# Fiddler crabs



## MartinW (Mar 22, 2006)

I'm thinking of getting some fiddler crabs. Are fiddler crabs very active? I've had hermit crabs but they spent most of their time hiding, and I'm not sure if I should trust websites that say that fiddler crabs are active, because I have seen sites that say that hermit crabs are active, but they're not. I've been doing some research on them and I think I have most of the info I need, but I need some suggestions on the tank set up. I have a 20 gal I'm going to use. Some sites suggest to make a sloping shoreline, but I'm worried that will be hard to maintain because I'll have to reslope it, especially after cleaning. Some other sites recommend just putting in big rocks that the crabs can crawl onto. Does that work well for the hermit crabs?

Martin


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## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

Reasonably brackish water with yes a sloping shoreline. Just get an internal submersible filter, cover most of the bottom with a fine(er) gravel, then stack flagstone on a slope so it makes a hill for the crabs to get out of the water.

Keep the water level at like 50-75% full (obviously make sure you use cycled filter media- they dont like ammonia or nitrtite) which is no problem with an internal filter.


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Fiddlers are definatly active! 

Especially the males, they wave a lot to you or to other females/males.

I personally used a gravel/sand bottom with sloping side that was made with bits of red shale like rock. Held everything in place as i backfilled with stone. Just as long as they have spots to come out they will be okay.

Rocks with holes in them become popular spots to fight over :3

Here is my boy...








A shot of the tank (SOooooo sorry about the cruddy glass/photo)









Him beside his molt... Hehehe


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## MartinW (Mar 22, 2006)

How deep is your water Cid? It's hard to tell from those pics. 50-75% full seems like a lot to me, although I suppose it would be easier to keep the water quality good with the extra water.


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## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

Ya that is a lot of water for fiddlers but if there's enough easy ways onto land no biggie. I was thinking of the water quality... but you do make a good point it might be too much

http://www.aquascape.co.uk/rainbow_crab.jpg

There were stunning rainbow crabs @ BA's Oakville. Stunning.

These need very easy sloping land access as well as enough water to completely submerge themselves... A 30 something % full tank with a lot of easily accessible land works well... Nice nice crabs. Big too.


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

I had only about 65% of the water in the tank... but... with all the gravel, i would say 50%


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## MartinW (Mar 22, 2006)

Those rainbow crabs look great. The only fidlers I've seen in Ottawa were just labeled "Fidler crabs" so I don't really know what kind they are. I've also seen red clawed crabs for sale, but they were out of them. Cid, when you say 65%, do you mean the water level is up to 65% of the height of the aquarium? How big is your aquarium? I have a 20g, but I'll probably use my 15g that has the same dimensions other than the height.


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Yup yup bascially... But with all the water displacement from the stone.. there was really only about 50% or so..

I tried to have as much water as possible and used an internal filter.

I had a ten gallon for one male...but if you can do bigger i would. You want to have really good water quality...


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## MartinW (Mar 22, 2006)

It's so hard to find consistent info on the net! I was hoping someone here might know the answers. Is there any other animals that can go with fiddler crabs? I found a site that said mollies and fancy guppies will go with them (I found a site that said anoles will go with them, but I don't plan on doing that). What's a good male:female ratio, and how many fiddler crabs will go in a filtered 20g? I have a cable going into the tank for the heater and the filter, will they climb up the cable and escape? I think my filter's almost cycled so hopefully soon I'll be able to get some fiddler crabs.

Edit: The 20g has a 24x12" base and from the top of the gravel to the water level is around 4". The gravel layer is 2".

Thanks,
Martin


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Hmm well i will telll you some of the things i tried out..

Mollies could work in your set up yes, along with some cool knight gobies but dont expect to add anything that you dont expect to loose

I try to have one male... Or two.. With lots of girls and shoot for everyone to be the same size.

In a 20 gallon i would go with a trio. One male, three girls..

