Fiddler Crab HELP!!!

[purplecandle]

So, my daughter comes home from school with a fiddler crab! No notice to parents, nothing. They were studying fiddler crabs and millipedes and the ones that did not die got sent home with children!

It is in a small cup with sand and a lot of poop. They also sent home a spoon full of freeze dried plankton.

Most of the crabs they did have died..so this one may not have much time.

I have a ten gallon tank.

I was going to use play sand.

however, half of the sand on half of the tank will be higher (6-7 inches) than the other side. the other side will have sand about an inch, but covered with brackish water 4-5 inches...basically a simulation of a shore. Does this sound appropriate?

Also, I hate freeze dried food, is there anything else they will eat? The one I have is a female I believe..

Any thoughts? Advice is appreciated!

[pufferpuggirl]

That's awful that so many died ... but at least you might get to save one.

I had land crabs for a time, so I might be able to offer some suggestions. They will need warmth, so make sure you have a way of heating the tank. What you could do is to put a container in there with water in and place a regular aquarium heater down in the water, just make sure you give the crab a way to get in and out of the water, as they aren't pure aquatic crabs, so they can't stay in water 24/7. Play sand is fine, that's what I used too.

I fed my crabs all sorts ....fish pellets, pieces of shrimp, veggies such as lettuce, carrots, and pieces of apples, bananas and even grapes. Since fiddler's are the sort of crab that would hang out on the banks of rivers and creeks, they are most likely scavengers. So try some of the above and see what happens.

I hope this has been at least a little helpful for you. I had wanted to get a couple of fiddler's but haven't seen any at the LFS's near us. Good luck with your little fiddlerette!

[Iliveinazoo]

If you can do a shore with 10(US)G then that would be great if not then being able to get out of the water is a must as they spend most of their time out of it and they will drown, so if you can't do a slope then plenty of rock and/or wood surface will do. Hopefully you have a lid so can keep it relatively humid

You can keep them above SG1.005 at 25DegC but SG1.010+ at 25DegC would be better.

If the tank is not cycled then carry out daily water changes until it is; they should be more tolerant of poor water conditions compared to your average Tetra due to where they live in the wild but shouldn't be kept any different than you would keep your puffers.

They mainly eat algae and decaying matter; I've read that you should provide their food in a bowl above the surface but in my experience they will not find the food bowl all of the time because they just move from one spot to the other eating without thought, we mainly add a few scraps of what's left over from feeding our other fish to the water and do weekly 80-90% water changes and removing all decor. When we have left food above the surface it has decomposed without being touched. We feed mainly frozen foods but they will take crab pellets as well.

You could tell if you had a male because he would have one massive claw.

Even though my SG fluctuates between SG1.010 and SG1.018 at 25DegC we try to keep the KH at marine levels so add calcium sulphate and epsom salts.

[purplecandle]

Yea she is definitely a female..two idy bity claws..

right now I have her in a swallow bowl with about 1 third an inch of freshwater and a rock to sit on..I was afraid she might be thirsty LOL

So, from the way it sounds I need a filter?

and a heater...i will get one of those really small ones

Does anybody know if these things are social? If so..are there any other species of crab they could go with in case I cannot find another fiddler?

THANKS so much for the advice!!!!!!!

[soggydrysuit]

Just a few ideas,

If you could find a small glass tank, that would be great. I've silliconed in a four inch high partition before for a terrapin in a four footer but obviously, your tank could be a lot smaller. And shallower, if you can get a filter submerged.

You could use the underwater section to house the heater and a small power filter - just a thought a small air powered box filter may be safer to use in shallow water, then use bogwood or rocks or plastic mesh to allow the crab(s) to get out to the 'dry' section.

If a heater won't fit in any 'wet' part, how about using a heating mat under the tank? I don't know if you can get these in the US and they are uncommon in the UK.

+1 on the lid for humidity and salt.

Sounds like an interesting if challenging project - I'd like to try something like this myself.

Same system, I'd just have mudskippers in it!

[pufferpuggirl]

Funny you should mention about siliconing in a partition, as that's what I did when I had the African land crabs, that way they had a wet area, while the other 2/3 of the tank was dry land. And the wet part kept the filter and heater, so the tank had high humidity, which is important with any crab I think.

Mudskippers are very interesting Mr Soggy, I have 2 tanks, one with my dwarfs, and one with my larger skippers. I've had many different set ups since getting them, it's not easy getting it right and they are very good escape artists too. I've lost 2 of my big African mudskippers from them jumping out of the tank when I've been cleaning it (turn my back to throw out the dirty water and they jumped!). I love my mudskippers!

[Iliveinazoo]

Yea she is definitely a female..two idy bity claws..

right now I have her in a swallow bowl with about 1 third an inch of freshwater and a rock to sit on..I was afraid she might be thirsty LOL

So, from the way it sounds I need a filter?

and a heater...i will get one of those really small ones

Does anybody know if these things are social? If so..are there any other species of crab they could go with in case I cannot find another fiddler?

THANKS so much for the advice!!!!!!!

Yeah they still need water as well

I don't know of many brackish water crabs other than the red claw which is quite a bit bigger and i would worry that it would kill the fiddler. I'm sure that I've read a rule of 1 male fiddler to 2 females. People have kept fiddlers with Indian Dwarf Mudskippers but I think that it would be a risk since Skippers feed on crabs in the wild and it didn't work with my Barbarus's (I saved them just in time!)

If you got a large enough tank you could maybe try keeping small goby-like fish with them? That said we now only have one male and he seems perfectly fine in there on his own.

Pufferpuggirl I know what you mean! we originally kept our skippies in a terrarium with a glass door - every time I opened the door one of the skippies would jump out which would result in a 10 minute chase around the bedroom!