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Does anybody have any experience keeping these facinating little inverts? I've heard all kinds of conflicting information about them, but from what I gather, they need to be kept in brackish water with a sand bank to crawl up out of the water on. Do they need fresh water for drinking? Will they fight among each other even if kept in sexed pairs? What do they eat?

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

i've kept them. but probably not exactly as i should have.

they'll eat anything, really, from algae to fish that happen to die to crab pellets. the sexes don't really fight from what i saw, but the males will wave their big claw around to intimidate any others... MAKE SURE TO GET MORE THAN 1 MALE! IT IS SOOOO FUNNY TO WATCH!!! also make sure that they do have some land to climb up onto, for 2 reasons: 1) they need it to actually breath, they'll eventually drown in water if they have no access to air, and 2) it will partially prevent them from trying to climb out of the tank...

all in all, you'll be really happy with them, they're funny, and different from the ordinary sea creature...

Yes, fiddler crabs do need fresh water to drink, and I would suggest not getting 2 females. My 2 females weren't super happy with each other and one died soon after I got them. On a side note, leave their exoskeletons in the tank when they shed them, as they like to eat them and it gives them calcium necessary to grow a new one.

Last edited by little fish at 10-Oct-2005 19:46