Bought 4 of these bad boys today!

COOL! :headbang2:

They will eat pretty much anything . The only problems you may have is that they are teritorial but, as long as they all have their own place to hide you should be ok. You MAY need to give them some supplimental iodine to assist them in molting but, probably not.
Cool critters
Max

They need brackish water to survive. If they're kept in freshwater they'll only live for a short time and will have problems molting.

dead in under 3 months without brackish and some dry land

definately need dry land... but I've been on the fence as to the information available in terms of their brackish needs. I have kept one in fresh water since april now... and I've got a brackish tank getting set up for him, but they are found in nature in a variety of places, both fresh and brackish water. I think generally speaking, they benefit from brackish water.

they also have a varied diet... mine love blood worms, but also love terrestrial mosses and anubias, peas, pineapple, algae, bugs...

I think one of the most important things for them are tight caves. In nature they will dig burrows in sand, in my aquarium they use holes in drift wood and tight spaces between rocks to hide in for extended periods, especially during moulting. they are territorial and will fight each other over space... and will go after fish nearby, but seem way too slow to catch anything. I currently keep mine with shrimp, otos, cherry barbs, snails, and a hatchet fish, and the crab has caught nothing. he will soon be housed with amanos and glass fish in a brackish tank.

personally, I think the dry land is the most important aspect to their survival. they really spend a lot of time above water.

by the way, these are called Red Claw Crabs.

nickmcmechan said:

dead in under 3 months without brackish and some dry land

Click to expand...

here's an example of why that quote is untrue...

petco sells these crabs as freshwater crabs, and keeps them in amazingly wrong conditions. fiddlers and red claws are packed together, dozens in a single 10 gallon tank, with no land, no salt, no caves... it's a battle royal, and the crabs are really set up to die. they do, however, survive. now, I'm in NO WAY endorsing this method of crab keeping... but in all likelihood, these crabs have been kept this way for their entire lives, up to the point of sale.... because petco does not keep brackish tanks, and most likely has them bred specifically for their chains. all of the crabs they sell are of adult size, which takes many many months to reach. they are slow growers.

it's probable that they are unhappy and unhealthy in these tanks. it's probable that they'd prefer a brackish environment. but dead in 3 months is misinformation. there are far more elements that seem more influential on their survival... water conditions, foods, predators, toxic compounds like copper...

aaaaaaaand as I've learned today...

get a tight fitting lid.

my crab escaped and can't be found. after all I've been working on, to create a whole new tank for the crab, this is a huge upset.