Crabs!

[newtotropical]

Hi Whats the view on having a small crab in a community tank?

Would it nip at Corys?

 

[big mick]

Yes they will, crabs are not for community tanks.

 

[newtotropical]

Ok thanks

 

[raptorrex]

Hi Whats the view on having a small crab in a community tank?

Would it nip at Corys?

well in my experience, Redcrab, though they may wish to catch fish, cant and dont. they make a big show of chasing, but the only fish they get is dead or very ill ones. they do catch and eat shrimp though. at 3 or 4 cm the redcrab is not really a problem to even cory. indeed they themselves are at risk, especially when moulting. crabs like the fiddler or rainbow crabs are a different matter. its a case of munch munch fish are gone.

however it must be remembered that most "freshwater crab" are in fact, brackish. though not the rainbow. and that is far more important than how many fish it may hurt.

 

[muzzy]

Would a good substitute for a crap be something like a shrimp? I quite often see them in the lfs skiting about the bottom.

 

[newtotropical]

Thanks all, might go for a shrimp instead. i can always put it on the barbie!!!!! (joke!!!)

 

[dizzied]

I'm not sure how a shrimp would "substitute" a crab, but shrimp are much more ideal for community freshwater tanks.

 

[raptorrex]

given a bit of dry land and a bit of brackish water, redcrab do well in community's. far more crabs are lost through escape, and lack of dry area than fish die through predation.

lol and yeh the crab is still alive after the last pic.

lol shrimp are nice, but somehow just don't cut it IMO

 

[CFC]

You certainly do seem to have exceptional luck with inverts Boboboy.

My experience of keeping redclaw crabs with fish was having fish mysteriously disapeer at a rate of one every couple of nights until i eventually found them all stuffed inside an ornament where the crab had dragged them into its cave to eat and i have seen many a crayfish in shop tanks tearing its unfortunate victims to pieces while they still struggle to get away.

The general rule is "If it has claws then dont keep it with anything you would be upset to lose"

One of the worst mistakes i ever made was adding a giant FW prawn (Macrobrachium species) firstly to our sons community tank where it ate 12 corys before he informed us that they had vanished and then i put it into one of my tanks where it promptly ate a rare and expensive catfish that was twice its size, the prawn then went for a swim with my adult fish and swiflty vanished down the throat of an arowana.

 

[Crab Paste]

Crabs can be a little bit nippy. Here's a short video of mine.

http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLmxVhTB-L0

 

[raptorrex]

You certainly do seem to have exceptional luck with inverts Boboboy.

that though has not escaped me, thing is to find why??? I've had three escape, and big boy had my bamboo shrimp, but after that nothing. but CFC has a fair point here, i do have a habit of assuming that thing with other peoples tanks will work out same as in mine. this is often not the case. i take your point CFC and will modify the way i post!

Crabs can be a little bit nippy. Here's a short video of mine.

http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLmxVhTB-L0

lol i see, it but come on if some big blue thing tried to poke you in the eye, you would push back too! lol

 

[kribensis12]

Depends on what kind of fish you have. I keep a medium "2-3" inch crayfish in a 30gallon with 2 kribs, 2 brichardi, 3 swordtails, 2 borelli apistogrammas, and a pleco. The only thing it did was mow down over 10 dollars worth of plants( that is alot of plants, tank looked like a forest, until, you know). Now he is in fishie jail ( double livebearer breeding trap). I feed him dead fish and cichlid pellets. You can have a crayfish as long as you dont have any live plants or else you will never see them again. I know that tank is over stocked, that is why I have a whisper second nature 60 gallon filter and a top fin 30 gallon filter. 90 gallons of filtration for a 30 gallon, boy I reckon that I could put a oscar in there( not!).

 

[raptorrex]

Depends on what kind of fish you have. I keep a medium "2-3" inch crayfish in a 30gallon with 2 kribs, 2 brichardi, 3 swordtails, 2 borelli apistogrammas, and a pleco. The only thing it did was mow down over 10 dollars worth of plants( that is alot of plants, tank looked like a forest, until, you know). Now he is in fishie jail ( double livebearer breeding trap). I feed him dead fish and cichlid pellets. You can have a crayfish as long as you dont have any live plants or else you will never see them again. I know that tank is over stocked, that is why I have a whisper second nature 60 gallon filter and a top fin 30 gallon filter. 90 gallons of filtration for a 30 gallon, boy I reckon that I could put a oscar in there( not!).

oh yeh i hear you . Percy Thrower they are not, Blaster Bates more like!

 

[Opcn]

Krib. You know that those filters give you at the most 32 gallons of capacity in your 30 gallon tank and a lot of extra flow.

Inverts in my experience will get food where ever they can, avoid them if your fish are small enough to be eaten,

 

[Crossfc]

Crabs can be a little bit nippy. Here's a short video of mine.

http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLmxVhTB-L0

Hah. Awesome. Sneaky little thing. Too bad I can't keep any. Either my Angels would just peck its eyes out or it'd be nipping at their fins all day. Shrimp would probably be eatten alive. I need to get me some friendlier fish.