information?

[deathdealer91]

Does anyone have any information on red claw crabs? I'm thinking about getting some but can't find very much about them. Any info will help. thanks, Robert

[formica]

I had some years ago, they ate their way through most of my bottom dwellers, except my stinging cat fish, which eventually ate them lol (i didnt know enough about what species to put together at the time!), they also ate all the plants and harassed any fish which got within range

they where pretty easy to keep tho, except they where excellent escape artists, you need a very secure lid, they will climb up the heater power cables, filter pipes, and anything else available.

I kept my tank at about 26-27C, and used a filter which was rated for 4 times the capacity of the tank.

Lighting 12hrs a day helps their natural cycle, you'll probably find they are most active late evening/early morning, I set my lighting cycle about 6hours off from actual day/nighttime to catch their activity, normal house lighting is usually dark enough to not disturb them

they are very easy to keep anyways, just be careful with which fish you have in there, if you have bottom dwellers, they need to be big enough and fast enough to escape, but they will be harassed, so probably best to avoid them all together

...for food, they will eat absolutly anything, mine loved bloodworms, shrimp, bits of veg...and the plants and other fish

[Jinxygirl]

If they are anything like Fiddler crabs then they are ridiculously easy to care for.. just have to make sure to have marine salt and get the ph levels right. Also as stated above.. crabs are horrible for "running away" lol so to be on the safe side get a really tight locking lid.

[formica]

red claws do well in freshwater, saltwater and brackish, take your pick! some say that they do best in brackish, but i never had problems with them in freshwater

[swolek]

To keep them long-term (wanting them to live more than a year or two), definitely go with brackish water. Make sure they can get out of the water, as well. They can survive submerged for very long periods of time but it's not very natural for them. I would offer a nice land area with sandy substrate . Regular tropical aquarium temperatures are fine.

Like all crabs, they're escape artists, so have a tightly locking lid . They eat basically anything so feed a variety of foods...fish foods, mysis shrimp, brine shrimp, veggies, etc.

[Hannibalcanibal]

They come from mangroves, and do best in brackish water (in my experience).

Want something cooler, though? Vampire crabs, geosesarma. One of the worlds only true freshwater crabs, breed in captivity (don't even need to lay eggs, the eggs hatch straight into baby crabs). And the best part? they can be kept like dart frogs, even heard of them being kept with dart frogs. Personally my favorite crab.

They can be expensive, hard to find, and are very small, though. Red claws certainly hold some advantage over them in captivity.

My one recommendation for housing them (red claws) is keep them in brackish with consistent access to air. Other than that, you are good to go.

[deathdealer91]

Thank you all for the info. ill take it in to think about. And iv seen some vampire crabs for sale online. And what about Halloween crabs? Iv seen them too. does anybody have any info on them? Ill have to figure out which ones i want lol

[swolek]

Originally Posted by deathdealer91

Thank you all for the info. ill take it in to think about. And iv seen some vampire crabs for sale online. And what about Halloween crabs? Iv seen them too. does anybody have any info on them? Ill have to figure out which ones i want lol

Halloween crabs are pretty easy. They're land dwellers so while they need access to water, the tank would be mostly land (eco earth works really well for them since they can burrow in it and it holds humidity).