Got a red claw crab yesterday. Read a few places they were peacefull. Read at the lfs that they are aggressive. Put it in a 55g with 30-50 guppies yesterday. Still seems very peacefull and quite funny. I'm finding limited information on the internet about them. Please, everyone, tell me everything you can about these cute creatures.
Red Claw crab
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i have two red clawed crabs in a partially filled 20 gallon. brackish water with sand lava rock and some big pieces of driftwood. they do bettr in brackish water as they need the calcium in the salt to help them molt. molting is a very stressful time for them and the water conditions need to be good for them to make it. they also do better with access to land. the crabs i have are on top of the wood out of the water alot. this isnt nessecery but it helps them stay happy. i also feed my crabs frozen peas and beens. not cooked just thawed out in the sink water then dump them in. they also like sinking shrimp pellets and will eat algea wafers and brine shrimp. they may even eat a guppy if they can get hold of it. the only thing in my tank with the crabs are two shrimp. they also will tear up stem plants if you have any. in my tank i have a crypt and some java fern and some anarchis but they'll take the anarchis but wont eat it just tear it up. theyre very territorial and no more then 2/ ten gallons should be kept as they need hiding places, space and are very dirty. i have two ten filters on my twenty one at each end to filter each end of the tank. i also to water changes weekly because they mess up the water pretty quickly. they also dont really like eachother, they avoid eachother but since you just have one no worries. they also prefer sand to gravel as it's easier for them to scavenge through as they are scavengers. theyre also very smart and the tank need to be well covered so the crab wont try and crawl out. they'll crawl up the filtre intake and into the filtre casing if they can. though this has never happened to mine. theyre aslo very copper sensitive as are most inverts so if you have a planted aquarium and use a plant fertilizer with alot of metals in it your crab will suffer. also i take the snails out of my 29 gallon and put them in the crab tank. they eat em up at night and the ones they dont die from the salt in the bracish water. also if it molts it will leave it's old skin which will look just like a crab. except the eyes will be hollow. sometimes i cant tell if it's a dead crab ort it's old skin so i take it out open up the little pouch on the bottom and check inside, if it's empty your crab has molted if it has some organs in it youve got a dead crab. i hope this helps. the lfs doesnt help at all. they shouldnt keep them at the lfs in the tanks with the fish as they naturally do better in tanks taht have air access. anyway good luck, and dont feed your crab roat beef or chicken. some people have tried it but really think about it when was the last itme you saw a crab in the wild munching on some roast beef? cant be good for them to tough to digest. any way good luck i hope this helps. they also like the water betwee 76-80
Great info there utahfish 
For calcium, I give my crabs some cuttlebone, I also supplement their bloodworms with dust from the cuttlefish when they are approaching a moult. You can sometimes tell when they are going to moult if a white line appears across the back of their shell.
When they moult, they are very vulnerable to attack from other crabs or fish, it takes up to two days for the new carapace to harden. Twisted and broken pieces of bogwood make excellent grazing and hiding spots, and be sure to give each two hiding spots above water too. If a crab moults and is trapped above water theshell will not harden, so be sure there is more than one hiding spot or the moulting crab may fall under seige!
Other good hiding places can be made with carved rainbow rock and stone structures.
The best diet I have found for Red Claws is Hikari wafers for Corydoras (you can get special crab pellets too), mine reach up and take them from my fingers at the same time everyday
They do best at temps between 22 and 25C with high humidity above the water.
They dont seem to like eating Echinodorus plants, but will eat many others.
Of all the crabs I have had, I have never witnessed a fish being attacked, the crabs sometimes wave their claws around, but unless the fish is already dying or very sick, they cant catch them.
HTH,
Ken
For calcium, I give my crabs some cuttlebone, I also supplement their bloodworms with dust from the cuttlefish when they are approaching a moult. You can sometimes tell when they are going to moult if a white line appears across the back of their shell.
When they moult, they are very vulnerable to attack from other crabs or fish, it takes up to two days for the new carapace to harden. Twisted and broken pieces of bogwood make excellent grazing and hiding spots, and be sure to give each two hiding spots above water too. If a crab moults and is trapped above water theshell will not harden, so be sure there is more than one hiding spot or the moulting crab may fall under seige!
Other good hiding places can be made with carved rainbow rock and stone structures.
The best diet I have found for Red Claws is Hikari wafers for Corydoras (you can get special crab pellets too), mine reach up and take them from my fingers at the same time everyday
They do best at temps between 22 and 25C with high humidity above the water.
They dont seem to like eating Echinodorus plants, but will eat many others.
Of all the crabs I have had, I have never witnessed a fish being attacked, the crabs sometimes wave their claws around, but unless the fish is already dying or very sick, they cant catch them.
HTH,
Ken
Yes it the same avian cuttlebone, I give it to my red claw crabs and my land hermit crabs. You can leave it in the water or on land, they will brake bits off if they need some extra calcium.
If you want to help them out even more, you could try gathering old brown beech tree leaves (with no green bits), the crabs love them and a german crab expert I know says the bacteria and funguses in them are good fro the crabs immune system.
Ken
If you want to help them out even more, you could try gathering old brown beech tree leaves (with no green bits), the crabs love them and a german crab expert I know says the bacteria and funguses in them are good fro the crabs immune system.
Ken
Thanx for the great information Ken and utahfish. I have 1 in a 55g with a bunch of guppies right now. Later I'm gonna try adding a red zebra and 3 clown loaches. Then I get some silver dollars and that'll be it for that tank. That group should be compatable, shouldn't it? I now the red zebra is peacefull (mine anyways).What fish do you keep with your rcc? Also, cuz the tank is so big, I'm having problems finding driftwood at the lfs long enough to reach from the ground to the top. Can I use a tree limb? All driftwood at the lfs is is sanded wook on a flat piece of metal. I'm gonna build him a little area on the suface of the tank for him to go into when he wants. Problems going to be making it crab proof. What can/can't they crawl on? I was going to use plexiglass. Can they crawl on that (if it's outta the water of course)?
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