Thai Crabs

[Axleuk]

Having a look around the LFS this morning i noticed they had little Thai crabs.

I asked my trusted assistant about them and he said while you can keep them in a planted tank and they are peaceful enough, they will have the odd nip at your plants from time to time so he advised against it, however i really really want a couple for my tank as i have just the perfect driftwood environment that i know they would enjoy, but if they are going to re-aquascape my tank for me, i might just have to give them a miss.

Has anyone got or at least had Thai Crabs in a planted tank, if so, how did they get on? I would be interested in hearing your thoughts.

 

[raptorrex]

sadly, Sesarma bidens, are not aquatic creatures, they are in fact land crabs. though they need brackish water, they spend the vast majority of their time on DRY land. if you do try to keep them in an aquarium they will need an area of dry land on which to sit. as with many crabs they are, for the most part detrivores, though i have never seen them damaging plants, i could not, hand on heart, say they would not. they are without doubt a very interesting critter to keep. it is though, quite a fuss to get the tank sorted out to start with. remember what ever you do they need BRACKISH water!

 

[Axleuk]

sadly, Sesarma bidens, are not aquatic creatures, they are in fact land crabs. though they need brackish water, they spend the vast majority of their time on DRY land. if you do try to keep them in an aquarium they will need an area of dry land on which to sit. as with many crabs they are, for the most part detrivores, though i have never seen them damaging plants, i could not, hand on heart, say they would not. they are without doubt a very interesting critter to keep. it is though, quite a fuss to get the tank sorted out to start with. remember what ever you do they need BRACKISH water!

Thanks for the reply.

Are you sure they are Land crabs? The only reason i ask was the fact that there were about 20 of them in a tank with no dry land for them at all. It might be possible that i am not naming it correctly, but i do remember that Thai was in the name. i think they were Red Claw Thai Crabs.

 

[raptorrex]

sadly, Sesarma bidens, are not aquatic creatures, they are in fact land crabs. though they need brackish water, they spend the vast majority of their time on DRY land. if you do try to keep them in an aquarium they will need an area of dry land on which to sit. as with many crabs they are, for the most part detrivores, though i have never seen them damaging plants, i could not, hand on heart, say they would not. they are without doubt a very interesting critter to keep. it is though, quite a fuss to get the tank sorted out to start with. remember what ever you do they need BRACKISH water!

Thanks for the reply.

Are you sure they are Land crabs? The only reason i ask was the fact that there were about 20 of them in a tank with no dry land for them at all. It might be possible that i am not naming it correctly, but i do remember that Thai was in the name. i think they were Red Claw Thai Crabs.

lol, i know what you mean . but yes i am sure. with the exception of marine crabs, none of the crabs i have found for sale are actually totally aquatic, indeed few are even freshwater.

 

[Ace Of Spades]

Lol love the title "Has anyone got crabs?" lol.........


Erm are there any fully water crabs that dont require dry land?

 

[Esfa]

Lol love the title "Has anyone got crabs?" lol.........


Erm are there any fully water crabs that dont require dry land?

i laughed at the title, too.

and none that I know of are 100% aquatic. (except quite a few marine ones)

 

[Axleuk]

Lol love the title "Has anyone got crabs?" lol.........


Erm are there any fully water crabs that dont require dry land?

i laughed at the title, too.

and none that I know of are 100% aquatic. (except quite a few marine ones)

If Marine crabs are fully aquatic, does that mean Para Crabs are full land lovers?

 

[damianhucker]

the replies here are a little misleading , the commonly found red crabs that you see in shops are not fully aquatic but do not need to come out of water , as they only do this for breeding , and ARE in fact freshwater unlike what someone above said , they will live perfectly fine in freshwater tanks on a permenant basis , but to answer your original question , no i wouldnt put them in a planted tank as the destroy plants for the fun of it , they dont do it to eat them , they just wanna cut them down. sounds to me that the person above is maybe thinking of hermit crabs as they DO spend a lot of time on land and need both fresh and salt water , although marine hermits are hppy to be fully aquatic , hope that answers your question

 

[TylerFerretLord]

^ Pretty much all of the crabs commonly sold in pet stores for freshwater are amphibious and require access to land. Most need brackish water as well, and won't do well in fresh in the long run(Geosesarma sp. "Vampire" is the only exception I know of, being fully freshwater, but primarily land-dwelling(it's also not that common)).

S. bidens spends a lot of time out of the water if given the opportunity, not just when they breed. If they aren't given the chance to get out of the water they'll climb out on heaters or filters, and are known for escaping the tank this way.

Axleuk, if you still want the crabs you can easily set up a ten gallon for them. They're very much worth the extra effort.

 

[damianhucker]

just cos they climb doesnt mean they need to be out of water , fish jump for gods sake but dont mean they dont like water .

 

[Axleuk]

Ok guys, thanks for taking the time to respond. It is acepted that there maybe a degree of disagreement, however it is clear that i cannot keep these crabs in my planted environment and whilst i would like to setup a new tank just for crabs, at present i have other ideas and will just have to wait.

Indeed, these critters are fascinating to watch and have bags of character, so maybe one day i can have the pleasure of keeping some.

 

[TylerFerretLord]

just cos they climb doesnt mean they need to be out of water

They climb, willingly, out of the water. I think that kind of hints that they like to be able to get out of it.

 

[raptorrex]

the replies here are a little misleading , the commonly found red crabs that you see in shops are not fully aquatic but do not need to come out of water , as they only do this for breeding , and ARE in fact freshwater unlike what someone above said , they will live perfectly fine in freshwater tanks on a permenant basis , but to answer your original question , no i wouldnt put them in a planted tank as the destroy plants for the fun of it , they dont do it to eat them , they just wanna cut them down. sounds to me that the person above is maybe thinking of hermit crabs as they DO spend a lot of time on land and need both fresh and salt water , although marine hermits are hppy to be fully aquatic , hope that answers your question

perhaps you need to do a little more research, i can see little in this post that is actual fact, as i understand them. could you provide links or the references you use to come to this conclusion. incidentally no crabs come out of the water to breed. what actually happens is the crab goes down to the waters edge to spawn. the vast majority of crabs lay eggs that develop into a platonic state, these do not do too well in air. one reason you may feel crabs destroy plants in the tank, is incorrect feeding. many of us, me too at first, treated crabs as if they were carnivorous killers. the truth is, when mature, Redclaw crabs are for the most part veggies, though they will eat anything that comes to hand. and if they had some dry land to live on, they may not be so destructive, keeping critters in an unnatural environment often makes them cranky!