New Shamefaced/Box Crab - Any other crab lovers out there?

[JakeA08]

So I ran into a Shame-face crab at my LFS and just could not resist! I came home and set up a new 20L tank for him with a penguin 660 power head and a whisper 30 filter with used bio rocks in the filter bags. Layer of sand on the bottom and 5lbs or so of live rock in the corner to make a cave for him. I have had it about two weeks and just starting the second part of my cycle where the nitrite is rising a little.

I have been keeping the ammonia down at 1 ppm or below with water changes and some Prime. Once the tank is cycled and going good what additives will I need to add? What are the important things to test for and what are the optimal levels? I was thinking small amounts of iodine and calcium every week.

Also, can any one share there experiences keeping these guys? So far I have been feeding frozen clams on the half shell from my LFS and he is digging those. Eats 2-3 per night. Any other hints or tips would be welcome.

Are there some other common aquarium crabs that get large and may need their own tank? Is there any thing I can put with this guy that wont get eaten? The only thing i could think of would be a starfish but I am not even sure if that would make it.

Thanks for any insight you can provide and any links to good information on larger crabs in the home aquarium.

 

[StephLionfish]

Well, first of all, the #1 rule in fish keeping is do not add fish or inverts or corals till your tank is cycled. I would take him back to the LFS, and then once your tank is fully cycled, then add it to your tank.

When your tank cycles, you should just let the tank do its business.

Have you done your research? That is the #2 rule in fish keeping. You will save a lot of time and money if you thoroughly research everything before you buy it.

Even though I strongly recommend you return the crab to the LFS, I will give you some advice on the crab from what I've read.

They are not reef safe, and will eat any shrimp or clam or fish they can catch. It will spend it's day buried in the sand ( so, you'll want a good sized sand bed), and come out to eat. They get pretty big, though I forgot how big.

 

[Pistol40Cal]

Good lord two weeks and it's still cycling? Take out the crab and through some live rock in there. Speed up the process I love crabs and all other inverts. One your tank gets established you should get a porcelain crab.. They are really cool how they hold up their "nets" to catch plankton. Also I have a Sally lightfoot and of course several different types of hermits. Crabs are a great addition to any tank.

 

[JakeA08]

I thought a tank had to have something living in it to create waste to cycle the tank. If there is no animal waste then the ammonia and nitrite would not form and the beneficial bacteria would not grow due to not having a steady food supply. How does a tank cycle with nothing living in it?

Also you have any hints on how/ where to research them? Bing and google searches bring up some pictures from dives and stuff but not a lot of info on keeping them in tanks. My library's books are all outdated. I also could not find much info on captive care by searching r/c. Any one know of a good website devoted to keeping crabs in captivity?

Any one have pictures or info to share on these or other larger crabs?

 

[michael_cb_125]

Dead animals cycle a tank faster and IMO better than living animals...

Throw a cocktail shrimp in there and let the bacteria do its business.

~Michael

 

[JakeA08]

So just let the tank brake down a dead shrimp and when the water tests show the tank is cycled take the piece of shrimp out and put your fish and inverts in?

How long does this normally take?

I have always had a 3-4 week cycling period the way I do it and Pistol40Cal said they thought it should be less than 2 weeks.

Thanks for your help with this. Although I have never had problems cycling a tank with live animals I am interested in learning more about this. Especially if there is less stress on the animals and it would be quicker!

 

[StephLionfish]

You don't have to use dead shrimp. I don't cycle my tanks with anything but live rock and dry sand and saltwater... No tossing of the seafood or any of that. My tanks take about a month ( more or less ) to cycle. I don't do water changes during this period either. I don't test the water, ( cause I'm lazy, and I know the tank isn't cycled, yet ) until the third week.

I used to cycle tanks with live damsels, till I found out that you don't have to. Why put an animal through that when you don't have to, right? Inverts will not make it through a cycle... your params will go way out of wack, and they won't live through it.

 

[mndfreeze]

Anything that creates ammonia and what not will work. even just liverock. Technically, even R/O water left in a tank long enough will eventually get the right bacteria.

 

[BEASTIEPENDENT]

Nitrite is usually no problem for invertebrates (like crustaceans, many snails) as most of them have copper and not iron as blood pigment. So one can set in a crab or a hermit in a new tank – usually. They'll help removing all the waste that comes out of the live rock.

Ammonia can of course damage invertebrates too.

Calappa crabs indeed dig in the ground and only come out for foraging. Usually they feed on snails – lokk their pincers, perfect tools like a can opener to peel the snail out of its house.

Of course there are other crabs to put in a species tank. There are some 7.000 crab species (Brachyura; short tailed crabs, that is without hermits, procelain crabs etc.) from which the bigger part are marine, so more than 5.500. But especially the more predatory ones will often devour each other. Usualy the bigger eats the smaller one, so they really often need their own tanks. Those crabs are not reefsafe of course either. But corals and fish are boring anyway!



Cheerio, Ollie

from crab science to crab keeping: http://www.panzerwelten.de
marine crabs http://www.reeflex.net/kategorie/58.html

 

[SharkBait73]

I love crabs too!! I have a porcelain crab in my 75 gallon and you can actually hand feed him...but in my 24 gallon nano, a gorilla crab hithhiked in on my live rock...most people dread him, but I love mine..my kids named him Brutus and he lives in a hole at the top of my rock cave. When I open the tank to feed the fish, he waves his little claw out of his hole for a mysis shrimp... I use tweezers to make sure he gets a shrimp every time I feed...he is really cool... Glad to hear from other crab lovers