tropical crabs

[midcuk]

has anyone had any experience adding tropical crabs to their community tank, what is the general concensus on these invertibrates, as our local stockist has some lovely red and blue crabs in but he knows little about them

thanks

chris

[125gJoe]

The most obvious problem to consider is the crabs might eat the fish at night. It has happened...

[OrionGirl]

Another consideration is that most species that show up in stores must be provided with a terrestrial section. Lacking one, and sometimes even with one, they will climb anything they can to get out of the water, and frequently escape the tank--usually resulting in a dead crab some days later.

IMO, they do best in a species tank, where their needs can be specifically addressed, and fish aren't endangered. If you decide to add them to a aquarium, avoid any long finned companions--bettas, guppies, serpaes, ect, as these flowing fins will be nipped and trimmed.

[bizzy928]

Originally posted by 80gJoe
The most obvious problem to consider is the crabs might eat the fish at night. It has happened...

Crabs are scavengers. They will not attack the fish, unless the fish are provoking him.

[bizzy928]

There were I think at least 2 threads about crabs in the past two weeks. Try a search on "crab" and i'm sure you will return lots of results.

I even put up a link to a site dedicated to crabs.

[RENEGADE]

i have a red claw crab and doesn't bother the fish but he does need to get out of the water somtimes

[JohnMemorialHS]

red clawed crab actually doesn't need to get out of the water, but they're brackish.

[bizzy928]

Red Claw crabs do need to get out of the water.
And yes they are brackish.

[RENEGADE]

sorry john but they NEED to get out of the water(i almost killed mine, i had nothing for him to climb on to get out of the water)

[JohnMemorialHS]

http://wrongcrowd.com/aquaria/crab/
I guess the wrongcrowd is wrong

[RENEGADE]

thanx for the page. i heard the same thing that they don't need to come up for air but IME mine does.

[rjl420]

http://www.geocities.com/elgecko1989/crab.html

http://insel.heim.at/malediven/350824/english/rccenglish.html

http://www.mongabay.com/fish/nonfish.htm

all the sites above suggest giving the crabs access to air. IME, these guys (as well as fidlers) need to get out of the water from time to time, I would just give an area just to be safe.

HTH

EDIT - They also will eat any fish they can catch, usually (but not limited to) the sick or dying fish. if the "blue" crabs at your lfs are blue moon or moon something, they WILL eat your fish, no questions asked.

[fishmaniac]

I had a red claw crab, he was huge...saw him at the top of the tank, then I never saw him again, until I vacuumed. Found him about 10 feet from the tank against the window....guess he wanted a better view :)

I had very good luck with them besides that, and they were very fun to watch