Brackish Itch

[RainboWBacoN420]

I was going to set up a brackish puffer tank or bumble bee goby before my marine.
I like look of the fiddler crab but I know very little about them
Baylor they shouldn't be in salt at all.

A puffer would be cute. Maybe one day I will try brackish fish. For now, I just want a simple, low water level brackish tank for a simple crab. The only thing I'm worried about is when it comes time to molt. I can't find any good reliable source of information online! It's ridiculous! Most of the information only tells me about hermit crabs or just more forums that say "good luck with your molting crab!" and that they need a dry and wet palce to molt. I understand that, but what about feeding? Adding calcium? Any information that be explained a little more thoroughly would be most helpful!

i always saw the fiddler as a cool looking crab to see and watch, might want to try both species if the room is enough

and as i said, the salinity drops when i do the water change so i will just keep it at the level with the water change

I would not even think to house two different crab species together. The casualties would be... Terrible.

 

[BaylorPerez]

I would assume since their shell is a ExoSkeleton(like one) it would need alot of calcium and maybe a protein supplement to make sure it stays "strong" yet malleable enough for the crab to be able to move.

 

[RainboWBacoN420]

I heard about not feeding crabs while they're molting? Because they can grow too fast within that process they can't escape they're small shell? I don't know!

I think calcium supplements just help out with the health of their shell. I don't know if they're exactly required or should even be considered.

 

[BaylorPerez]

yea me either, i am not a expert on crabs as the only crabs iver ever had were hermit crabs and they died within 2 weeks due to drying out ( even though there was a water source at the end of a slope)

 

[RainboWBacoN420]

Another thing to consider.... Most crabs are sold as freshwater species, so...

If I were to introduce a crab to brackish water... Drip acclimation?

I heard that the crab should be started in freshwater, then slowly raise the salinity over time with water changes. The only thing I would be afraid of is raising it too high, too fast. I think drip acclimation for a few hours would be best to introduce the crab to brackish conditions, yes? If not, or something better, please inform, I would very much appreciate it.
Of course I will try to look around to purchase a species that has been raised in brackish water, but in my area... It might be possible considering I love near the bay. Lol But finding brackish species in the shops is looking pretty slim.

 

[simonas]

my crabs in my old reef just hid away for a day to moult and did it just fine

 

[BaylorPerez]

if your starting it in a brackish water, i would do drip acclimation to help it get situated to the brackish water environment 

 

[RainboWBacoN420]

my crabs in my old reef just hid away for a day to moult and did it just fine

The thing about my other crab is it died while attempting to molt. However, it was kept in the wrong conditions. So I don't know if brackish would help for molting. The aquarium salt for reef tanks should provide enough calcium...? I hope... More research will need to be done... Of what little info I can find...

 

[RainboWBacoN420]

Also... How should the set up look? Any suggestions? I'm not sure what kind of filter I should use, an internal one would be ideal, but I really don't want to use an internal filter. If I can get away with using a HOB (and I know I'll have to be careful so the crab won't escape), I was thinking about placing some ohko stone or some black marble stone underneath the filter output to replicate a waterfall effect? ? I think that sounds pretty sweet.
My job sells mangroves I could try, too. If I'm going to have a crab I want some tough plants that'll be difficult to tear apart.
Maybe some driftwood as well? I really want to make this look incredible, I've been sketching some design ideas.

 

[Munroco]

yea me either, i am not a expert on crabs as the only crabs iver ever had were hermit crabs and they died within 2 weeks due to drying out ( even though there was a water source at the end of a slope)

You are not an expert on fish either,  you are advocating keeping neons and zebras in brackish water. There are people visiting this site who see posts like this who may think this is the correct way to go. Please stop with your advice as it is not helpful or accurate.

 

[sawickib]

Im sensing a lot of "salt" 

 here haha
 
Alright guys we can just chill with Baylor now, no reason to be rude to him, his information is wrong but thats no reason to hate him for it, we can all just try to politely tell him otherwise. Everyones just here to help right? And baylor please read diligently and on more than one website before you give more advice. And tbh i would try to get your salinity back to 1.000 or maybe 1.001, but no further for your fish, theres no reason they should be doing well in salinity of 1.020-1.035 marine conditions
 
Anyways I would say use internal, it would be a lot easier for you, and there are some good ones out there that are easy to use. The HOB would need the water level a bit to high for your crabs liking since youll need some land mass for the little guy, even if you got it to as low as possible itll make a lot of noise and be a bit annoying i would imagine.

 

[RainboWBacoN420]

Im sensing a lot of "salt" 

 here haha
 
 
Anyways I would say use internal, it would be a lot easier for you, and there are some good ones out there that are easy to use. The HOB would need the water level a bit to high for your crabs liking since youll need some land mass for the little guy, even if you got it to as low as possible itll make a lot of noise and be a bit annoying i would imagine.

There doesn't seem to be that many good and reliable internal filters. At least from what I've seen. They all seem really cheap and poorly designed. Like I said, I really want to implement a water fall system. So I want something that'll be easy to build a small waterfall around.

Any suggestions on internal filters that'll work alright with a low water level? Hopefully not something the crab can climb into, even though I'm sure the crab would love to hang out in an open top internal filter, I really would like a nice, closed top filter. Preferably black so it could blend in.

either way, my next scheduled water change is tommorrow, so the water goes to about 1.016PPT before i add more marine salt to it.(dissolved salt check 10-20Minutes later with the hydrometer). if i need to adjust then i just add more or less depending on the fish species i have.
 
And i got my research here (before it was edited it seems, as now it shows 1.002 to about 1.012PPT, rather then the original 1.035 to 1.040PPT) http/www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_4/v4i2/brackish%20systems/brackish.htm

Wait, how exactly does your salinity go down over time? When it comes to saltwater care, we top off the tank with R/O due to evaporation, but the salt doesn't evaporate, just the water. It's when it comes to water changes, we mix the salt in to match the salinity, or else the salinity would change more or less. But I can't understand how your salinity is depleting like that...?

 

[gmc1]

How did you do it when you kept your 500 gallon puffer tank Baylor?

 

[sawickib]

Theres one that the pet store i work at uses, ill have to get the name for you but it does a good job, and has a spray bar on it to. Its about the size of a soda can.

 

[BaylorPerez]

How did you do it when you kept your 500 gallon puffer tank Baylor?

how did i do what?