20l vampire crab paludarium build thread

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Cycling would be best. I had planned to use some seeded filter media in the filter I was going to use in there..but it didn't fit. For the time being I'm just doing frequent pwc's and water tests until I figure out the best one to get.
 
It looks spectacular! I love the way the hardscape looks with the tank filled, really really awesome job. Perfect amount of water too; not to low, not too high. Your vampires look great! Now I wanna play with my crabs(who are definitely gonna go back into their paludarium)!

My one suggestion would be to nix the Dracaena - the plant in the center with the white and green leaves. They get ginormous. O_O

Oh oh and if you do decide to go with a filter, the Tom's Mini Internal Filter that I mentioned earlier in the thread is small enough to be hidden behind a piece of driftwood. Or a sponge filter might be good too.
 
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Thank you thank you!! haha that darn plant! I can't seem to figure out what to do with it. I got it for one of my tanks a long time ago not realizing it wasn't a true aquatic. It still did great fully submerged and never rotted, but when I set up the palu I pulled it from that tank and added it because I thought it would last longer in there. I'll yank it and put it in a darn pot or something if it gets too big. So sick of that thing, but I paid an unreasonable amount for it so I insist on trying to get some sort of use out of it lol.

Yes, I am considering that Toms. Yet another thing to buy. So funny..this was going to be my cheapest project ever... :lol: I've got to somehow do my dart frog viv for cheaper :ermm:
 
Well now you know all the pitfalls of a nice vivarium build. :) If you are still worried about the land portion cleanliness... I still recommend either buying a springtail culture or a woodlice culture.
 
Oh I'm for sure getting the springtails. Other places ship them just regular shipping...not sure why the LLL folks don't. I'll include them when I order supplies for the PDF. Does the land portion need any kind of stirring ever or anything?
 
Not really, you could toss in some earth worms if you want. They'll help aerate the soil and I bet the crabs would snack on smaller ones.
 
Thanks for asking Adeeb! They are doing great..well..I think..prob is I never really see them anymore. The food I put out disapears and every now and then I'll see one...but I think I need to investigate and make sure they are all still alive. Though I'm assuming there would be quite a stink if one were dead.

One thing..on my lower land portion, the peice of plexi used was really short..I gave it some extra height with the rocks siliconed on. Well come to find out, the rock job doesn't hold tight like my plexi walls do, and when I fill it that full that lower land portion becomes a muddy swamp. However - the crabs seem to love this! Is it a problem? Is it ok for my substrate made of calci sand, sphagnum moss, orchid bark, and coco fiber to be wet?
 
That's good :) We def need more pics though! Water in the substrate should be fine, they probably like it moist anyway. Unless it gets stinky or moldy.

--Adeeb
 
I'm thinking about changing it up a bit. With the way I designed it, I have the worst view of the area they hang out in the most. I might make the front area that is currently the water portion into land, and make the back left part water. I won't have a good view of the water area at all then, and it will no longer have the look I wanted, so I just don't know. I wish I had designed it differently now. They are really rarely up front in the water area so it seems a waste to me that it stretches across the front of the tank. The tank itself is pretty but I don't get to see the crabs much. They hide in the plants in the back.

One of my crabs died the other day...with it's molt hanging from it. Darnit!
 
Awww darn :( Molting can be a bit tricky... Can you just turn the tank around? :p or you could try sloping the land a little so you see all of it.

I think the crabs might be naturally shy though, just one of those things. It took months for my fiddlers to be brave enough to come out. But now, my 3 males are always out and waving, and sometimes don't even run when I walk by. Maybe your vamps just need time to adjust.

--Adeeb
 
Well I finally thought I had one that was going to stick around. It molted and seemed perfectly healthy after. First time that happened! Then about a week later it died. Now I find my last one dead. I thought about picking up some from brians tropicals, thinking that will probably be my only chance to get some healthy specimens, but I checked his site and found he is charging EIGHTY DOLLARS per crab..so no. Clearly that's not going to work. So I'm done.

SO, the question is, what else can I put in this thing? Dart frogs? It's a 20 long..I had planned on building a viv for them in something like a 20 high...could the longer type tank work for them? I'm thinking no. Some type of newt or salamander could work well in here maybe? Not sure if there's enough water?
 
Darts would probably work, with a little modification. They need more land/plants and less water I think. Also, brian's sells for $80/pair, and sells juvies slightly cheaper, I think it's 6 juvies for $150 which is about $30 a crab with shipping. Still not cheap though. I got mine from a craigslist seller (search for crabs on CL). Brians probably has better mortality rates though and I'm wondering if I should have spent the extra bucks for them...

But yeah, darts will work. Some species prefer the ground and some like to climb, so get one of the ground dwelling ones.

--Adeeb
 
Well, a crab appeared. So weird. I knew I was missing one on the count, but I searched and searched and couldn't find it so assumed it had died, unoticed somehow. I hadn't fed the tank in a long time so I don't know what it had been eating. Maybe just the substrate. Just great. One crab who hides constantly. Not exactly what I would have liked for the tank! Maybe it was hiding having babies. Wouldn't that be spectacular! Unlikely.
 
My sole survivor is still hanging in there. If I turn on the light early in the morning when the rest of the room is still dark, I see it up front in the water. Otherwise, it's hiding at all times. So..I guess I'm going to have to break down and order from Brian's now. I wanted to switch over to a new critter since I was having such a hard time keeping the vamps alive, but this one has survived long enough now that I think it needs some buddies. Looks like it's going to be $100 for a group of 6, plus express mail, I'm guessing. Dang. These ones better live...
 
Not sure how I missed this one for so long, awesome build! Any current pictures? Sorry to hear about the misfortunes with the crabs, any idea why you're having such difficulty keeping them going?
 
Hey thanks! I haven't taken any pics lately, but before I get the new crabs I think I'll get some new plants and jazz it up a bit.

All of my original crabs were from my lfs. I can only imagine how they had been mistreated on their journey. The shop doesn't sell them anymore, because everyone's died. Though I suspect everyone else was keeping them fully aquatic..since that's how the shop sold them.

Brians tropicals sells vamps born in his home and he says they don't die on you like the ones from shops. So..I'm going to bite the bullet. They were 6 for $150 and are down to 6 for $100 now so I guess now's the time!
 
No problem at all. Were you able to get a watertight seal between the aquatic and terrestrial types or is your soil water logged? How did the springtails work out or did you ever try then?

Be curious to see a list of the plants you are using in both plants as I'm going to be attempting something similar in my 30gal riparium.

Those V. crabs are pretty cool looking are they a tropical species?
 
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