Need some feedback for a crabby idea

[fishnovice92]

currently have a 5 gal tank. With some fish, shrimp,and a snail.



Upgrading that one to a 20+ gal tank probably in January.



So my plan is to turn the 5 gal into a red crab aquarium.

And I have a small tank I can use to keep so small feeder fish in for when the crabs get big enough for it.



But I have I have couple predicaments I'm unsure how to solve.



I want to do a 50/50 tank

Sand for my land part of my tank with some plants, rocks, etc. and the wanted portionI want to do gravel



Any plants that red crabs won't eat. Was thinking of some small live plants.



Other thing I'm looking for a small filter or under gravel filter if I can get one small enough.



So I would like to know if anyone has any suggestions for me. Or just other ideas for my tank is really appreciate the feedback.



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[Fishfur]

Filters small enough for half of a 5g tank might be tough to find. An internal one is the best best if a small enough one is available though.

Keeping the sand half from collapsing into the water will require some kind of hard barrier. A glass piece could be siliconed in to hold the sand back and pile some big pebbles on the water side to make a ramp, sort of, for the crab to crawl up and out. Make sure he can't hurt himself on the top edge of any barrier. Or maybe a plastic box at one end for sand and rocks piled up to make a ramp to that, with some holes in the box bottom to allow drainage.

Plants, I don't know. Never kept one of these, so I don't know what they eat, offhand. If Pothos would work it's an easy one to grow and easy to get too, and quite tolerant, needs bright light though. Near a bright window works, or a fixture with a decent bulb in it.. 6500 K.

 

[Autumnsky]

Personally, I believe a 5G for crabs is too small, 10G would be a minimum I would think. There are in tank filters for turtles you could find. I have one from Petsmart and it was on clearance, pretty small.

Good idea about silicone glass across for the water area. I had a huge tank for turtles long ago which had the glass part and we loved it. It worked great!

 

[insanejellyfish]

If you figure out what works best I would greatly appreciate it. I plan on doing the same thing with a 10 gallon tank with vampire crabs. With the information I found on their set up I found that a 30 water 70 land set up is ideal but vampire crabs/red devil crabs are more or less terrestrial. Also I've heard that java moss would be your best bet for the crabs since they forage through it for food. I haven't gotten the tank set up due to funds and living in a dorm but this is all information I've gathered for my project. I hope it helps out and good luck with the crab tank!