Entertaining the thought

strike2 · Post by **strike2** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 6:32 pm

I am currently entertaining the the thought of getting a new 20 gallon and setting up a red clawed crab habitat of sorts. I was wondering if there was anything around the house or outside the house I could use for the crab to climb out of the water on. Would regular tree branches work? cuz I don't really want drift wood.

Boxermom · Post by **Boxermom** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 7:27 pm

Don't use anything that you wouldn't put in your fish aquarium. If its not fish aquarium safe, its not crab safe. Why would you want tree branches and not driftwood? That's kinda what driftwood is.

strike2 · Post by **strike2** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 7:40 pm

I dont know...driftwood is so big and bulky, I was looking to make a stairway thing out of branches.

Boxermom · Post by **Boxermom** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 8:10 pm

Driftwood is available in pretty much every size and shape. Just gotta look around. I have a nice piece that's like a tree in my small tank for my crabs. We also have some in our 10g tanks for the plecos.

strike2 · Post by **strike2** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 8:11 pm

Boxermom wrote:Driftwood is available in pretty much every size and shape. Just gotta look around. I have a nice piece that's like a tree in my small tank for my crabs. We also have some in our 10g tanks for the plecos.

They come nailed or adhered to a board, should this be removed or is there so it can free stand in the middle of the tank?

Boxermom · Post by **Boxermom** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 8:14 pm

They are usually attached to a piece of slate so it won't float. Malaysian and swahala (or something like that) are sinking types of driftwood that don't need to be weighted down. All others can take months, sometimes longer, to become waterlogged enough to stay down. Thus the weights.

strike2 · Post by **strike2** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 8:40 pm

Ah, makes sense. I always worry about rusting (cuz i think they are attatched with nails).

gsolman6 · Post by **gsolman6** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 10:55 pm

strike2 wrote:Ah, makes sense. I always worry about rusting (cuz i think they are attatched with nails).

Usually they are attached with stainless steel or brass screws so oxidation is not a problem

xtc · Post by **xtc** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 11:52 pm

if you have birds- they recommend you bake (350 for 30 min) the wood to kill the parasites- you might do the same for fish/crab tank wood.

Boxermom · Post by **Boxermom** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 11:57 pm

Bake the birds?

JustinPSmith · Post by **JustinPSmith** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 1:48 am

I use to have a 10G fiddler crab tank and I only had a "tower" of slate in it, siliconed together. It looked nice and the crabs liked it.

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Entertaining the thought

Entertaining the thought