Red-claw crabs

[cocojo]

:D
HI. I am brand new to this site and to having an aquarium. My husband was in a pet store and decided the little crabs were cool enough to buy. Well, now we have these, and a couple aquariums, (the number of aquariums seems to be growing, he loves the whole experience), and we don't know just what environment they really need. Or what exactly to feed them. Some sites say one thing, and others, another. ANYONE have some good experience with red claw crabs, and a halloween crab? Any help would be soooo appreciated. (Plus my husband will love me even more if i keep his crabs healthy!! :)
THANKS FOR YOUR HELP!

[elgecko]

I have some Red Claw Crabs I bought back in Jan. they are doing great. I found little information on these guys, so I made my own website with lots of information.
http://www.geocities.com/elgecko1989/crab.html

[Toro Driver]

The red claws are neat and mischevious. Make sure there is no way for them to get out of your tank or they will. They can survive a couple of hours outside of the tank-no more. I feed mine predetor tablets, they love them. They will also control your snails. If you have any fish that disapear, look in the crabs favorite hiding spot. They won't kill them but if they die they will drag them into a hiding spot and eat them.

[Shaun]

Hi
My son also acquired a red clawed crab and we had little info about them. We did pick up bits and pieces but as said earlier he can climb any plant or wire and does attempt to escape. We provided a piece of clean cork tile attached to the heater wire near the light source (floating on surface so not visible from outside). This became his favourite place (still wanders the tank but returns to bask in the extra warmth) and also allowed us to feed different foods without tank pollution. This varied from raw fish finger (or any frozen fish that could be sliced to size before thawing) to prawns and algi pellets. He seems to be doing well and has shed his shell and is growing well. However we now have a problem he seems to like fresh fish and during the last week has been found on the bottom with the remains of two dannios and a small tiger barb. The remains of the fish were (what was left) in good condition and were prior to turning out the light good and healthy. I have seen him having a go at the pleck but it just swims off and he lets go. So I would advise against keeping with small fish (or keep the light on).

[dave76]

I purchased a red clawed crab and my family was instantly enamored with it. It was very amusing to watch, he would steal algae wafers away from my pleco when he was eating them, and you do have to watch them they will climb anything they can. I found one of mine on top of one of my power heads. we got two more right after we got the first one, they proceeded to set up territories and defend them, leading to the eventual death of the other two crabs. After the crab dispatched the other two crabs he started on the fish, killing 5 tigerbarbs before we finally had to remove him. they like to pick off fish that go dormant when the lights go out (tigerbarbs). I am surprised that they could catch a danio, it must have been either really slow or really stupid.

[Toro Driver]

Just one more thing on these little guys. On a different thread about snails someone asked if I left an air space for my crabs. According to my experiance and the site I purchased my crabs from they are truly aquatic. It is my experiance that they only try to escape when I don't provide plenty of food. Here is the site with good info on them. http://*****************/catalog_pages/misc_critters/crabs.htm#top2

[thom336]

There was a thread on here recently about RCC's...

http://aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10759

[RENEGADE]

RCC need to come up for air but i don't know about others

[dave76]

fiddlers need to come up for air not RCC.

[bizzy928]

Originally posted by Shaun
Hi
. We provided a piece of clean cork tile attached to the heater wire near the light source (floating on surface so not visible from outside). This became his favourite place (still wanders the tank but returns to bask in the extra warmth) and also allowed us to feed different foods without tank pollution.

Where did you get your cork tile from? And what does it look like?

Thank you!

[bizzy928]

Originally posted by dave76
fiddlers need to come up for air not RCC.

RCC's AND Fiddler crabs need air.

[Shaun]

Hi
Sorry about the delay but all our lines have been down. The cork floor tiles were all the rage a few years back and I still had a few from doing the bathroom. Over here they sell them in hardware stores but buying a pack for a crab would be expensive (try asking for a sample). You could ask around your friends they may have one if they ever tried cork floors. Other than that all I could suggest is a piece of polystyrene unless this poisons to tanks?

[bizzy928]

Thank you! I will check my local hardware store!

[05dr]

realistically how large of a fish could a RCC hurt or kill?

[RENEGADE]

tetra would be a easy kill if it wasn't fast enough

[05dr]

how about 2-3.5 in. dwarf cichlids?

[RENEGADE]

how big is the crab? from what i have heard they won't go after fish bigger then them(most of the time) but i had a RCC and 3 neon tetras. the tetras were fast enough that i had no problems. what you have to worry about is when there asleep.

[05dr]

has anyone out there actually kept a RCC with any form of cichlid? thanks

[elgecko]

I have never kept any with cichlids.
About size of fish and catching, I can just say that I was really worried because I placed 2 RCC with 4 Bumblebee Gobies. The gobies are bottom dwellers and small in size, but I have not had any problems with my crabs trying to catch them. I keep the crabs well fed with sinking brine shrimp pellets and other wafers. I also throw trimmings of my plants in with them, which the crabs eat in no time.

[dave76]

the RCC's are teritorial and spend most of thier time defending thier territory from the other crab. If one of them dies look out, your fish will be a target. As soon as my second one died my fish started disapearing.