Help with my molting Red Clawed Crab...

This is really good info, but red claw crabs aren't freshwater crabs. They are brackish water crabs. I just recently found this out after doing some research online

Kashta said:
Most of the info we find online isn't very reliable either. I used to have a red claw (from Petsmart). Had him in a little one gallon tank (temporarily) which was way too small. Either I didn't watch the water conditions well enough or my tap water had a chlorine spike.. I don't know. After about 2 months, he just stopped eating and died a short while later. Since then, I got a Rainbow Crab at a better LFS and he's doing great. The lady at Petsmart was quite knowledgeable about freshwater/land crabs in general, telling me about how she floated a chunk of styrofoam in her tank for the crab and made sure he had a way of climbing up there. Not very attractive, but it was a great suggestion. That gave me the idea to use floating cork bark the same way... which would look more natural. That's easily found in the reptile/terrarium section - totally natural product, so no added chemical stuff to worry about. As for feeding, the LFS place told me they fed their crabs a small chunk of krill once every 3 days. After looking at their price ($10) for a pound of frozen krill, I realized it would be cheaper to feed him real fish or even shrimp from the grocery store when that's on sale. Or even check out what I could find at a local bait shop to keep in my freezer. My Rainbow Crab also gets bloodworms and shrimp pellets. I basically go with a lot of variety for him. He's about 5 inches across now and he seems to get hungry every other day. I've yet to find anything of very much use online about feeding them. But we do know they need a good amount of calcium to maintain that exoskeleton.. and a good amount of protein for inside growth. Just that too much of good thing might make him outgrow the exo too fast. They also really like mango and papaya. So try giving him a small amount of two things at the same time, so you can see which he chooses. And don't lean too heavily either way between fruits/veggies and fish/meats.

Edit: When my crab molts, it usually takes him about 4 days before he gets around to eating the exo he left.
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I have 3 of these little critters in my tank. The molts are definitely cool, but I wouldn't worry if they don't eat them. They say its healthier for them to eat it, but mine hardly get around to eating it or at least the whole thing. They will still make it either way, usually. Its pretty stressful for them though so be sure they have a safe place to hide. As for climbing..yes they need access to climb to the surface and breathe air or dry out, whatever they are doing up there. I tied down some fake plants that are suctioned to the glass so its like a ladder for them to climb. THey managed, but when I added my "hopefull" moss wall material it makes it nearly effortless for them to climb vertically to the top. Try picking up some needlepoint plastic mesh material. Black is more sublte and they can scale the wall in no time at all. Its pretty cool too because you get a good view of them climbing. The claws will grow back eventually....as long as the crab doesn't die before he has a chance to regrow it.....but that's common sense. LOL. Good luck!
 
Oh yeah....you can add salt to the aquarium too to help them regain some minerals for them to harden their shells again. They are brackish from some people's perspective, but they won't die in fresh water. Maybe they won't live as long, but they will survive. I always add some aquarium salt to my tanks, just for a good balance, even if the fish don't require it. I've never had a problem with any freshwater fish or even my mystery snails hating the salt. Everyone lives well. Afterall they are fish....they don't have to go to work every day and/or hunt for their food. Could it be that bad?
 
Yeah i have plenty of blurred pics of "crusty" too... dont know how to put them on here yet though.... okay...so the limbs should grow back... i can see one of his legs starting to form... will he be like this untill his next moult??
i give him bloodworms to eat, the algae waffers and veg ie peas and carrots, he even ate some cooked chicken n fish before... but i feed him everyday... so ill try the everyother day method, to see how it goes. The pet store i got him from couldnt answer these questions... even though they sell the little guys,they told me he was 100% equatic... which i couldnt believe... i also have an african albino clawed frog who enjoys a bit of land even though some websites say theyre 100% equatic..
Ive only gotten into this hobby about 2 years...i havnt had a death in a vry long time, which obviously means somethings right...
I just dont want "crusty" to die
i mean could this happen?
he hasnt came out since the guppie yesterday...
and i dont want to disturb him:(
 
This post helped alot with understanding my crab (red) molting the only thing that worrys me is that he already was missing a claw from when we got him its the one of the reason we got him and after his molt he lost his other claw and 3 of his legs on his left side so im just hopeing he is still able to eat we usaly give him lettice when we first got him he we gave him some frozen shrimp and shrimp pellets but he never ate those he always whent to the lettice and would carry it off to his spot on his rock and eat it he also eats alot of the plants we have we got live plants for him and a mossball he loves eating the mossball. But anyways sounds like he will be ok and wer lucky hes still alive just hope the no claws isnt a issue its just him in the tank nothing else except snails that came with the plants.
 
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