Little Red Claw Crabs Story / Question

[JDWolf]

I got four Red Claw Crabs about a month ago, 1 male and 3 females.

On Saturday i got up and saw one sat motionless in one of my plants. After a couple of hours of it been there and not moving i got a little worried about it , so i opened the tank and gave it a poke, it still did not move. So i knocked it out of the plant and picked it up. At that point i realized it was a molt and not a dead crab! Bloody thing scared me half to death, thought it had died on me!

Anyway 2 of the females and the male have all molted now and i am just waiting for the last one to join in! My question is what do i do with the molts? Do i leave them in or am i best taking them out? I think i read somewhere that i should leave them in as the crabs will eat the molt to regain some calcium, or is that shrimp im thinking of?

 

[raptorrex]

I got four Red Claw Crabs about a month ago, 1 male and 3 females.

On Saturday i got up and saw one sat motionless in one of my plants. After a couple of hours of it been there and not moving i got a little worried about it , so i opened the tank and gave it a poke, it still did not move. So i knocked it out of the plant and picked it up. At that point i realized it was a molt and not a dead crab! Bloody thing scared me half to death, thought it had died on me!

Anyway 2 of the females and the male have all molted now and i am just waiting for the last one to join in! My question is what do i do with the molts? Do i leave them in or am i best taking them out? I think i read somewhere that i should leave them in as the crabs will eat the molt to regain some calcium, or is that shrimp im thinking of?

lol you are not the first to get that shock!
i would suggest that you leave the moult in the tank for about a week, if it has not alweady been eaten. dont worry it will not go off and damage your water. the crab will normally eat what it wants, leaving just the claws often.

on that point, if you can keep the claws, you will have a good chart of how your crab grows. i do this with my Crayfish.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

What sort of tank set up are you keeping the crabs in i.e. freshwater/brackish/marine, gallons of tank, tankmates, decor, substrate and access etc?
Red claw crabs do best in a brackish tank of at least 10gals with access to land and with a sand or soil substrate;

http/badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile101.html

Marine salt and land acess area's is needed for good shell development while the crab is moulting, while a soft sand or soil substrate will allow the crab to perform natural behavior like burrowing and make scavenging easier, gravel is really too heavy for stuff like this.

 

[JDWolf]

What sort of tank set up are you keeping the crabs in i.e. freshwater/brackish/marine, gallons of tank, tankmates, decor, substrate and access etc?
Red claw crabs do best in a brackish tank of at least 10gals with access to land and with a sand or soil substrate;

http/badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile101.html

Marine salt and land acess area's is needed for good shell development while the crab is moulting, while a soft sand or soil substrate will allow the crab to perform natural behavior like burrowing and make scavenging easier, gravel is really too heavy for stuff like this.

They are in a freshwater tank with an old angel fish (which did go for them at first but now doesnt thanks to a few nips!), they had access to land by some bogwood and also access to a brackish pool near the top of the tank (marine salt is been used for this). Small gravel substarte which doesnt seem too heavy for them as they are digging all the time, with a number of caves that they dig around in. Also a couple of plants with they like to sit in / pick at.

 

[raptorrex]

They are in a freshwater tank with an old angel fish (which did go for them at first but now doesnt thanks to a few nips!), they had access to land by some bogwood and also access to a brackish pool near the top of the tank (marine salt is been used for this). Small gravel substarte which doesnt seem too heavy for them as they are digging all the time, with a number of caves that they dig around in. Also a couple of plants with they like to sit in / pick at.

short of a true Crab lodge, it sounds like you have a nice setup there. the reason they are digging is to try and find somewhere to sleep! the usually burrow below the sand as the tide comes in, and sleep. take care you have a tight fitting lid, these guys are very illusive, and they don't last very long away from the tank!

It is often possible to keep these critters with fish. it may be worth thinking about going brackish, in the long run that may well be better than staying fresh. if you only have the one fish, it might be worth a thought.

 

[JDWolf]

short of a true Crab lodge, it sounds like you have a nice setup there. the reason they are digging is to try and find somewhere to sleep! the usually burrow below the sand as the tide comes in, and sleep. take care you have a tight fitting lid, these guys are very illusive, and they don't last very long away from the tank!

It is often possible to keep these critters with fish. it may be worth thinking about going brackish, in the long run that may well be better than staying fresh. if you only have the one fish, it might be worth a thought.

I'm most likely going brackish when the angel dies (he is quite old), but figured the pool would be the best way to go for the time being. They are always in and out of the brackish water.

Ive made sure they have a number of tight fitting caves. I have cut a terracotta plant pot saucer in half and cut a opening in the edge, then buried it in the gravel with just a little removed from the opening. Think it took them about 10 mins before they found the caves and start to dig it. They have also dug a nice little cave under the bogwood.

They also seem to love hiding in one of the plants!

I must admit i really like these little critters, very fun to sit and watch them run around!

