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[Luis]

I recently bought a pair of fiddler crabs and wanted to know if anyone had suggestions on how to best care for them.

[Crabby-Jack]

Hey Luis ~ this is actually a great question and one I can definately help you out with.

First off, fiddler crabs are usually sold as a freshwater crab. Truth of the matter is that they thrive in brackish water (a mix of fresh and salt water).

When you purchase one of these crabs from a pet store they will have them all in a fresh water tank with limited ways for the crab to climb out of the water and dry off their shell. Problem is that pet store in general have no idea that these delicate crabs need ot do just that. They need to be able to get out of the water and dry themselves off. If they are not allowed to leave the water then you can expect your crab to live about 3 weeks. Their shell will get really weak and they will die.

My suggestion is to make sure the tank or aquarium you are placing the crabs in has alot of vegitation that goes all the way to the top of the water so they can climb up to dry off. Also, I would urge you to place a rock in the tank that protrudes above the water line. Again the crabs can climb up and dry themselves off.

Hope this helps!

[Luis]

Thanks Crabby-Jack for your great advice. The crabbies are still doing great and I find that they enjoy climbing the rocks as much as they enjoy being in the water.

[Bill]

I just added a fiddler crab to my tank. It is really cool the way the male has a really large claw that he waves around in the air to gain the attention of the female fiddler crab.

Funny thing is, she does not give him the time of day.

[Bill]

Thought I would follow up here as spike and harriot (our 2 fiddler crabs) both passed this week. Our 3 yr old son had a little ceremony for them and that was that.

We are unsure if we will get 2 more for the tank. While they were neat to have in there and reall made the tank stand out... having a few month life span is making us think a little bit before we get more.

Who knows... If we do get some more though I will let you all know!

[SA Fox Mulder]

Hi,

I also purchased a fiddler crab for my tank as well. The pet store I bought it from had him in a 20 gallon tank filled to the top with no way to get air. With my setup at home I have a bamboo and bacopa plant in which he can climb out of the tank with ease. I have also placed medium pieces of flat styrofoam in his tank. This eliminates taking up half your tank to stack rocks or overfilling with gravel and/or sand in order to make a dry refuge for your crabs.

See ya

[fadzlie]

my girlfriend bought 4 fiddler crabs last weekend.. unfortunately,after 2 days the crabs died..she suspected dat the crabs killing each other bcoz she found most of the crabs injured b4 die..mostly because of broken legs.. i wanna buy new crabs for her, but what's the best way to keep them from killing each other?