The Puffer Forum

They are found alongside rivers in Africa, mainly Nigeria, and so may be brackish. I kept mine in freshwater, but remember, they should have more land than water anyway, as they are "land crabs". Not all crabs are brackish. For instance, I have Matano crabs and Vampire crabs, which are both freshwater crabs, however, the little red-claw crabs are actually brackish. If you do make up a brackish solution, I would keep it very minimal, not too much salt, just to be on the safe side.

Aqualog does a book on crayfish, shrimp and crabs and it gives some good information on those species. I love all my Aqualog books, they tend to have good solid information in them.

These particular crabs are fresh water. The harder the water the better, but you don't want to put anything in the water.

These particular crabs are fresh water. The harder the water the better, but you don't want to put anything in the water.

any tankmates?

Hello .
Im currently in the process of setting up a new tank for 1-2 Rainbow Crabs and am after some advice . The tank i have is 36"x15"x12". Ive been looking online and been in to various shops to speak with people about how to set the tank up and ive been bombarded with all different information and am a tad confused :S. I was hoping that i could get some answers to a few questions on here. Ive been told that sand is the best substrate to use, is this advised? What sort of temperature does the water need to be at? What humidity do the crabs need, ive been told that if the tank is to dry that the crabs struggle to breath :S. What sort of land to water ratio do they need? 1/2:1/2, 1/4:3/4 ? Ive been advised to feed them Crab Cuisine pellets, do they also need Calcium suppliments? ie, Calcium powder? Also what other foods do they eat?

Any info anyone can provide will be much appreciated

Many thanks

Hi,
If you look through this thread you will probably find all the info you need on setting up your tank and taking care of your crab. You'll find it an interesting read and there are pictures too but make sure to read all of the thread as in the beginning it is when i was starting out, then as i got to know my crabs i got to know how to better look after them. Puffergirl gave me lots of good quality advise and have some really healthy crabs so it's well worth the read.

i answer to the question about food, they love the crab cuisene pellets. If you give them extra calcium that will be a bonus for them. I feel mine turtle/torious pellets. But as well as these artificial foods, you NEED to feed them natural foods like carrot, pepper, apple etc. Any fruit or veg that isnt mushy and they can crunch on.

Once you've read through the thread let me know if there are any other questions. I've actually recently bought a bearded dragon starter kit, which is a huge tank with equipment for bearded dragons but it is actually perfect for my crab, as he's grown huge.

Hey again ,
Had a good read of this thread over the last few weeks, ive found the info very useful and a good read to . Taken alot of both your ideas on board and have set up the tank with a divide in it, its roughly 1/3 land to 2/3 water at the moment, which i can swap over when he gets bigger . The land part ive compacted damp sand in to and the water is roughly 5inches deep with a layer of small gravel at the bottom, a small heater and a decent filter to keep the water clear . Dont have a proper lid for it, but am using a condensation tray at the moment to keep it humid wich seems to be doing the trick . Its still not quite finished yet tho, got a few rocks and bits of wood to put in it. Can post a pic or 2 if your interested .

We got our crab roughly a month ago now, hes currently in a smaller holding tank until his new home is ready for him . My girlfriend has named him Sebastian (as it is her crab really :p). He seems to be doing well and is very entertaining to watch . Hes rather small at the moment and hasnt molted since we have had him, but i have noticed that 2 of his legs that were missing are regrowing rather fast, which is good. In the tank hes in he has a fake hanging plant (one used for reptiles, non-toxic, i checked ) and he seems to enjoy nibbleing it, cutting and re-arranging it and lately hes been climbing up it and sleeping in it, wich is rather funny to see, lol. Oh, and he likes carrot . Again, can post pics/vid if your interested .

Tho there are a few things im still a little unclear on, do they need a set humidity? and how dangerous is Nitrite levels in the water to them? ive been told they are very sensitive to it :S. Any thoughts?

Hope all your crabs n critters are doing well

Regards,
Cyan.

Hey, I always love to see pics of crabs so post as many as you want!!

As far as humidity is concerned, mines in a tank at the moment where it only seems to get humid at night but in the day when the lights are on the air seems to be clear....and he's doing fine. So aslong as it's atleast a bit humid im sure that will be more than enough.
Also with the nitrate, i'm not really sure to be honest. My crabs have been through alot, with water changes where i havn't checked the temperature at all and they seem to cope. I think they are quite strong as long as it isn't for too long of a period of time.

If your crab is alive and eating and moving around then there shouldn't be anything wrong with him.

Looking forward to the pics

Hey .
Humidity seems to be rather high most of the time around 80%, and sometimes drops a little in the evening to about 50%. When I do water changes I tend to use a small amount of de-chlorinator, like aquasafe or stress zyme just to be on the safe side. How long do you keep your lights on for during the day?

Having trouble posting the pics at the moment, keeps telling me the file is to big :s. So I'm going to take sum more pics on a different camera and see if it will let me post them in a day or 2.

Found Seb sitting in the top of his hanging plant yesterday, took me ages to find him, lol, he likes hanging around in it atm, tho he seems to have gone off his food in the last few days which is worrying me a little.

Will post pics as soon as I get hold of another camera.

Hope alls well.

Cyan.

Dont be worried. He will go through phases of eating lots then not eating at all. They are scavengers remember. Ive not really been feeding mine much recently just to try and keep his lifestyle more natural
you might find that hes preparing himself for a molt!!

Dont be worried. He will go through phases of eating lots then not eating at all. They are scavengers remember. Ive not really been feeding mine much recently just to try and keep his lifestyle more natural
you might find that hes preparing himself for a molt!!

Fantastic news. Seb has just this moment molted . He's all black now bless him. That explains his recent behavior tho, which is a relief. Cleaned him out earlier this afternoon, so I don't know if that prompted his molt, but I'm glad I did as he's now got a clean tank to recouperate in . Any good on feeding just after molting?

Still trying to get hold of a camera to take pics. Hopefully can add some soon

Regards
Cyan

This is crazy! My crab has just molted too! Took him about 2 hours in total from when i noticed the crack in his shell to him climbing out of the last bit.

Leave him to rest for a bit, he'll eat his shell if he's hungry. Then feed him lots coz he will want the food to grow. If u have things with calcium them it will be really good for him. But even so, throw sum veg in for him too coz they are full of goodness.

Great new mate hope he is healthy. I'm scared now coz mines molted about 5 times so he's gonna be huge after a few days, he was already too scary for me haha i remember wen i used to pick him up, i wouldnt dare do that anymore.

Great news on your crab! Hope he's doing well . I was amazed at how fast Seb molted, I noticed 2 little splits on the sides of his carapace, went out to get sum KFC and when I git back he was out, must have been 40mins max.

I left him to it for a few days then removed the old shell as he didn't seem to want it in there, he's been feeding really well, eaten lots of crab pellets and a grape or 2. I moved him in to his new tank yesterday and he seems to like it .

How big is your crab now? Sebs got quite big now he's molted, I was amazed .

There is a pic attached to this so hopefully it'll work this time, if it does ill upload more later .

Hope all is well .

Regards
Cyan

Sebs new tank