Mixed Roach colony?? Can you do it?

[T-chick]

I thought I was getting 20 or so dubia, but instead I am getting 50 lobster roaches...
I have a small colony of discoids, about 30 or so.. and there is a person who had dubia for sale in my area...
My question is.. can I keep them all in the same rubbermaid tote?
I can move my 30 to a smaller container, and put vaseline to keep the lobsters in.. But I would rather keep them all together, one feeding/water/gut load area.
But can I do a mixed colony of 3 different species?
Or should I get another tote and keep the lobsters separate?
They will be shipped tomorrow, so I need to get on this...

ALso I put screens in my tote for my discoids, and hot glue gunned them in place. One on the side, and three on the lid. If I move my discoids out, should I put vaseline around the screen on the side?

T-chick:?

 

[slimtim454]

I bought some hissers from a local pet store that kept lobster roaches and hisser together. They actually interbred with eachother.

 

[Stylopidae]

I bought some hissers from a local pet store that kept lobster roaches and hisser together. They actually interbred with eachother.

No, they didn't.

I keep my dubia and my discoids in with each other. Some roaches make good tankmates, and some don't.

Lobsters tend to out-compete basically anything else in the tank.

I usually reccomend mixed colonies need to have similar nutritional and care requirements and be basically the same size.

 

[Brad Ramsey]

I am very sceptical of the Lobster/Hisser Hybrid myself.
I would keep lobsters seperate but agree that Dubias and discoids can
live together.....and they will interbreed.

-Brad

 

[jmhendric]

I keep mine seperate personally. Besides after awhile your whole colony would end up hybrids. And I like to offer variety in the diets of my reptiles and T's by feeding the diff species of roach. Also I would not keep climbers with burrowing species would make it a pain to try and clean the tubs out.

 

[cacoseraph]

good heavens

different species of blaberus can hybridize... but lobs and hissers are worlds appart. they might try to breed with each other (which would look funny, get pics of it!) but they won't produce get, almost certainly

like a few of the other ppl have said... lobs would eventually out produce (not necesarily outcompete unless you were only giving limited food and water) the other species.

once again, there is no real chance that Blaptica, Blaberus, and Gromphadorhina will hybridize with eachother

Eublaberus posticus is NOT a good species to mix in, incidentily. they tend to eat other roaches =P