Fact Gathering for Fiddler Crabs

[SpAceGiRl94]

Hello all,

So I'm on a fact gathering mission for my 30 gallon that I'm in the process of resealing. I'm not 100% confident in my abilities to reseal this tank and as I don't want 30 gallons of water everywhere in my second floor apartment, I was thinking some sort of paludarium. Like previously said, my son has expressed a desire for fiddler crabs and I was thinking set this tank up as a crabitat.

I am thinking sand substrate, with sloped sides to make a beach area for the crabs with 2/3 being water and 1/3 being land. I already know the marine salt being important for the brackish water so that is in the plans. Here is my question, I'm thinking I'll have somewhere around 5-8 gallons of water in this tank (someone correct me if they think that number is too high or low). I'm aiming for lower density of animals in the tank overall, so I'm not going to put the max amount of creatures in the tank.

I'm thinking 6 total crabs, with 2 being Male and the rest female. I do want a sort of community within the tank but I'm thinking 5-8 gallons isn't large enough for a fish community. So leaning towards having about 8+ ghost shrimp and a nerite snail or 2 as part of the tank. I've heard that both shrimp and nerites can adapt to brackish, and if everything goes well with the shrimp and snails with the crabs then I may seek out some male endlers to add in there (they're so cute!).

What are we thinking? Again, this is just a fact gathering mission as I reseal the tank and begin to think what I want in there. There would of course be a lid and, most likely, a sponge filter in the water portion of the tank.

[Autumnsky]

It sounds like you have got the basics for the tank. Ghost or Amano shrimp.

The top needs to be taped and or no spaces open, or they can get out.

Not sure which fish, the smaller volume of water would be the concern.

[SpAceGiRl94]

Yeah I was thinking putting a reptile lid with a small cut out for a sponge filter air tube thing. And that is what I was thinking, the water volume would be so small. I was originally thinking endlers or guppies would be a possibility but with only 5-8 gallons... that's pretty small. That's why I was thinking ghost shrimp instead. But I wanted to know opinions and see if anyone had gone through the process before.

[JackBinimbul]

A word of warning; nerites actually prefer brackish. They never successfully breed in freshwater setups, but they likely WILL breed in brackish.

Unlike other species, nerites are not hermaphrodites. Meaning there are males and there are females. The greater number of nerites you have, the higher the chance of having a breeding pair.

[SpAceGiRl94]

Good to know. So get only one unless I want a possibility of baby snails everywhere. Thank you!

[Autumnsky]

Long while back had a couple in a 72G with a turtle (fake) lily pad for them to climb on. Kept the water a bit lower for them to climb around. Here is one climbing as they do and hanging out on the outflow tubes, and it was duct taped in the back to block them from getting out and easy crawling out the top...



Fake lily pad hang out


I always thought of having a tank with a habitrail/hamster tubes ( and like ladder) going up out of the top of the tank and and joining in the center in a sandy hangout (kind of like a hermit crab beach) with heat light with food and water for them "on land"..... :brows"