Trying a crab and an algae eater..

[Puriti]

Well I went to the petstore today to get an algae eater because I figured since i've been getting algae growing on the glass and such I'd get one...i believe it's just a chinese algae eater but it just said algae eater on the tag and said they get to be 5.5 inches though, but it's smaller than the plecos that get to be 18-19"... they didn't have any smaller ones though otherwise I would've gotten an oto or somehin like that. Well I also bought a mini crab which I believe is just like...a fiddler crab thingy... but I know that they will pick on bottom feeder fish so I put him in my 10 gal where there's none of those in there. I figure if he becomes too much of a problem that I'll either put him in my mini tank or just bring him back because I just want to give it a go being that I've never tried it before and being that my bottom feeders are at school that he might be able to man the job in the 10 gal. I know I'm bad XP


If you want anything completely positive out of this trip...I got my land hermit crab Titan a bigger shell cuz the big lug moved from his perfect sized shell to a smaller one...the big dope...

 

[Veneer]

The crab will almost certainly require water of at least slightly brackish salinity along with access to air.

 

[Puriti]

I don't think so... it was in strictly aquatic habitat and didn't say brackish and Petsmart only sells freshwater stuff...at least my petsmart does >_< It just said Mini Crab on the tag, it just looks like a fiddler crab XP doesn't mean it is

 

[talloulou]

The crab will need air. They are pretty good escape artists. I used to have one (I think it was a red claw crab) and it would climb up the filter tube and hang out either inside the filter or on top of it. It escaped from the tank twice, most likely three times but the third time it was never found.

 

[talloulou]

Oh and if you do have a chinese algae eater beware. Years ago I had one. I think mine was sold under the name sucking loach. It got to be almost 6.5 inches, it ate no algae once it was bigger, and it started harrassing it's tank mates.

 

[Puriti]

:? that's really weird then, cuz there was no access to air in that tank...

 

[talloulou]

Most likely what you have is a red claw crab, unless one pincher looks way bigger...then you have a fiddler. If you google them you should be able to find pictures and figure out what exactly you have. As far as salt.....people argue about whether they need brakish conditions or not. Noone seems to agree and apparently in the wild they are found in fresh and brakish water. I kept mine in freshwater though he was escaping and leaving the water all the time so maybe he was looking for a more brakish location

 

[talloulou]

Here is a good link for you


http://wrongcrowd.com/staticpages/index.php?page=crab

You should post a pic of your little guy.

 

[Puriti]

it's not red claw that was the other kind, unless that lady is stupid but it looks more like a fiddler to meh... He does try to weasle his way up the glass but fails miserably...

The tag said he only gets to be 1.5" big...sooooo that's not to bad...I don't think >_<

 

[talloulou]

Well if it's a fiddler then I think they definitely need brakish water, (someone correct me if I am wrong. ) They also need access to air.

 

[Puriti]

@_____@ I dont' know what it is because petsmart sucks >___________<

 

[Hrafnkel]

Fiddlers are brackish, I do believe. The only LFS I have that carries them keeps them in brackish water and is pretty successful with them.

Also, Puriti, you might consider returning the CAE in favor of a pair of otos.

 

[Puriti]

They didn't have any and it just said Algae Eater and the crabs were in the same tanks as all the other fish just separated but connected to the whole system

 

[Hrafnkel]

Yes, well, Petsmart also often sells Violet Gobies. They only keep freshwater tanks, but not all their fish are freshwater.

 

[WillMurf]

I don't know how available they might, be but we have native crabs in Australia that are exclusively freshwater, don't grow over about 2 inches, and have gills, so no requirement for air. Maybe you got lucky mate!

 

[greenmaji]

I don't know how available they might, be but we have native crabs in Australia that are exclusively freshwater, don't grow over about 2 inches, and have gills, so no requirement for air. Maybe you got lucky mate!

Ive never seen such a crab.. that might be another Australia thing..

 

[DeFeKt]

WillMurf wrote:
I don't know how available they might, be but we have native crabs in Australia that are exclusively freshwater, don't grow over about 2 inches, and have gills, so no requirement for air. Maybe you got lucky mate!


Ive never seen such a crab.. that might be another Australia thing..

I've never seen such a crab either...hmmmmm
a profile link and pictures would be nice...

Matt.

 

[WillMurf]

Can't help you with a pic but we pulled them out of watertroughs in a slaughter yard just west of Mt. Isa. I owned 3 for maybe 18 months in a tank with guppies, never once bothered a fish

 

[WillMurf]

Can't help you with a pic but we pulled them out of watertroughs in a slaughter yard just west of Mt. Isa. I owned 3 for maybe 18 months in a tank with guppies, never once bothered a fish

 

[Puriti]

Well my petsmart doesn't have those violet gobies, and I look at the fish almost everytime I go in and they're all freshwater species ... All I can really tell ya is that it's a crab that'll grow to 1.5" long, picks on bottom feeder fish, the claws are about the same right now but he's a tiny crab, and that he eats like a pig and he's still livin since last night so I doubt he needs access to air otherwise he'd be dead already. He does look like he tries to climb out but he can't climb glass so he's not going anywhere. As for the algae eater, it's a bout...3" long right now is like a yellowish color with a black stripe down his lateral line with dots spaced out along it, and some spots on the top. And through google image search I have confirmed it is a CAE. I asked the girl if they had any of the smaller breeds of catfish that wouldn't get to giagantic sizes...like over a foot so she just read the tags and found me the algae eater. On my own search I couldn't find otos or bristlenose (I believe that was the other one) so that's why I asked and she gave me that one.