Red Claw Crab Help....

[Red1]

Hi All,

I'm new to this site and new to keeping Red Claw Crabs and desperately need some advice please....

Bought 2 RCC a couple of weeks ago and a week later re-housed them in a larger quarium with rocks for them to climb out to bask in the air and plants with sand on the bottom to scurry around in. We then added another 2 RCC so have 4 in total, they share their home with 2 tetras that we were given.

All crabs were doing fine, until yesterday... I noticed the biggest crab was in a stationery position and didn't think to much about it, I checked on them a couple of hours later and he was still there, throughout the day I checked several times and he hadn't moved...thought he was dead so touched his legs with a tool and he moved the leg slighly, so knew he was alive. During that evening he moved only an inch from his original position and tucked himself up against the glass (under water) one other crab actually crawled over him and he didn't budge. We noticed the bottom of his shell looked like it was coming away slightly so am now thinking perhaps he is either very poorly or he is going through a molt

Can anyone shed any light on this for me please...should I remove him from the tank to his own or just leave well alone??

Thanks for any help.

 

[paulypaul182]

Hi All,

I'm new to this site and new to keeping Red Claw Crabs and desperately need some advice please....

Bought 2 RCC a couple of weeks ago and a week later re-housed them in a larger quarium with rocks for them to climb out to bask in the air and plants with sand on the bottom to scurry around in. We then added another 2 RCC so have 4 in total, they share their home with 2 tetras that we were given.

All crabs were doing fine, until yesterday... I noticed the biggest crab was in a stationery position and didn't think to much about it, I checked on them a couple of hours later and he was still there, throughout the day I checked several times and he hadn't moved...thought he was dead so touched his legs with a tool and he moved the leg slighly, so knew he was alive. During that evening he moved only an inch from his original position and tucked himself up against the glass (under water) one other crab actually crawled over him and he didn't budge. We noticed the bottom of his shell looked like it was coming away slightly so am now thinking perhaps he is either very poorly or he is going through a molt

Can anyone shed any light on this for me please...should I remove him from the tank to his own or just leave well alone??

Thanks for any help.

He may be moulting so its best to leave him alone. Disturbing him will cause alot of stress during this time and will kill him. When he has moulted, do not remove the moulted shell as he will eat it.
Check out this site as its good for all things crabby http/badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile101.html

 

[raptorrex]

Hi All,

I'm new to this site and new to keeping Red Claw Crabs and desperately need some advice please....

Bought 2 RCC a couple of weeks ago and a week later re-housed them in a larger quarium with rocks for them to climb out to bask in the air and plants with sand on the bottom to scurry around in. We then added another 2 RCC so have 4 in total, they share their home with 2 tetras that we were given.

All crabs were doing fine, until yesterday... I noticed the biggest crab was in a stationery position and didn't think to much about it, I checked on them a couple of hours later and he was still there, throughout the day I checked several times and he hadn't moved...thought he was dead so touched his legs with a tool and he moved the leg slighly, so knew he was alive. During that evening he moved only an inch from his original position and tucked himself up against the glass (under water) one other crab actually crawled over him and he didn't budge. We noticed the bottom of his shell looked like it was coming away slightly so am now thinking perhaps he is either very poorly or he is going through a molt

Can anyone shed any light on this for me please...should I remove him from the tank to his own or just leave well alone??

Thanks for any help.

He may be moulting so its best to leave him alone. Disturbing him will cause alot of stress during this time and will kill him. When he has moulted, do not remove the moulted shell as he will eat it.
Check out this site as its good for all things crabby [URL="http/badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile101.html"]http/badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile101.html[/URL]

not sure its moulting, the shell splits at the back and behind the legs. the top section of the shell then hinges forward for the crab to extract itself.

sounds to me like the thing you see is the egg flap, which may mean you have a very sick crab. but you could add some aquarium iodine. if you crab is sick it will hot help, but if it is a moult problem it will.

could do with some pictures if you can get any.

you don't say if you are keeping them in brackish water, very important. they also need more than a bit of rock sticking out of the water. these are LAND crabs, not aquatic, a minimum of 2/3 of the tank should be dry land!

