Question about fiddler crabs

[Zante]

Now that my vampire crabs are almost died out (only one left), I was thinking of setting up the tank for fiddler crabs. If possible, though, I'd rather not rescape it completely.

The tank is 80cm by 30cm base. one quarter of it is water, about 6cm deep. There is a sloping "drywall" of stones that keeps back the soil. The soil is between 8 and 10cm deep.

By soil I mean a 50/50 mix of sand and potting soil.

There is a log that is part in the water and part on the soil.
Under the log, in the water, there is a small slate cave.
On the land part there are a couple of pieces of wood under which the crabs can hide, and a rock that is against the back glass, again as a hiding spot for the crabs. Hiding spots also in the water.

The crabs can also hide under the foliage, if they don't eat it all up! I have anubias, crypts and java moss in there. I have already checked, and they should be fine with the lower end of brackish water.

Is this suitable for fiddler crabs or should I rescape it? I'd rather avoid it because the plants are coming really nicely.
How many crabs will be happy in this size tank?
Any suggestions on a particular species? If possible I'd like a busy tank, with scuttling crabs. The vampires have been a bit of a disappointment in that sense.

 

[mikey11]

Is this suitable for fiddler crabs or should I rescape it?

sounds great to me.....but i have never kept crabs

 

[Colin_T]

you do know fiddler crabs are marine and not fresh water?
the plants won't survive and you need salt in their tank or the fiddler crabs won't survive.

 

[Zante]

you do know fiddler crabs are marine and not fresh water?
the plants won't survive and you need salt in their tank or the fiddler crabs won't survive.

They are brackish, not marine, and...

I have anubias, crypts and java moss in there. I have already checked, and they should be fine with the lower end of brackish water.

 

[Tyler_Fishman]

You should do a mangrove setup, have some red mangrove trees in the sand soil mix, you can even buy this stuff called mangrove mud which is mangrove mud unsprisingly, the reef keeping hobby uses it as a growth medium for their mangroves in the refugium part of their sump (if your familiar with that anyways) Vallenseria is salt tolerant so you can plant it in a brackish setup for certain, I would no go with soil, I heavily reccomend the mangrove mud mixed with a fine agronite baised substrate ( crushed coral) Caribsea Live sand has worked good for me, crabs will pick and filter as well as consume the sand which is good for the crabs health as a constant source of calcium. Remember to have a deep sand bed as they are burrowers and makes love to dig burrows. I doubt that other plants you listed will grow in brackish water unfortunately, but you could put some ghost shrimp and jungle val in the water part of you setup which would look pretty dang cool

 

[NickAu]

These plants can live in water with a specific gravity up to 1.003:

Anubias barteri/nana

Ceratophyllum demersum a.k.a. Foxtail or Hornwort

Ceratopteris cornuta a.k.a. Watersprite or Broad-Leaf Watersprite

Crinum thaianum a.k.a. Onion Plant

Cryptocoryne wendtii

Hygrophila spp.

Vallisneria spp. (except smaller species like Vallisneria spiralis which tend to be more fussy)

Vesicularia Dubyana a.k.a. Java Moss ( can handle a S.G. up to 1.005+)

 

[Zante]

Thank you