Trying a crab and an algae eater..

[workfortheman]

I promise you he will eventually make it out of the tank. I was keeping one in freshwater, and he finally got adventurous and lept off the filter, only to become prey to my cat! Ohhhhhh the horror. If you are going to keep him please lower the water level in the tank and let him have somewhere to catch his breath!

I also see compatability issues with a CAE and the crab. CAE's become VERY cranky.

 

[greenmaji]

It took about 2 weeks for those things to die at the store I worked at, they didnt bother with giving them access to air either (refering to the similar conditions kept by petsmart)..

 

[Hrafnkel]

Petsmarts are uniform in their tanks, so it's probably the red-claw crab (that's what every one I've been to carries). He will need air, and also, they should carry rubberlip plecos. Those aren't supposed to get very big, probably not much bigger than a CAE. You might try one of those. Just don't ask the employees unless you get a rare good one.

 

[Acer]

i went through 3 mini crabs myself, they DO need access to air, when i used to have my bigger plants and ornaments against the back glass they would get out alll the time, they would climb into my filter bag. One day i got tired of digging them out of my media bag and decided to move everything to the front, two days later on was completely gone and two were found almost at the top of the tallest plant dead!! i saw them that night and they looked like they were hyper moving all around the tank, imo they were probably looking for a way to the surface..

 

[talloulou]

I agree with hrafnkel...since you bought it at petsmart it's probably a red claw crab. That's where I bought mine in the past as well. I know Petco sells fiddlers but I have only seen the red claw crabs at petsmart. Hope that helps! And as far as the chinese algae eater he will eat algae now when he is young and he probably won't bother anything in your tank for awhile. It's just when mine got older and bigger that he turned into a problem. He constantly went after other fish, tried to suck on them, and completely stopped cleaning my glass 8O But it took years before he got like that. When he was young and small he was a great little sucker.

 

[Puriti]

Well there was 2 kinds of crabs in the tank. Minicrab and redclaw... but I'll just put the crab in my 2.5 gal and put somethin in it so he can get to the air.

 

[Hrafnkel]

Not a bad idea. They don't need much space, really, to my knowledge. Do you know of any other LFS's that might carry otos? And like I said, you could consider a rubberlip pleco. I know that Petsmart has them.

 

[Puriti]

I saw those but I think it lied to me and said they get really big...I have no other lfs otherwise I'd do that @____@

 

[Puriti]

...does the crab need a heater though cuz I don't have a spare @_@

 

[Hrafnkel]

Rubberlips should only get to 6 or 7 inches, I think. I could be wrong, of course, but that's what I've always read. And I think the crab would be fine without a heater.

 

[Puriti]

Alrighty, thanks. I dunno what I'ma do with the CAE though. I could bring it back but the thing is i don't really have a lot of algae XP