 

[Red1]

Hi All,

I'm new to this site and new to keeping Red Claw Crabs and desperately need some advice please....

Bought 2 RCC a couple of weeks ago and a week later re-housed them in a larger quarium with rocks for them to climb out to bask in the air and plants with sand on the bottom to scurry around in. We then added another 2 RCC so have 4 in total, they share their home with 2 tetras that we were given.

All crabs were doing fine, until yesterday... I noticed the biggest crab was in a stationery position and didn't think to much about it, I checked on them a couple of hours later and he was still there, throughout the day I checked several times and he hadn't moved...thought he was dead so touched his legs with a tool and he moved the leg slighly, so knew he was alive. During that evening he moved only an inch from his original position and tucked himself up against the glass (under water) one other crab actually crawled over him and he didn't budge. We noticed the bottom of his shell looked like it was coming away slightly so am now thinking perhaps he is either very poorly or he is going through a molt

Can anyone shed any light on this for me please...should I remove him from the tank to his own or just leave well alone??

Thanks for any help.

He may be moulting so its best to leave him alone. Disturbing him will cause alot of stress during this time and will kill him. When he has moulted, do not remove the moulted shell as he will eat it.
Check out this site as its good for all things crabby <a href="http/badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile101.html" target="_blank">http/badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile101.html</a>

not sure its moulting, the shell splits at the back and behind the legs. the top section of the shell then hinges forward for the crab to extract itself.

sounds to me like the thing you see is the egg flap, which may mean you have a very sick crab. but you could add some aquarium iodine. if you crab is sick it will hot help, but if it is a moult problem it will.

could do with some pictures if you can get any.

you don't say if you are keeping them in brackish water, very important. they also need more than a bit of rock sticking out of the water. these are LAND crabs, not aquatic, a minimum of 2/3 of the tank should be dry land!

Hi, Thanks for a quick reply

We got the first two crabs as we naivly thought (and were told by the pet place) that they were completely aquatic...they were climbing up the filter wires most of the time to sit out of the water, so we got a bigger tank and made the set up to accomadate them to get out of the water when they wanted. The tank is 1/3rd full of water ( 4inches) and they have a floating area, bog wood, and rocks to climb out of the water and rest on. They also have underwater hiding areas and plants.
They are in Freshwater at the moment but after reading loads of posts on here I am going to add some salt (can you advice a good salt to use and how much etc)

So what is the egg flap? and what could be causing it? I am going to get some Iodine (again can you advice a good make,how much etc)

I changed some of the water on saturday and added some tetra de-chlorinating solution, could it be that which has made him ill? the others seem fine tho?? I am assuming it is correct to add a solution to the water??? oh hope i've not done something to harm him, getting really fond of the little things.

Thanks again for your help

 

[raptorrex]

Hi, Thanks for a quick reply

We got the first two crabs as we naivly thought (and were told by the pet place) that they were completely aquatic...they were climbing up the filter wires most of the time to sit out of the water, so we got a bigger tank and made the set up to accomadate them to get out of the water when they wanted. The tank is 1/3rd full of water ( 4inches) and they have a floating area, bog wood, and rocks to climb out of the water and rest on. They also have underwater hiding areas and plants.
They are in Freshwater at the moment but after reading loads of posts on here I am going to add some salt (can you advice a good salt to use and how much etc)

So what is the egg flap? and what could be causing it? I am going to get some Iodine (again can you advice a good make,how much etc)

I changed some of the water on saturday and added some tetra de-chlorinating solution, could it be that which has made him ill? the others seem fine tho?? I am assuming it is correct to add a solution to the water??? oh hope i've not done something to harm him, getting really fond of the little things.

