Planning a red claw crab tank

[anniejensen]

I have a few questions that have not been answered yet...

How should I heat the tank? I'm thinking a lamp, but what type?

If I put 2 small opposite sex crabs in a 10 gal, will that be OK until my 30 gal is freed up?

Should I use a canister filter? Or what's good?

Does it make sense to put any other cratures in with them, or is it purely for looks?

Thanks!

 

[mellowvision]

I started out a few years ago with red claws. they are awesome.

a 10 gallon tank will be fine for a couple of crabs, but you might find it hard to stock with other animals at that size... like if you want fish or something. you will probably want fish or shrimp in with the crab. it's more lively, more realistic, and more fun. the crabs will hunt everything. it is unlikely they will ever catch anything. only thing my crabs ever caught were otos. didn't kill them, just bruised them. the crabs did seem to love catching small bugs, things in the running water, and algae on the waterfall. they loved pineapple, peas, and especially crab cuisine, which they would dip in algae before eating.

I do think, that there are a lot of things to learn about crab habits, that will be easiest to learn by watching them... so setting up a 10 gallon for them first is a great idea.

You'll need a lot of space above water for them. they climb. the burrow. they like to sit in fast running water. I'd suggest building a waterfall of some sort, and also a beach, or some land area that has a waterline, and has ground 2-4" higher than the water. here's why: red claws need to be able to burrow, and prefer the bottom of their cave to be exactly at the water level, so that it acts as the filter for the floor of the cave.

In terms of a filter, I would suggest a canister filter or something in tank. An hob is pretty much out of the question, since you need a lowed water line for crabs. Since the tank should also be brackish, you might consider some sort of sump under the tank, so you can make your brackish water in it, and circulate it in as needed.

when I was gearing up to start the brackish tank for the crabs, I built my 15g tall paludarium for them, and started researching species to mix with the red claws. I had decided to have amano shrimp, which are ok in brackish, indian glass fish (the unpainted kind, also fine in brackish) and a few olive nerite snails. in the end, the crabs all escaped before I transitioned to brackish water.

in theory, they may have escaped looking for saltier water, or just because they are like the 6 legged versions of MacGyver. I don't know. They are pretty much the most interesting creatures I've had.

 

[anniejensen]

Thanks for all of the info! A few other things....

If the crabs I get are currently in freshwater, how should I go about transitioning them into brackish water?

How should I heat the tank?

I've heard lots about sumps, but don't really know what they are...????

What type of lid do you have for your tank so they don't escape?

How would I do the waterfall?

I've never done anything more than a fish tank and it seems like a paludarium is a lot different so as much info as I can get before I get started will be great!

 

[mellowvision]

I didn't have a lid, which is why they escaped. you want to cover any opening larger than 1/4"

to heat the tank you need a heater, just like a fish tank. the air temp will probably stay higher than room temp if you have a cover and lights.

a sump might be overkill, if it's your first paludarium. do a search on sumps in the freshwater DIY section.. see if it's something you're into before you jump. can be a lot of work.

waterfalls can be done a million ways, primarily by having a filter or pump return water over a piece of wood, rocks or bark or foam or... anything you wish really... back into the tank. all depends on how you want your tank to look. they're not that hard really. the ground area is the hard part, you should look around and check out other people's tanks... especially terrariums and paludariums.

and for transitioning to brackish, I believe the way you want to do it is to start with a freshwater tank, get your animals all in there, tank cycled, established... and then start adding brackish water at water changes, in slowly increasing salinity. So you'd essentially transition from fresh to brackish over say 5-6 weeks.

paludariums are different from fish tanks, but I think really worth the initial effort. It's all about setting it up to be easy to deal with later on.