My son has finally decided he wants a tank in his room, after me nagging so I have space for another. He wants red clawed crabs, but I'd like to set them up in a species tank. Any advice? I know they need salt but does it have to be marine salt or will aquarium salt be okay? I also know they escape, and need dry places, so if I have a ten gallon tank, how deep should I have the water? If I do it with shallow water, how can I filter it? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Red clawed crabs
- Thread starter jjhabe
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KevinES
Aquarium Advice Regular
I almost set up a tank like this myself...
You would need to find a filter that reaches to the bottom of the tank and works with a half empty tank. I don't have any names off the top of my head but I know they make that kind of stuff. Maybe a sponge filter. My plan was to make a barrier to pile up rocks to make about a 3rd of the tank dry. If you can work caves into that the crabs would love that.
Fill the tank half up from there and give them a ramp to get up. Maybe some drift wood or something. Make sure the filter is on the other side of the tank so they can't clib out and make sure there aren't plants or rocks they can climb out on.
In the water section I was going to put some java moss and get some guppies (because they can be brackish water fish.) They would provide a little more movement in the tank and possibly food for the crabs.
As far as salt levels go, just do a search on salt levels for brackish water tanks.
You would need to find a filter that reaches to the bottom of the tank and works with a half empty tank. I don't have any names off the top of my head but I know they make that kind of stuff. Maybe a sponge filter. My plan was to make a barrier to pile up rocks to make about a 3rd of the tank dry. If you can work caves into that the crabs would love that.
Fill the tank half up from there and give them a ramp to get up. Maybe some drift wood or something. Make sure the filter is on the other side of the tank so they can't clib out and make sure there aren't plants or rocks they can climb out on.
In the water section I was going to put some java moss and get some guppies (because they can be brackish water fish.) They would provide a little more movement in the tank and possibly food for the crabs.
As far as salt levels go, just do a search on salt levels for brackish water tanks.
adeebm
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Red clawed crabs are a great choice! They are semi terrestrial, so their habitat will need to be roughly half land, half water. You can pile sand or gravel to make a land side, or make a divider with plexiglass. A 10 gallon tank can hold 2-3 crabs. No, aquarium salt will not work, you need marine salt. Get instant ocean or another salt mix. You will want to aim for a specific gravity(measure of salt content) of about 1.005 to 1.010, thats about 1/4 to 1/2 of full marine salinity. For a filter, you will want an in tank filter because the water level will be low due it it being half land. I find tetra internal filters work well, but any internal brand should work. In a 10 gal you can fill probably 2-3 gallons of water, idk how many inches deep that will be. It should be enough for them to be submersed. The are very good at escaping, as I learned. You will need a hood and probably have to tape any holes where wires, etc come out. PM me if you need more info. Good luck with the crabs! 
--Adeeb
--Adeeb
Thanks for the info! I just bought a ten gallon with 15lbs of gravel and a beautiful chunk of driftwood. I got a heater and filter that should work, and a plastic drill to get little holes. I have two weeks to cycle it before Christmas. I'm really excited about it, because I love to have a new tank. My kid is excited, but I think a small amount of that is saying he has crabs!
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