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Dance party or maybe aerobics? I really like these little guys

looking for some company:



found a friend:



three is even better, too bad there aren't any girls here:



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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

how cute! I need to get some!

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I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.
~ Mae West

Paludarium? Nice. How about some details on that set-up (ex. size, filtration, etc.)?

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

Hmmmm, does it qualify as a paludarium? I'll have to do some reading.

The tank is an Eclipse 6. It hasn't been set up that long as a crab home so I'm still doing a lot of messing around with it. When I bought the first crab I was told by the lcs employee that they do well in FW aquariums; further research after I got home showed they do need to get out of the water and also that they live longer in a brackish environment.

I had to play around with the water level a lot. It seems there's a fine line where these Eclipse filters will no longer intake. The water comes in at a trickle which the crabs like; they often climb right up to the filter and rest there with the water splashing on them.

Then of course the heater had to be put on a large angle to be under water, it's kind of hidden behind the stick in the tank but I may buy a smaller heater eventually.

The piece of wood with the 3 holes is popular, sometimes I'll see a crab sitting in each hole. They also use the top to eat and poop on And they have the cork-bark floating island. There's a bit of floating hornwort that they sometimes use to climb on as well.

They're fantastic escape artists. I learned this one day while eating lunch (the tank is in my kitchen) and heard click-clicking, turned to see one running across the counter. It was the small opening in the hood to allow for filter & heater wiring to come thru so I had to cut heavy cardboard to block it. I've even found them under the filter cartridge

Theresa_M attached this image:


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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

That's awesome. Also, I'd suggest some nice rockwork underneath and maybe one or two fishy companions :votes BBGs:. Great tank.

Theresa_M

Certainly different. Going by what I have seen in the wild it looks like an act of aggression or keep away.
Loverly photos well done again.

Keith

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How many crabs do you have? Just those three, or more?
That looks pretty good, I wonder if it would work in my 5 galllon minibow.....

- DJ :88)

At the time there were three but I've added one more since these pictures were taken. Now I'm thinking about moving them and setting this up in one of my 10g tanks.

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

I was thinking of doing a very similar setup (5 gallon minibow) and I was wondering what would be overstocking. Is 4 the limit, or were you holding out for fish too (I think you said something about bb gobies before)? I have a good deal of questions and I'm just gona let them rip.

Do crabs have the same stocking rules are fish? How many would you suggest in a crab-only 5 gallon tank? I was thinking 1 redclaw crab and 3 - 5 fiddlers. Would that be overstocking? What would I feed them? I have a package of frozen brine shrimp in the fridge, would that work? What kind of aquascaping would you suggst? I was thinking of a sand bottom with a rockpile in one corner so they could get out of water. Could 1 red claw crab coexist with a small group of fiddlers? Is there anything else I should know?

Thanks alot
- DJ :88)

I really like the fiddlers but have been buying them one at a time to see how things work out. I haven't been able to find much info online, [href=this link]http://tbone.biol.sc.edu/~steven/fcfaq.htmlis the best I've gotten so far.

I'm not sure about stocking rules; I do know they poop a lot How many? If you're going to have a filter on the tank and do regular water changes I'd guess at least 5-6 would be alright. Again, I'm just going by my personal experience and the bit of info I've read. The general consensus is that they do need salt (brackish water), and they need places to get out of the water. Before I knew this and kept their tank full I'd often find them in the filter. So far I've only fed them HBH Crab and Lobster bites; I'm going to experiement with other types of food soon.

A sand substrate should be fine. I have Flourite and they do like to dig and sift through it. I have a long strand of hornwort floating and they'll climb along that like a rope...I'd suggest anything in the tank that allows them to climb and perhaps reach a point where they can be out of the water.

I'm not familiar with red clawed crabs at all. Maybe you can find a website about them and check into compatability with fiddlers.

A very important point: make sure there are not openings in your tank setup where they can escape. On my tank the Eclipse hood is solid except for a small ~2 x 3" opening in the back for the power cables. I didn't realize this until one day I heard 'click click' on the counter and saw one of the crabs exploring my kitchen

I hope I helped some, if you have any other questions feel free to PM me



Theresa_M attached this image:


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There is water at the bottom of the ocean