fiddler crabs

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Mar 24, 2005
153
0
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Canada
Ok so at Petsmart there's this tank that works as a general vivarium, although you can fill it half with water and then there are steps leading up to a second level so it can be half water half land. I was thinking of buying that and fiddler crabs.

I don't really know a lot about fiddler crabs and good quality care information is hard to come by. I know they need brackish water and I know they should have a source of calcium for healthy shell growth. But that's about all I know. So I have questions.

I've never done brackish or salt water before. How do I make sure I have the right amount of salt? Won't water evaporate leaving too much salt? Do I have to buy a meter thingy? Should I use aquarium salt or marine salt, or does it matter?

What do they eat? Do they need live food or will blood worms and stuff be alright?

I use they like water on the hard side, what temperature should it be?

If I put plants like java fern (I plan on having not so special lighting) will the crabs demolish them?

How many should I keep? I'm not sure about the tank capacity, it looks kind of 20 gallon long sized, with about a third of it to be filled with water. I might be off with the size, and it has a bow front. If anyone knows what I'm talking about and knows the size it would be great if you could correct me.

Ok I think that's all my questions for now, thanks in advance if anyone knows anything.
 

snakeskinner

AC Members
Dec 27, 2003
907
1
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47
Oklahoma
www.okcaa.org
I can't really comment on keeping fiddlers, never done it. However if you have to achieve brackish or saltwater, a hydrometer is the best way to go. Trouble with those types of setups (most anyway) is you wouldn't be able to effectively test the water in the container so you'd have to remove some to a container deep enough to use a hydrometer. I found a hydrometer (I believe petco or petsmart carries them) that looks like a thermometer and floats in the water. I like this design better, I couldn't get consistent results with the normal "guage" type. You will want to use marine salt that they sell right there at the petsmart. For fiddler info, I'd do some more searching on the internet for a good site devoted to them unless someone on here pipes up that has kept them before. you might try the brackish or saltwater sections. Kyle
 

ddayton21

I'm bored
Oct 25, 2005
330
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MISSISSIPPI
I kept one. Didn't last long in freshwater but ate shimp pellets very well and also algae waffers
 

Kissofthegorami

Broke College Student
Feb 24, 2005
613
0
0
41
Boston,MA
Feed them crab food taht u can buy at the store. It contains calcium. They also like shrimp pellets but they will eat anything. They don't need live food as they are mainlt scavengers. You could have a few feeder guppies in there just for the to pick off sometimes. You can findout online how many teaspoons/tablespoons of salt is required to reach "brackish" conditions. You don't need to worry about the water evaporating because u should be doing weekly water changes anyways, add a little more salt with each water change to replace the salt u took out. if you are just filling up the evaporated water, do not add more salt since salt doesn't evaporate. Use marine salt not "freshwater" salt.
 
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