfish and Crawfish Eat? Complete Diet Guide

Last updated: June 2026

Call them crayfish, crawfish, or crawdads — they all eat the same stuff. Omnivores with no table manners. In a tank or a backyard pond, give them plant matter, protein, and calcium. Here is what actually works, no fluff.

Important: Juveniles need more protein than adults — up to 30-35% in their diet for fast growth. Adults do fine with 10-15% protein from varied sources. I feed my adults protein once or twice a week, juveniles every other day

What Do Crayfish Eat In The Wild?

If you keep them in an outdoor pond, the menu changes. They will hunt mosquito larvae, worms, small frogs, eat decaying leaves, and scavenge dead fish. But do not rely on the pond alone. Skip the pellets, and they will turn your pond plants into salad and start eating each other. I’ve seen it happen.

Before we jump into the discussion of crayfish feeding preferences in aquariums, I need to start off with the general description of what they eat in nature. This information will help us to better understand their feeding requirements.

Crayfish inhabit freshwater streams, rivers, and swamps where they actively explore muddy bottoms due to their inability to swim to the water surface. The lower levels of these habitats are characterized by the presence of a soft or muddy substrate, ample rocks, green plants, and fast water currents.

There’s no denying that living in such a rich environment would most likely grant them access to various food sources.

Decaying Matter

Crayfish are omnivores, feeds on decaying matter, and that can be said to be their primary diet in the wild. These consist of decomposing animals and decaying plants which are easy to shred with their large, sharp claws.

Green Matter

Apart from the consumption of decaying plant and animal matter, these crustaceans will source for other food items accessible within their habitat. Of course, they seem to appreciate the green matter, so they will feast on live plants, algae, biofilm  attached to rocks and twigs, as well as detritus and the worms living on and in the substrate.

Animal Matter

Since Crayfish are not strong swimmers, these critters can only seek out and consume food that sinks to the bottom of the waters they live in.

These animals are most active at night, thus they will scout for smaller sized animals such as:

• insect larvae,
• worms,
• tadpoles,
• small frogs,
• snails,
• dwarf shrimp,
• small fish are not left out.

Surprisingly, these decapods may engage in cannibalism of conspecifics to survive when overcrowded and/or other food sources are unavailable.

Basically, crayfish won’t hesitate to grasp the prey with their strong claws if it is within their reach. As we can see, crayfish will eat almost anything they come across.

However, does it meant that we can give them whatever we like or that we should not care about their diet?

No, it does not!

Some food can be more beneficial than others. So, if we know the specific nutritional requirements of the crayfish species we keep and the peak period of nutrient intake, we will be equipped to plan for their feeding for optimal nutritional benefits, which will result in a happy pet. 

What Do Crayfish Eat In The Aquarium?

Having discussed what crayfish eat in their native environment, let’s look at what they eat in the aquarium.

Therefore, unless you are ready to buy some cheap plants you are willing to lose, it will be better to focus on floating plants or fake plants.

First, before you go about considering likely food options for your pet crayfish, it’s appropriate to establish a healthy and optimal environment that closely replicates the conditions of their natural habitat.

However, when you start creating their new home, you should also understand some limitations because it may be directly correlated with their feeding preferences.

Plants

In the wild, many crayfish species are found in dense vegetation. However, if you decide to put your crayfish in planted tanks, it will be a huge mistake!

As I have already mentioned earlier, many crayfish species will eat, cut, and uproot any plant in the tank. In the aquarium, crayfish become lawnmowers.

Plants are a delicacy to crayfish; they will often eat and cause damage to the plants due to their destructive nature. That’s why experienced aquarists that own planted aquariums tend to shy away from crayfish.

Floating plants will be a good choice for crayfish tanks. They simply will not be able to get them, so you should not have a problem.

Manufactured Foods

There are diverse food sources for crayfish, and it is vital to offer them a varied diet that is composed of animal and plant matter to ensure they get all the nutrients (protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals) needed to thrive.

Ideal food sources include the popular Dry pellet foods and Frozen foods. These are commercially prepared, high-quality foods that contain high amounts of protein & vitamins and sink down to the bottom of the aquarium.

In this regard, sinking shrimp pellets and fish foods are very much acceptable by crayfish.

Good examples of these are:

• API Fish Food flakes,
• Dennerle Shrimp King Cambarellus,
• Frozen blood worms,
• Shrimp Granules
• Hikari Shrimp Cuisine,
• Hikari Tropical Crab Cuisine.

Live Foods

You can also serve small live foods like shrimp, snails, worms, and feeder fish, these are good food options for crayfish since they like to utilize their instincts to capture live prey.

Note: Crayfish are not adapted for efficient hunting. Therefore, live food should be considered only as supplement feeding.

Related articles:

• Can You Keep Crayfish With Other Fish?
• 15+ Live Food Options for Aquarium Fish

What about vegetables?

Those are ideal too and rich in vitamins, crayfish love vegetables like cabbage, lettuce, spinach, carrot as well as shelled peas and small bits of fruits.

