The Puffer Forum

I recently bought 3 little red crabs from the pet store, just for something to add to my tank. I know that puffers eat crustaceans but i thought id give it a try anyway.
My question is if there's any way the crabs could infect my puffer with any kind of diseases by being in the same tank? They're in a hospital tank for now and seem to be doing fine. I just thought I would ask before I did it. I've included a picture just in case the crab's breed matters. All the pet store sign said was "red crab" They biggest one is only a little over an inch.

i dont think they will tolerate any climb in salinity you might give your puffer. but then again they might not last that long they will most likely be hunted down immediately. not sure if any parasites carried by crustaceans will effect fish, im sure there are some that might.

Even if they become tasty treats I didnt pay much for them. My puffer doesnt seem to care for clam or crab but loves shrimp. And the man at the pet store said they tolerate brackish water but not full marine. Thanks for the post

Those are what's commonly called 'Red-Claw crabs', I've got a few myself, two in my dwarf puffer tank and one in my irrubesco tank. Thankfully for the crabs, those puffers aren't at all interested, but I would not put it past your GSP to take a bite one day. As for parasites, etc., I would not say a crab doesn't have any, but I've yet to hear about a crab infecting a tank (that doesn't mean it can't happen though, but doubtful I would think).

If I'm not mistaken those crabs need to be able to climb out of the water, so a nice peice of drift wood that breaks the surface would be best in there tank. Also your GSP will no doubt eat them once he is big enough.

Thank you both for the information. and yes im working on getting a piece of drift wood for them to climb up on I'll be moving them into my 30 gal. soon.