Fiddler Crab Care

Since there are about 12 million fiddler crabs dieing every day because of uneducated owners,
i decided to make this instructable
Most of the problem is about how pet store employees are miseducating buyers and telling them the exact opposite of supplies...

Step 1: Supplies

Here are the basic needs for a fiddler crab
-A 5 gallon tank (the bigger the better)
-a heater (Yes fiddlers get cold)
-A filter (Go for the internal ones for fiddlers because fiddlers are great climbers and can crawl up the intake tube and escape)Never go for undergravel filters for crabs...
-Sand (Fiddler crab legs are designed to crawl on sand,don't go for gravel because it makes it hard for them to crawl on and believe it or not fiddler crabs will die of frustration)
-Sea Salt (Fiddler crabs live in brackish water-half salt half fresh-and will die in months if in freshwater)

Note:Fiddler crabs are NOT semi-aquatic,remember they live in beaches not the ocean

Comments

[Climber03]

You can have a way smaller tank about about a quarter gallon

[Biggsy]

I found this Ible VERY useful when i began thinking about owning some red clawed crab... I have a Facebook page thats sort of part blog on my journey into owning crab, if you have crab, or are looking to get some, feel free to join my page http://www.facebook.com/redcrabdiaries

[Mauigerbil]

Lol my friend got a fiddler crab for her birthday from a friend and she had NO IDEA how to take care of one. She put it in a full fishbowl with sand, and then with further online research, she found out it was slowly dying in there, so she drained it to just a little water and a rock. She hates that thing like the plague and is her least favorite present. Poor girl..

At least her friend didn't get her more than one or else stating it would be awkward..

[Mauigerbil]

Also why is it tagged under tacos?

[ahudgins]

Just for future reference- dying** not dieing. Spell check is your friend when you're attempting to be an athority on a subject.

[heyricksander]

I recommend using the spell checker yourself! :)

[aquilusdomini]

Depending on where you come from, it can be dieing and spell check does not find that spelling to be erroneous. Dying means to dye something a colour or to leave life. Dieing on the other hand, can mean to leave life or to cut with a die cutter depending on what you prefer. English is a great language of confusion and we are all better off if we do not correct others on the finer points until we ourselves know all the finer points.

[bdeville]

Just for future reference- authority** not athority. Looks like you should make friends with spell check too, especially when correcting someone else's spelling. ;)

[mysticwon]

Your comment is totally priceless. Isn't it ironic?

[aquilusdomini]

I'm very glad this little bit on crabs was posted. I just rescued my fiddler crab from the wrath of Walmart. Apparently they don't feed the crabs because they do not sell what these crabs need to eat and they also keep the poor creatures confined in small plastic dishes with pebbles and a small amount of water in the bottom. Tomorrow i'm going to get the tank and all the recommended accessories and chlorine removers/aquarium salt. Once this little fella (i named him Bob) gets settled, i'll go back and save the others. That's a real nice example tank in the picture here and i hope to set mine up similar to it. For future reference to anyone who has ever considered purchasing an aquatic animal at Walmart, it probably hasn't eaten, slept, or had adequate housing for quite some time so don't be broken hearted if the poor dear dies the day after you bring it home. I saved a dwarf aquatic frog from there once (it was in the same kind of small plastic dish as the crab), gave it a nice large bowl and some food but he/she died the next day. Most of these stores do not feed these animals because they don't know what they eat and apparently they don't know how to keep them housed either. So yeah, just thought i'd throw that out there.

[rush2ady]

I've also seen tons of dead fish at the Walmart. Absolutely pathetic inhumane care they give to their animals. I'm not sure purchasing the poor creatures is the best route, however...as Walmart will simply respond by restocking them with more helpless creatures and being satisfied that their "products" are being sold. Maybe filing complaints with your local humane society or other authority would be more productive in getting Walmart to change its practices.

[aquilusdomini]

Indeed, walmart is terrible and i know that they will restock if i purchase the animals however those animals deserve some kind of a life away from the store shelf and it's against my very being to leave them there to die. Sadly, our local humane society is worthless. They do not do rescues or work for the "lesser" creatures such as fish and invertebrates. It's difficult to even get a horse/dog/cat abuser prosecuted here. I live in a very "conservative" town where animals take a back seat to guns, "god" and human enjoyment. The dogs and cats from our pounds are still sent to animal research facilities because the city council voted to let it continue even though many, including i, protested the decision. Every spring and autumn there is a deer cull (they hire snipers to come in and take out roughly 80 deer, which include fawns, adult males and adult females) in our two wooded/marshland parks because people complained of deer in their gardens. Illegal hunting is overlooked as well. This is the expected extreme behaviour of my town, which is sadly considered the "birthplace of the republican party" and one of Ted Nugent's home towns. Jackson, MI is not a nice place to live for animals or those that care about animals. If i could get national attention for the atrocities of this town i would gladly do so. But the problem is, who will listen and who will not be bribed or bought off?

In the end though, i'm glad i saved the fiddler crabs from the walmart. They do restock them after the others die on the shelves. A couple weeks ago i noticed they were carrying purple clawed fiddlers. Such beautiful little creatures. Perhaps i could, maybe, just maybe get through to the pet department manager to post how to properly care for the fiddlers so that at least when people buy them, they know how to care for them.

[mateo melchor]

how much sea salt do I add to a 1 gallon tank and one fiddler crab

[RedneckAsian]

What ratio should the brackish water be?

[halo99]

Depending on how big your tank is brackish water is just a fancy word for salt water so for a 5 gal i would put in half a teaspoon heres a website for you http://aqualandpetsplus.com/Bug,%20Fiddler%20Crabs.htm

[Arbitror]

Brackish water is only partially salty.

[desreydel]

(I couldn't start a new comment so I decided to just reply.) I was wondering about your internal filter. I don't currently have a filter for my fiddlers, can you share the name or brand of yours? Also, is it a cordless filter? i'm curious. And where did you find those tunnels? I would prefer to get something more natural looking to camoflauge with my tank, but at this point I haven't found anything yet. Thanks in advance

[zackatron]

he has a whisper internal filter and looks like pvc joints

[halo99]

Sorry I didn't reply sooner,I didn't see any new comments on my inbox. Should I still answer your questions because I don't want to tell you something you already know.

[minipancho94]

im gladi knew a bit abou keeping fiddler crabs when i got mine, i never thought they would be able to reach the heater or filter intake, (tank is a 35-40 tall) after i found that out, i imediatly blocked off the slots in the hod of my tank, still somehow the female got out fter a very and made it into my sisters room and into her underwear (make all the jokes you want, i sure as hell did) and the male vanished before that though there were shell fragments, the only one large enough to reconize looked like the females claw, which ended up being a piece of the males shell who im guessing was canabilized while molting, unless my algea eater likes crab, they also ate 2 of my danios, though one kept swimming into the holes in my lava rock and getting stuck, and the other one looked like it got conered....

[halo99]

Lava rock is notorious for caving in and or squishing fiddler crabs,thats why most experts suggest sand since fiddlers do live on beaches,as for molting i suggest isolating her until she has fully molted as because she is in her weakest form... And for the canalization,do you feed your crabs often? I would suggest putting feeder fish(10 cents)just incase they need a snack...