Want To Start A Crab Tank

[superman1]

Hello

i have a 25 -30 L tank which has a built in trickle filter in the hood and lighting etc

now i wanted to modify the tank slightly so it has a dry area. what i wanted to know is what kind of enviroment would a red freshwater crab need.

thanks

 

[Jonty]

Hello

i have a 25 -30 L tank which has a built in trickle filter in the hood and lighting etc

now i wanted to modify the tank slightly so it has a dry area. what i wanted to know is what kind of enviroment would a red freshwater crab need.

thanks

red claw crabs would work but they're brackish - also no fish or plants

 

[raptorrex]

Hello

i have a 25 -30 L tank which has a built in trickle filter in the hood and lighting etc

now i wanted to modify the tank slightly so it has a dry area. what i wanted to know is what kind of enviroment would a red freshwater crab need.

thanks

depends on the crab (more often than not they are Redclaw Crabs) you will need about 75% land.
as noted they are brackish, this is vitally important! sadly though the tank is too small. with 75% land and the water filled to 6-8 inches. you will have less than a gallon of water.

there are some Aquatic freshwater Micro crabs around. they would, seem, better suited to your tank.

 

[superman1]

ok...

the tank is 37cm lengh and 34cm high. width is 24cm..

what could i have in this tank.. ive currently got a 5ft tank so want something different .. i.e not fish.

 

[Curiosity101]

Actually if you were really inventive about it you could have red claws in there. You'd just have to put some effort into the design.
I saw someone who set up a paludarium where the way they designed it there was plenty of land area, but as it moved to the base of the tank it came back on itself.
Does that make sense?

And so long as you built a little tower or something they could grip onto and climb on, or some plants then they'll be able to climb in and out of the water easily.

Everything else stands though, brackish and clean heated water is a neccesity.

 

[Curiosity101]

Here

^^ The persons design

^^ This is what I meant about the overhang type thing.

The user is called Mikaila31 and the thread is here... 5Gal Paludarium Build Thread

It's definitely worth a read if you're interested in keeping anything that needs some land and some water.

 

[raptorrex]

Here

^^ The persons design

^^ This is what I meant about the overhang type thing.

The user is called Mikaila31 and the thread is here... 5Gal Paludarium Build Thread

It's definitely worth a read if you're interested in keeping anything that needs some land and some water.

this looks good. to me, its down to the fact crabs are LAND critters, not Aquatic. they use the water as a bath/playground, but little more. question being, do you want a fish tank with crabs, or a crab tank? not even sure how well a plastic tank will stand up to heat lighting. something vitally important to crabs. indeed small glass tanks can have problems with them. how would you keep the "dry" area damp? also , and perhaps most importantly, where is the shore line? this is where, for the most part, RCC's eat. dont get me wrong, this is a great idea. it just its solutions are for our benefit, and not really what the RCC needs.

 

[Curiosity101]

If you actually check out the topic I linked to you'd see practically every one of your questions answered.

I've linked to it because it's the perfect solution to giving them a suitable environment in that sized tank.

 

[raptorrex]

If you actually check out the topic I linked to you'd see practically every one of your questions answered.

I've linked to it because it's the perfect solution to giving them a suitable environment in that sized tank.

as a amphibian tank its awesome. but for crabs, not so much. and no heat lighting is listed. unless you think of compact fluorescent as heat lights. heat is vitally important. as the guys spent very little time in the water. scale the whole thing up, reduce the water volume. cover the land mass in sand, then add deccor. but you end up with a crab tank, if you do that. as i have said, this is a great idea. just not the solution needed for crabs. it would be a good "staging point/quarantine tank, for crabs though. lol, its far better than keeping them in a community freshwater tank though. which, sadly, is what many end up doing. finally, plants are not a good idea with RCC. they are, basically, veg eaters. plants go down very nicely. ( after they smash them up.)

I want to say again, how good of an idea the little tank is. its just your suggestion of how to stock it, i feel, is not the best.

 

[Curiosity101]

If you added one of those little heaters like the 7.5W ones used in betta tanks then it should heat the water enough to cause condensation and so high humidity so long as the lid fitted properly.

Also I never said the OP should literally copy the example in the thread I showed... I was just using it as an example for how you can maximise land:water ratio. If you literally had 75% land and that 'land' stretched to the bottom of the tank then you're missing out on alot of possible water space. As it stands if you follow the general layout as shown on that thread and added a way of the crabs easily getting out onto the land section they you could easily have that as a suitable crab tank.

This is something you hadn't even thought of raptorrex, you just said no. You also aren't trying to see any way to make it suitable. You're also taking the example much further than I had been using it.
If you literally look at the example and make suggestions accordingly then I think you'll find the OP tank could happily house crabs.
Ie. Add sand as opposed to soil and vegetation (like you said)
Also adding a mini heater to the water would provide both enough heat and humidity to keep the crab happy.