View Full Version : Bought 4 of these bad boys today!
leesst200
08-26-2007, 1:17 PM
Hi all,
I have been out and bought 4 of these red crabs today.
The LFS kept them in a tank full of guppies with no land for them.
My tank has rocks and a sand bank for them so they should be ok.
Anyone got any advice on keeping these little critters?
Rbishop
08-26-2007, 1:19 PM
No advice, but cute...
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
pixl8r
08-26-2007, 3:40 PM
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.
nickmcmechan
08-26-2007, 3:45 PM
dead in under 3 months without brackish and some dry land
mellowvision
08-26-2007, 4:36 PM
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.
mellowvision
08-26-2007, 4:37 PM
by the way, these are called Red Claw Crabs.
mellowvision
08-26-2007, 5:21 PM
dead in under 3 months without brackish and some dry land
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...
mellowvision
08-26-2007, 8:20 PM
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.
jtburf
08-26-2007, 8:24 PM
lol, might want to sleep with one eye open.
mellowvision
08-26-2007, 8:31 PM
yeahhh, if it were anywhere near my bed, it'd be easy to catch... unfortunately, there is a small mouse hole on the baseboard near the tank and I'm sure he's either long gone in the wall, or in my cat's tummy. I can't begin to explain how bummed out I am... not just because I lost the crab, but because I've spent months preparing a new tank for him and was going to put him in this weekend, but hadn't yet.... aaand because I could have prevented it by just putting the lid on the tank... the lid I already have, and frequently use.
da jig iz up
08-26-2007, 8:37 PM
Sometimes lessons like those come at a price..
vampie
08-26-2007, 9:13 PM
Red claws (and fiddlers as well) are wild-caught, not bred.
Keep in mind both are terrestrial creatures that need water, not the other way around. Unfortunately, the fact that many fish stores sell them as aquarium pets really mislead people.
pixl8r
08-26-2007, 11:08 PM
Mellow, I had a red claw take a walkabout and went down a flight of stairs through our family room and down the hall. The trip was about 40 feet. Unfortunately he also didn't survive his journey.
ostrangeone89
08-26-2007, 11:19 PM
awww he is soooo cccuttteee! Kinda makes me want to get a crab but I've never seen them in my lfs's! Have only seen frogs!
leesst200
08-29-2007, 6:16 AM
Hi all,
Well, the little fella in the picture has died yesterday.
I think he was in bad health from the day we bought him because the other 3 crabs all scuttled off as soon as they were put in the tank, but this one stayed in the middle and did not move much.
I have dry land in the tank for them but rarely see them on it. They are mostly in the water.
They are a bit nervous at the moment, and 'leg it' under a rock pretty much when they see you.
I am going to do a water change today and introduce brackish water as people have suggested.
How often should I be feeding them?
I know they are scavengers and will eat pretty much anything, but I dont want to give them more than they can eat because it will make the water go off quicker.
I have a small filter in the water but this will not stop it from going stale.
Thanks for all information so far.
Lee.
lenard
09-12-2007, 2:01 AM
How much water do you have in your tank? I feed my crabs just about every day. That is unless I have thrown in a clam or goldfish for them... when I do that they eat it for about 2-3 days. Then i take out whatever is left over. They love fruit. Toss in a peice of a grape and they'll eat it up like hotcakes :D
electromen
09-15-2007, 12:48 PM
When I was a newb I had one in a 75 gallon without dry land of course, later on that evening my fiance and I were watching a movie. She got up to go to the bathroom and all I heard was a big scream... there we saw Zoidberg scuttling across the floor. They are master escape artists. The tank I had him in has a tight fitting glass cover with a 1/4 inch gap in front of the filter.
That was before, of course, I knew anything about them. My fahaka likes to eat them though.