Any crabs that get along with fish?

[snowyangel]

I have a friend who has a spare tank that she would like to convert to a crab tank but would also like fish aswell, not just a plain crab tank. Any certain crabs that get along with fish and what type of fish would be suitable for a crab tank?

Thanks,

 

[yvez9]

that's funny snowy
i'm in the exact same position as your friend. How bis is the tank?

 

[Kiarra]

I'd never put a crab with a fish of any sort. Too much that can go horribly, horribly wrong.

 

[The-Wolf]

red claw crabs/red crabs
are the only one I can think of; however any small fish has the potential to become food.

 

[3fsh]

Crabs can catch any fish as long as they do it at night when the fish are sleeping. Just buy cheap fish to put in with them, like feeder guppies so it won't be a big problem if/when a fish goes missing.

 

[Robbo851]

red claw crabs can live with most fish. however some crabs can get aggressive (totally changes from crab to crab) a well fed crab should not attack fish unless the fish is aggressive towards them. In my experience female red claws are less aggressive and have smaller claws so harder to catch the fish. My female red claw lives with mollies glass catfish few glow lights and a pleco. (i have heard of someones pleco getting nipped by a crab, but mine is fine) i have also got a giant african filter shrimp which is alot bigger than my crab and they get along fine.Things can always go wrong fish and invertabraes and such are just like people unless they are an natural enemy its hit or miss whether they will get along or not.

dunno if this will help or make you more confused. if you want to mix fish with crabs and are not sure just pick fish that live in the top third of the tank since crabs live in the bottom third or out of the water. crabs will not go out of their way to attack fish.

 

[BzztYeow]

So far my red crab gets along very well with my completely overcrowded cichlid tank full of psuedotropeus type fish at 1- 1.5 inches.

I was concerned at first that the crab would eat them- but the real problem is keeping the crab in the tank as he loves to climb up the heater and filter hoses and hang out on top of the tank

I even have a holding female yellow lab who is VERY sedentary and the crab has not bothered her at all. The crab is one of my favorite things in the tank as it's behavior is quite interesting in the right circumstances.

Ex. he/ she climbs to the top of the highest point in the tank (a piece of driftwood) and will then *point* at the heater like a baseball player showing the crowd where he will hit his homerun. This goes on for about 5-10 mins before he/ she takes a flying leap and attempts to swim to the heater. Sometimes it makes it and sometimes not- quite amusing. I used a plastic crocheting (SP?) mesh to cover spots not covered by my tank hood.

If you keep them well fed, i don't think you will have problems, but that is just my limited experience. They are certainly a FUN addition to a tank, but i wouldn't be surpised if you got an aggressive crab to see some deaths of small/ sick fish.

He has not bothered my golden mystery snail or shrimp either, which really surpised me as well!

Good luck!

 

[Kirsty]

I keep my Red Claw Crab in my community tank and he gets along with everyone fine, except at feeding time when the fish try and eat his food....

I guess it depends on the crabs personality....

 

[Robbo851]

i agree, totally depends on crab to crab.......

 

[Robbo851]

i noticed you say he/she .With red claw crabs you can tell the sex by the size of the pinchers. small ones mean female, while large ones are male. most males have one slightly larger claw. With fiddler crabs the male has one huge claw and one little one. females have two normal size ones.

its very unusual that your crab hasnt eaten the snails as this is one of thier fav treats.

 

[BzztYeow]

You can usually tell also by the shape of the underside carapace i beleive- but i have not bothered to sex mine as it is the only crab around.

I pretend it's a he, but it's all good. I just didn't wan't to give the impression that i knew anything relating to sex that caused or reduced aggression.

My crab also gets a seperate feed off algae discs (which it steals from my cichlids) or a frozen pea that i run under hot water for 2 seconds, then pull off the shell.

 

[snowyangel]

Thank for all your replies, i will sure pass this info onto my friend. I personally didn't think it was a good idea and that you would end up with a fish with torn fins.