Fiddlers are not too great at climbing like the red claws can. But i would still be careful and use a lid... go for some bendy screen just covering the wires or somthing... You'll figure it out eventaully. I used a reptile metal top myself 

Hope that helps you some!


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## MartinW (Mar 22, 2006)

Thanks Jess! How often do you do a water change? The sites I've looked up mostly say replace some water once or twice a month, but I'd rather do it once a week to make sure the water quality's good. I'm thinking of doing a 25-30% change each week, which would cost me around 1 box of ~$3/$4 aquarium salt. I'd like to get an idea of what other people are doing.

Martin


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

I would do a weekly w/c...Remeber to do a bit of a gravel vac cause these guys love to break down thier food really well. They eat the tinnest things.. you'll see them picking at rock all the time.

Which also means you dont wanna over feed either... Just make sure everyone has a bit and they are good.

You might wanna mark off the tank somehow so you know if your water evaporates on you. Just top off with some delcorinated FW  I would do a daily check on that.. but with a 20 you shuld be alright.


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## MartinW (Mar 22, 2006)

I bought some fiddler crabs! They're so fun to watch! My female isn't very active and she spends most of her time hiding compared to the males. Are your females like that, or did I get an exceptionally shy female? I'm still not sure if I should get some fish for the tank.


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

MartinW said:


> I bought some fiddler crabs! They're so fun to watch! My female isn't very active and she spends most of her time hiding compared to the males. Are your females like that, or did I get an exceptionally shy female? I'm still not sure if I should get some fish for the tank.


Whats you male female ratio?? She could just be getting herself fit in.. They usually do well and are active... I would just give them time to settle in 

Sometimes slowness and lethargy is a bad thing.. but i wouldn't worry as of yet.

Congrats!


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## MartinW (Mar 22, 2006)

I originally had 2 (fully-legged) males and 2 females. One female who was missing 2 legs since I got her died, the other one, which was very inactive, has all her legs. I replaced the dead one with another female which had 1 leg missing (there weren't any other females with all their legs at the pet shop!). Then that one died. Then a few days later I found the other male dead and missing his big claw! So I haven't had much luck. But I've had the 2 remaining ones for a while now and they seem perfectly healthy. Both of these 2 have had all their legs since I got them, but the female runs and hides whenever I'm nearby. I'm guessing the 2 females that died, who were missing legs, were probably unhealthy or very stressed since they were missing legs, and maybe the male was attacked by the other male?

I would like to have 2 males and 2 females, but I suppose it's safer to just have 1 male, so I'll stick to your advice and just get one more female to make it 1 male and 2 females (do you think it's likely that my male killed the other male? I would really like 2 males, but I don't want to keep on losing crabs) I'm going to wait a bit though just to make sure everyone's alright.

Martin


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## MartinW (Mar 22, 2006)

I was at the pet shop earlier in the week and they had a brand new shipment of fiddlers and they looked so healthy so I had to buy one! Everyone's doing very well and they all have all their limbs! I now have 1 male and 2 females, and I don't plan on getting any more. That inactive female is also very active now. She used to have all this black gunky stuff between her belly plate and her body, and she used to pick at it like she was taking care of it. I thought maybe they were eggs but I don't know what happened to them. The behaviour of the males and females seem very different. The male likes waving his claw around, and the females like exploring a lot, and seem to spend a lot less time out of the water.


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Yea a big ball of black stuff could have been eggs 

Its really realy hard raise the little guys thou.. Just google them and you'll find out why

They are very different eh? LOL pretty active once they get settled in. I am happy everyone now is okay :3


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## MartinW (Mar 22, 2006)

I found an old rock I had so I put it in and they love it! It's got tons of holes and little passages and the females spend most of their time on/in the rock. It seems that the male has claimed the other big rock for himself. I'm thinking of trying a bumblebee goby in there, if I can find one (and if they're not too expensive). Have you ever tried a bumblebee goby with fiddlers?


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