Mini Fiddler Crabs - Help Please

[crabberdude]

I have a 10 gallon tank with 3 males and 1 female. There aren't really alot of resources online about taking care of fiddler crabs...I got them because they are easy to take care of...and I don't have to fill the take all the way to the top with water which makes it alot easier when I go to college and back home and stuff.
Here is my tank setup...to the left is the dry section and to the right is wet section, there is also a piece of aquarium safe wood that goes extendes over the water, there is a small hole in it and thats where the water passes through.. At petsmart they us an intank filter and put it in the water section.

The only reason I used gravel is because that is what they had at petsmart....but I read alittle bit on the forums and people recommended sand substrate...which is a bit pricy...but when I get enough many I will switch to sand. I read that they tend to burrow and that sand is what is at their natural habitat.

I have a florecent light that is as long as the aquarium sitting ontop of the aquariums mesh hood. Also a thermometer to keep the temperature of the water. It usually reads around 78-80 F.

To the left is a shallow dish with with hermit crab food and occasionally i bits and pieces of fruit and stuff in their.

MY MAIN CONCERN is MOLTING. If anyone here knows some good information about pet crabs molting and can give me some tips and resources on it that would be great.

And a hand drawn Super Mario Background to make them Happy!

If anyone with experience with fiddler crabs could give me some advice about taking care of them that would be awesome. Also tell me if my setup is adequate.

 

[jourdy288]

I do not know about crabs, but you should go to the invertebrate page.

 

[01edmn]

is your heater in or out of the water if its one you got with the tank it prob needs to be under water

 

[CaraC]

I dont know much about fiddlers,
only that they are brackish water creatures,
males have 1 larger arm which they wave to attract females
and they will shed skin on a regular basis.
During the shedding skin they are vulnerable and weaker.
They need calcium in their diet and I believe they are carnivores.
I believe molting is the shedding of their skin, but not sure.

Nice tank set-up.

 

[madness]

nice tank love the background lol super mario brothers?

 

[AllenLeicester]

Really like the look of your tank mate, Design it yourself?

 

[Esfa]

They need to be kept in brackish water, which means they need some salt in their water. They may do fine in a fresh water and fully aquatic set up for weeks, but will eventually become weak and die.

It is probably best to get a hydrometer and add enough salt (get aquarium salt from the pet store; never use table salt) to the water to attain a specific gravity of around 1.005 - 1.010. Hydrometers are not all that expensive and can be found at pet stores and also home brewing shops.

They can be fed sinking crab food, fish food meant for scavengers (sinking tablets, shrimp pellets, etc), and freeze dried plankton and shrimp.

When they have molted it is best to leave the exoskeleton in the tank, at least for a week or so.

And yeah, it would be best to change to sand as soon as you can.

Sorry for the essay, haha.