Ive Got Three Little Red Crabs How Often Should I Feed Them ?

[bigblokey0]

as above

 

[raptorrex]

as with all my stock i feed once a day. they eat almost anything, but fresh veg go down well, but they will grab anything that falls to the bottom.

Perhaps more important, are you keeping them in brackish water, and do they have any land they can get too. Redcrabs are land critters, but the water they need must be brackish.

 

[bigblokey0]

brackish ??

the tank there in is clean

they do have land to go onto and they do use it

 

[raptorrex]

brackish ??

the tank there in is clean

they do have land to go onto and they do use it

yep Brackish, they can do well in as little as 1g per litre. they can, and do last for some time in FW, but full and happy life is a brackish thing for them. In nature they are estuary dwellers, living on the tides edge and mud banks, they feed in the shallow water but live their lives on the land.

 

[bigblokey0]

can you define brackish for me please ?

do you mean dirty ?

the tank needs to be clean for the fish

 

[darkwolf29a]

There are three types of water:

Fresh - Obvious
Salt - Sea water.
Brackish - In between the other two. It's a mix of rivers and ocean water.

Mix a bit of Marine Salt in the water, and you should be fine.

 

[raptorrex]

can you define brackish for me please ?

do you mean dirty ?

the tank needs to be clean for the fish

turpid would mean dirty.
Brackish is any water that has a salt content of less than sea water, which is about 35 grams per kilo of water. brackish water has between .5 and 30 grams per kilo. understand these are very rough measures, but you can see the relationship.

this means that you will need to get only brackish fish to add to your tank! something the LFS tend not to tell people

 

[bigblokey0]

the crabs ive bought are out of comunal tanks with tropical fish which is what my tank is

one of my crabs is acting funny hes been doing the backstroke on the spot for hours now

 

[raptorrex]

the crabs ive bought are out of comunal tanks with tropical fish which is what my tank is

one of my crabs is acting funny hes been doing the backstroke on the spot for hours now

that may be where they came from, however they are Brackish, whatever you were told when you bought them they need Brackish water!
as for one acting odd, it can take some critters a little while to adjust to a new environment. but being in freshwater will not help.

if you research these guys you will find mixed information out there. but if you read the posts by people who keep them, as opposed to those who sell them, i feel you will get information closer to the truth.

that said it dose not take much to work out they are brackish, they are after all estuary/mangrove dwellers, so the water they live in can only really be one type.

 

[darkwolf29a]

the crabs ive bought are out of comunal tanks with tropical fish which is what my tank is

one of my crabs is acting funny hes been doing the backstroke on the spot for hours now

that may be where they came from, however they are Brackish, whatever you were told when you bought them they need Brackish water!
as for one acting odd, it can take some critters a little while to adjust to a new environment. but being in freshwater will not help.

if you research these guys you will find mixed information out there. but if you read the posts by people who keep them, as opposed to those who sell them, i feel you will get information closer to the truth.

that said it dose not take much to work out they are brackish, they are after all estuary/mangrove dwellers, so the water they live in can only really be one type.

Very true.

And, you don't doing that for too long. That particular activity can kill them. That's how my girlfriend's first one died. We found out later that it started "acting funny" because it had no place to get out of the water, for one. And we had the water chemistry wrong, i.e. they have to have brakish water not fresh, for two.

 

[bigblokey0]

trouble is i cant add salt to my tank can i there fresh water fish and if i cant then i need to get rid of em

 

[emma12321]

or get a new tank this is how multiple tank syndrome takes hold

 

[raptorrex]

the crabs ive bought are out of comunal tanks with tropical fish which is what my tank is

one of my crabs is acting funny hes been doing the backstroke on the spot for hours now

that may be where they came from, however they are Brackish, whatever you were told when you bought them they need Brackish water!
as for one acting odd, it can take some critters a little while to adjust to a new environment. but being in freshwater will not help.

if you research these guys you will find mixed information out there. but if you read the posts by people who keep them, as opposed to those who sell them, i feel you will get information closer to the truth.

that said it dose not take much to work out they are brackish, they are after all estuary/mangrove dwellers, so the water they live in can only really be one type.

Very true.

And, you don't doing that for too long. That particular activity can kill them. That's how my girlfriend's first one died. We found out later that it started "acting funny" because it had no place to get out of the water, for one. And we had the water chemistry wrong, i.e. they have to have brakish water not fresh, for two.

it may be possible to put some form of platform at the top of your tank. you could put some sand on and add a little brackish bath. this is far from ideal, but may offer some sort of solution. you will need to totally secure your tank lid though.

 

[bigblokey0]

found out today that the crabs i got are freshwater crabs so they shouldnt be in brackish water

 

[raptorrex]

found out today that the crabs i got are freshwater crabs so they shouldnt be in brackish water

sorry guy they arn't fresh they are brackish! there is no Redcrab that is freshwater. and Freshwater crabs grow very big, up to 8 inches across, they also need to be kept on their own.
as we have said before, you have brackish crabs you need to treat them as such, whatever your LFS/friends/internet says.

if you could post a picture, or better still ask whoever told you they were freshwater, to give you their proper name. we could end this and set your mind at rest.