[thelub]

A customer brought in a fiddler crab to my LFS because they bought it from Petco and didn't realize what it was and what its needs were. So I picked it up for 3 bucks.

I did some research about them and found there to be very little information or photos of fiddler crabitats. I had a spare 10g tank sitting around so me and the woman threw together something we thought would work (its gonna be her pet ).

Started out with a glass divider in the 10g to make a wet and dry side.

This is where I stopped taking pictures lol. We got too engrossed in setting it up that I forgot to take pictures of the progress. We siliconed lava rock to the wet side of the divider in a slope so the crab would have a way to get up to the dry side. I've heard they don't like to climb. In the dry side I also put a little glass 'planter' that I had made a while ago for a wabi-kusa setup but never went through with it. I want to add some terrestrial plants in that section, just gotta find something suitable. I also added a driftwood log in the wet section to give him another alternative to the wet/dry transition.

Excuse the plastic plant. Its just a temporary place holder

Filtration will be via a tetra 2-10 in tank filter. I located the filter so it creates a little bit of a water fall.

Salinity is set to about 1.008

Any input would be appreciated. This is my first dive into a brackish setup. I'm looking for plant ideas that would go well in here.

 

[thelub]

I wish I could get my hands on some tidal mud. I might just flood his 'dry' area to attempt a muddy area. They're only like 3 bucks at petco so I might try to find a buddy or mate.

 

[thelub]

I'm working on crabitat v2.0. I just picked up a couple of 20g long tanks and one of them is going to be a crabitat. Not sure about the 2nd. Probably a remake of my current shrimp tank.....

 

[thelub]

That looks amazing nice work and good on you providing a home for the fiddler crab.

Thanks!

You could try clay/sand mix for a tidal mud

That's a good idea. I'm tossing around some ideas on what to do. There is very little out there on ideas for fiddler crab habitats. Version 2.0 will be much better and the 20 long will give me a much better area to set up and play with.

 

[thelub]

Thanks JoshBA. I have learned a few things on this original setup that I won't be doing on the 2nd. First, the wall is WAY too tall. It doesn't need that much water and because of it, the crab is almost never in the sandy side. There needs to be more of a slope so he feels more comfortable climbing in and out of the water. I usually see him perched up on the rocks, but hardly ever in the sand. I've seem some setups where sections of PVC are buried in the sand to create tunnels which I think will work well. The dimensions of the 20 long I'll be using will be better for this too.

I think I will also put a good layer of the lava rock under the sand on the dry side so it can drain.

I've been dropping various clippings of plants in the tank from time to time, and no surprise, hygro sunset seems to be doing just fine in there. Duckweed also seems to have no issue staying green in the brackish water also. Weeds will be weeds I guess.

 

[thelub]

Switched out to a 20 long. I went ahead and sealed up the 'dry' side. I couldn't figure out how to drain without the sand moving over to the wet side. I'm keeping the wet side sand free because my little tetra sand kept getting stopped up with sand in the impeller no matter how I try to pre-filter it.

Also got my little guy a girlfriend. They've been flirting all evening tonight. He's waving, she's creeping back and forth. Pretty funny to watch.

Finally added some live plants to the dry side. Some 'lewisia' (forground) and some christmas fern (background).

 

[thelub]

The female molted last night! After only 2 days in her new home. Life must be better than Petco :hihi:

 

[thelub]

Another picture of Mr Miagi (fiance named him ) I have yet to get a good picture of the female. She likes to get out and dry off more than the male does for some reason.

 

[thelub]

I grabbed a couple pictures last night. The female has dug a tunnel in the dry area. I'm wondering if she is going to have babies??

When he's not diving into his burrow, he's out waving to the house. The female has been in hiding for several days now. By my research she could be preparing to have babies.

 

[thelub]

More tunnels are dug and the female is still in hiding. Fingers crossed that she's breeding. It would be cool to have a successful hatch. I've never heard of anybody breeding them in captivity.

 

[thelub]

I've read they dig tunnels into muddy banks to breed :shrugs:

 

[thelub]

No, no babies that I've noticed. I think she was molting. They have finally dug tunnels like I always heard about.

 

[thelub]

My male molted the other day. Flawless molt.

 

[thelub]

They dig in the mud just to hang out. The female will spend days out of the water. She was carrying a ton of eggs. No clue if they hatched or anything. They hatch out of eggs into a planktonic stage and I'm not sure if they could survive in an aquarium setting. There's no way to protect a planktonic stage baby from filters.

 

[thelub]

I was thinking about trying to harvest the eggs off her and raise them like baby brine shrimp

 

[thelub]

Interesting.... Thanks for that little bit of info. I have them in brackish water right now. I wonder if she would find a container with full salinity water and lay them in it