Thanks again for your help

the egg flap, not sure that's the right name, is a triangular flap stretching from the base of the last pair of legs, till it ends in a point 3/4 towards the head. its where a female crab holds its eggs, after fertilisation. not really sure what could be causing it, though chlorine may be one culprit. incidentally most people put the water treatment into the water they are pouring in the tank, but it seems that pouring it in after is no problem too.
any brand of Aquarium iodine is fine, remember this will only help your poor crab if it is a moulting problem.

getting them into brackish is the first thing to do, this can solve no end of problems with these critter.

 

[raptorrex]

Hi, Thanks for a quick reply

We got the first two crabs as we naivly thought (and were told by the pet place) that they were completely aquatic...they were climbing up the filter wires most of the time to sit out of the water, so we got a bigger tank and made the set up to accomadate them to get out of the water when they wanted. The tank is 1/3rd full of water ( 4inches) and they have a floating area, bog wood, and rocks to climb out of the water and rest on. They also have underwater hiding areas and plants.
They are in Freshwater at the moment but after reading loads of posts on here I am going to add some salt (can you advice a good salt to use and how much etc)

So what is the egg flap? and what could be causing it? I am going to get some Iodine (again can you advice a good make,how much etc)

I changed some of the water on saturday and added some tetra de-chlorinating solution, could it be that which has made him ill? the others seem fine tho?? I am assuming it is correct to add a solution to the water??? oh hope i've not done something to harm him, getting really fond of the little things.

Thanks again for your help

the egg flap, not sure that's the right name, is a triangular flap stretching from the base of the last pair of legs, till it ends in a point 3/4 towards the head. its where a female crab holds its eggs, after fertilisation. not really sure what could be causing it, though chlorine may be one culprit. incidentally most people put the water treatment into the water they are pouring in the tank, but it seems that pouring it in after is no problem too.
any brand of Aquarium iodine is fine, remember this will only help your poor crab if it is a moulting problem.

getting them into brackish is the first thing to do, this can solve no end of problems with these critter.

 

[Red1]

Hi, Thanks for a quick reply

We got the first two crabs as we naivly thought (and were told by the pet place) that they were completely aquatic...they were climbing up the filter wires most of the time to sit out of the water, so we got a bigger tank and made the set up to accomadate them to get out of the water when they wanted. The tank is 1/3rd full of water ( 4inches) and they have a floating area, bog wood, and rocks to climb out of the water and rest on. They also have underwater hiding areas and plants.
They are in Freshwater at the moment but after reading loads of posts on here I am going to add some salt (can you advice a good salt to use and how much etc)

So what is the egg flap? and what could be causing it? I am going to get some Iodine (again can you advice a good make,how much etc)

I changed some of the water on saturday and added some tetra de-chlorinating solution, could it be that which has made him ill? the others seem fine tho?? I am assuming it is correct to add a solution to the water??? oh hope i've not done something to harm him, getting really fond of the little things.

Thanks again for your help

the egg flap, not sure that's the right name, is a triangular flap stretching from the base of the last pair of legs, till it ends in a point 3/4 towards the head. its where a female crab holds its eggs, after fertilisation. not really sure what could be causing it, though chlorine may be one culprit. incidentally most people put the water treatment into the water they are pouring in the tank, but it seems that pouring it in after is no problem too.
any brand of Aquarium iodine is fine, remember this will only help your poor crab if it is a moulting problem.

getting them into brackish is the first thing to do, this can solve no end of problems with these critter.

Oh sad day, poor little crabby died, checked him late this afternoon and he had gone The other 3 seem absolutely fine so don't know what had caused it, def wasn't a molt after all. Thanks for all the advice tho, am going to sort out changing their water to brackish and get some iodine also...This is a great site so glad i've found it

 

[raptorrex]

must be good advice, i posted it twice .

only use the iodine in a moult situation. you will begin to notice the signs when it is about to happen. just add a bit then