Additionally, since these inverts like to eat decaying vegetation, you can serve them your leftover veggies that are about to go bad and they will gobble it down within a day.

Some crayfish species seem to have an appetite for algae. So it shouldn’t be surprising to occasionally see them having a go at algae growing on rocks and wood in your tank. They will also make a meal out of the shoots of your live plants.

Related article:

• How to Blanch Cucumbers and Zucchini for Shrimp, Snails, and Fish the Right Way

List of Suggested Foods

What to actually feed them (cheat sheet):

Calcium Is Not Optional

Crayfish molt to grow. After molting, they need calcium to harden the new shell. No calcium = failed molts = death.

Do not rely on random fish flakes. Many generic fish foods contain copper sulfate as a preservative. Copper kills crustaceans. Also, they do not have enough minerals that crayfish need.

Instead: drop a piece of cuttlebone or a mineral stone in the tank. They will graze on it when they need it. Cheap, simple, works.

Related articles:

• Crayfish and Molting Process
• How to Supplement Shrimp and Snails with Calcium

How Often and How Much Should You Feed Crayfish?

These inverts do not need to be fed large amounts of food to thrive. Offer your adult pet crayfish food in small bits or pieces every day or two to prevent it from starving and picking on tankmates.

However, young crayfish, we should feed every day. They need a lot of food to grow and molt.

In most cases, juveniles or young crayfish will eat the same meals as adult crayfish, to foster development; be sure to feed them every single day without skips. With juveniles, you can give them more, just do not forget to remove all leftovers.

According to some crayfish farms’ recommendations, the amount of food required for each individual is up to 5% of its weight.

Well, in home conditions, the optimal dose is usually determined empirically. When you target feed, ensure that the pieces of food served are no more than 1/2 of the crayfish carapace. This should be the ideal size for all protein-rich food items you plan to feed the crayfish, whether meat cubes, shrimp, etc.

Tip: If you see that crayfish do not come to the food as fast as it used to, it simply means that it is not very hungry. Therefore, you can change your schedule to 3 times a week.

Crayfish do not eat fast. So, you can leave their food in the tank for 10-12 hours before removing it.

Just make sure that whatever they do not consume in one day is removed to prevent fouling the water.

Food Variations

Some aquarists stick to one food product and give it all the time.

This is wrong. Please, do not do that.

Considering their lifespan, imagine yourself eating the same food for years!

Ideally, you need to have at least 2-3 different types of products to vary. It will give your crayfish more vitamins to improve their immune system and prevent molting problems.

Optimal Feeding Time

Although some individuals do not mind be active even in the daytime, generally, crayfish are nocturnal animals. Their feeding activity increases at night (a few hours after the onset of darkness).

So, keep in mind that they may ignore the food till it’s night-time when they are more active.

For best results, give them food before nightfall. It will replicate the conditions and environment under which they eat naturally.

Overfeeding and Underfeeding

Overfeeding is a HUGE PROBLEM. Here is why:

• Uneaten food can quickly decompose and cause an outbreak of infections and parasites. If you are overfeeding your crayfish there is a very high chance that Planaria, Hydra, and other unwelcomed parasites will visit your tank one day.
• It can crash your nitrogen cycle. Ammonia and nitrates are caused mostly by an excess of food and organic waste. Therefore, you need to check how much you are feeding the crayfish.

Be consistent and don’t overfeed them. This is a universal rule and it concerns all crayfish species.

This matters.

Unfortunately, a lot of beginner crayfish keepers usually forget about it or believe that it is not a big deal to give their pets a little bit more.

That is why I have to repeat – remove uneaten food at least after 24 hours to prevent it from dissolving and ruining the water quality. If your pet crayfish is not eating the food provided at a given time, try switching it to another food item, and observe its reaction. When they still don’t want to eat, check the water parameters to be sure that the values are right.

At the same time, these crustaceans will exhibit their cannibalistic side when they don’t get enough food to eat, so make sure to maintain regular feeding schedules. They may even emerge from their hideouts at specific periods to eat, this is behavior they tend to adopt over time if the fishkeeper sticks to a particular feeding time every day.

Crayfish Species: What You Actually Need to Know

Most guides overcomplicate this. Here is the real difference:

The golden rule: Dwarf species (Cambarellus) are usually safe with plants and small tank mates. Large species will eat everything — plants, fish, snails, each other. Feed juveniles extra protein or they will cannibalize. I have seen it with my own clarkii.

The bottom line

Crayfish are easy to feed. They eat almost anything — pellets, vegetables, worms, dead fish. But easy does not mean careless.

Vary their diet. Give them calcium. Do not overfeed. Remove leftovers after 24 hours. And for the love of your plants, do not put a large crayfish in a planted tank unless you want a lawnmower.

Feed them right, and they will live 3–5 years without molting problems or mysterious deaths. Feed them wrong, and you will learn the hard way — like I did.

Related articles:

• Introduction to the Crayfish Care – Setup, Diet, and Facts
• How to Set Up a Crayfish Tank