 

[diburning]

Here's a tip. Feed them algae flakes/wafers. The algae based foods have trace amounts of iodine in it. the iodine will help your crustaceans molt. (they won't lose legs or claws as often during molting)

 

[raptorrex]

Here's a tip. Feed them algae flakes/wafers. The algae based foods have trace amounts of iodine in it. the iodine will help your crustaceans molt. (they won't lose legs or claws as often during molting)

good info there meepster! they are mostly veg based when they live in the wild.

 

[JDWolf]

Thanks for all the advice, the crabs have eaten some of the molts.

My wife cant get over how much bigger the males claws look, he looks massive now!

 

[raptorrex]

Thanks for all the advice, the crabs have eaten some of the molts.

My wife cant get over how much bigger the males claws look, he looks massive now!

some of these guys get massive claws, very impressive. this little guy was just under 1 inch across, each claw was about 1/4 long.

 

[LostWelshman]

I bought two red claw crabs about 5 weeks ago, I thought i had a good setup : brackish water, couple of places to get out of the water, places to hide and they both seemed to be eating well (they like cucumber a lot), the tank has small gravel in the bottom as it came with it.

My question is about molting : 1 Crab started to molt but things didn't seem to go well from the start - upside down on his back just kicking his legs, after 1 day had 4 legs out and another day later was no better off. I did put him on his feet a couple of times but after two days his legs were hardly moving. Eventually he was free from his old shell minus both his claws ! a sad sight indeed. I read that they can grow back after several molts but another day later had died.

So, oh yeah the question : How long does a molt normally take ? From what i gather online it seems to be an overnight occurrence ? and what iodine and calcium things to add to possibly aid molt ???

I am completely gutted he/she died as it was very entertaining and not at all scared with people staring through the tank. I do put an algae flakes in but they don't seem to like them (not Tetra ones mind).

Help, as i don't want my remaining one to go the same way !!
Pete

 

[raptorrex]

I bought two red claw crabs about 5 weeks ago, I thought i had a good setup : brackish water, couple of places to get out of the water, places to hide and they both seemed to be eating well (they like cucumber a lot), the tank has small gravel in the bottom as it came with it.

My question is about molting : 1 Crab started to molt but things didn't seem to go well from the start - upside down on his back just kicking his legs, after 1 day had 4 legs out and another day later was no better off. I did put him on his feet a couple of times but after two days his legs were hardly moving. Eventually he was free from his old shell minus both his claws ! a sad sight indeed. I read that they can grow back after several molts but another day later had died.

So, oh yeah the question : How long does a molt normally take ? From what i gather online it seems to be an overnight occurrence ? and what iodine and calcium things to add to possibly aid molt ???

I am completely gutted he/she died as it was very entertaining and not at all scared with people staring through the tank. I do put an algae flakes in but they don't seem to like them (not Tetra ones mind).

Help, as i don't want my remaining one to go the same way !!
Pete

sorry i took me so long to find your post! moults take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour or so, adding iodine or food containing iodine, will always help, not sure on the calcium though, it seems to be absorbed through the shell, not taken in via the mouth. it may be that the crab had simply grown too much to extract itself from the old shell. this can happen if they are fed too much protein. their natural food is dead and rotting veg matter.

 

[LostWelshman]

sorry i took me so long to find your post! moults take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour or so, adding iodine or food containing iodine, will always help, not sure on the calcium though, it seems to be absorbed through the shell, not taken in via the mouth. it may be that the crab had simply grown too much to extract itself from the old shell. this can happen if they are fed too much protein. their natural food is dead and rotting veg matter.

Thanks for feedback ! I decided to replace my lost crab tomorrow, so will look in store for iodine food...
It would be helpful to know what foods people have had good results with.

ta
Pete

 

[raptorrex]

sorry i took me so long to find your post! moults take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour or so, adding iodine or food containing iodine, will always help, not sure on the calcium though, it seems to be absorbed through the shell, not taken in via the mouth. it may be that the crab had simply grown too much to extract itself from the old shell. this can happen if they are fed too much protein. their natural food is dead and rotting veg matter.

Thanks for feedback ! I decided to replace my lost crab tomorrow, so will look in store for iodine food...
It would be helpful to know what foods people have had good results with.

ta
Pete

don't worry about iodine in food, simply putting it in the water will do. as for food, well anything will go down, lol, so bloodworm, though only every week or so, same with any other protein rich foods, cucumber was a great fav with mine, fresh peas, skinned first, algae waffers and there are many propitiatory brands of "crab" food out there. just ensure that they are not too high in protein, and have a decent level of fibre too.

 

[Catfish enthusiast]

Thanks for all the advice, the crabs have eaten some of the molts.

My wife cant get over how much bigger the males claws look, he looks massive now!

Im thinking of buying a tank specifically for these guys! just wondering how fast yours actually grew??