Ive Got Three Little Red Crabs How Often Should I Feed Them ?

[bigblokey0]

heres a pic i did ask if they where brackish but they said that they where deffo freshwater

sorry about the dodgy pic

 

[poopsydrew]

found out today that the crabs i got are freshwater crabs so they shouldnt be in brackish water

Nope they are brackish.

Drew

 

[darkwolf29a]

You can take this for what it's worth...apparently, as you've shown before, that our opinion is worthless to you. However, that's the same crab that my girlfriend had. And yes...she was told the same thing. The guy at the store said they were freshwater. We looked into it, they aren't freshwater, the guys at the pet store knew NOTHING of crabs.

Yes, they can be kept in freshwater, like at the pet store, for a short time. It will, ultimately, kill them. These are red claw crabs, that live in rivers and tidal pools...That's brakish water, not fresh. This is what killed my girlfriend's crab. And trust me, it wasn't a nice way to die.

Here's a link, if you don't believe me, maybe you'll believe them:

http/wrongcrowd.com/staticpages/index.php?page=crab

Opinions on water salinity for this species vary. Frank Greco writes that while they range from fresh to brackish water in nature, in captivity it is best to keep them in 5-15 ppt salinity. That is 1/6 to 1/2 the salinity of seawater. My own experience agrees that keeping them in 100% fresh water is not tenable in the long term.

or

http/badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile101.html

Maintenance:
Best kept in brackish conditions with land access. The addition of Marine Salt in the amount of 2 tbs/gal or a Specific Gravity of 1.005 is sufficient. The use of Marine Grade Salt will help to provide trace minerals needed for proper development. As the crab grows it must shed its exoskeleton. The new shell is soft and the crab will hide for a few days until this hardens. The use of a sand or soil substrate will allow for more natural feeding habits as well as facilitate burrowing. Red Claw Crabs are Omnivorous and enjoy brine shrimp, bloodworms, peas, beans, spinach and raw fish. They will also eat commercial flake foods and crab pellets as well as bits of driftwood and aquarium plants.

Look...I'm not trying to steer you wrong. You are getting incorrect information from your pet store. It's not surprising, and does happen regularly. Most of those people haven't spent their lives caring for fish/crabs/crayfish/etc You've come here looking for information, and that's what we're trying to give you. Freshwater isn't good for crabs, they need some salt in order to survive, ultimately.

I'm sorry if I come off harsh, mean, or anything. I'm not trying to be. But, please listen to the information that you are being given or look up some for yourself. You'll quickly find that the local pet stores are there to make money, selling you animals and things to keep them happy. Unfortunately, every body that works there isn't knowledable about pets/pet care.

 

[bigblokey0]

thanks for the advice i apprciate it a LOT

the store i get my fish from have been very helpfull to me in the past, there not a pet shop they only sell fish and the like ill have to question them again about it i know there there to make profit but they are a good bunch of lads

 

[darkwolf29a]

thanks for the advice i apprciate it a LOT

the store i get my fish from have been very helpfull to me in the past, there not a pet shop they only sell fish and the like ill have to question them again about it i know there there to make profit but they are a good bunch of lads

The people at my local fish place are nice too, but they don't have the wide variety of experience. I met, luckily for me and Ody (MY Oscar), a girl at WalMart in the fish department, who really steered me correctly with my Oscar purchase. But, that's because she happens to know Oscars and has kept a lot of fish over the years. She just happens to work at WalMart. LOL Honestly, she know more than most of the people working at the pet stores. LOL And WalMart is not known for their fish, in fact...their known for fish dying. *shrugs*

 

[bigblokey0]

lol @ walmart what ill do is exspress my concerns down at the fish shop and keep an eye on the crabs if they go belly up ill take em down and give em hell

 

[Kevin_D]

This species of Crab, Pseudosesarma bidens, is clearly brackish, and should be kept at least at 1.003-05, as already pointed out, but will live for a year or so tops in freshwater, theyre lifespan, which would be 5 years+ even a lot longer possibly, will be severely reduced in their current set up, but thats down to you, my lfs says "red crabs" (I hate common names for animals) are freshwater as well, and their "nice people" doesnt mean the info is true.

 

[raptorrex]

oops sorry what you have there is a Sesarma sp. or maybe a Sesarma bidens. both are brackish, the sp being a mangrove crab, the bidens being a estuary dweller. sorry guy any way you look at it, the poor guys need a brackish environment. and more land than water too.

 

[crabberdude]

i hope your doing well with your aquarium set up. I had similar experiences when I purchased my fiddlers. (back when I believed they knew stuff) i got them at petsmart and everything they told me was WRONG. they told me to use gravel, freshwater, and the tank they had for them as exclusively underwater. A triple WAMMY!!! after a a few of my crabs died I went back and asked them and they told me I must have been doing something wrong. I told them I did everything they told me to do.
So then I went on the internet and started doing some research (what I should have done way before I got them, damn impulse buying!!!! big waste of $$$) and found this site as well as a couple of other sites telling me otherwise. I pretty much changed my entire tank setup and my crabs seem to be doing alot better.

TFF was probably one of the best discoveries I have made this summer and definately gave me something to do cause I have been bored lately. these people are very knowledgeable when it comes to tropical fish etc. and if it werent for me finding this forum and taking their advice all my crabs would have probably died. yeah I don't think ill ever trust a petsmart again! don't get me wrong petsmart and other petstores have tons of items for pets and stuff but their knowledge is very limited when it comes to certain things.