Red Fiddler crab Q's

[KRAZE]

I got this guy last night as a fiddler crab... reef safe? There are lots of mixed opinions on these online in both care and safe-ness. What do you guys think?

He looks just like the one in this pic (which i borrowed from a google search )

the only reason i got him was b/c i was at petco trying to find some formalin or quick-cure for my sick clown and i decided to take a peak at the tanks, there was an awesome branching piece or tonga rock that had 2 red mushrooms growing on it and a cool mussel. I convinced the 'freshwater' fish sales person to sell it, she had no idea what the stuff growing on it was hahaha. She said she needed a skew number for it since small rocks like that dont sell, so i said I would buy the red crab (for $4) and she can say i have 2 of them, so we rang the rock up as a crab and i got what i wanted for $9 total, very worth it! :beer: But now, should i keep the crab in my reef or put him in my pico?

 

[KRAZE]

Nothing huh?

Well so far he is chill, doesn't bother any of my fish, coral or inverts, including my asian crabs (from LI sound lol) and my hermits. He also is feeding on sinking pellets, both the Hakari algae ones and the nutrifin max ones. He also is always scavaging on rock and sand and really likes to climb the lr and spends very little time hiding.

 

[KRAZE]

update/question:

update/question:

so he is still feeding great and acting normal, however... he sits at the highest points on the live rock, does anyone think he is trying to get out of the water? I saw while searching that some fiddler crabs need land, but then other sites said this guy was fully aquatic.

ANYONE with experience on these guys know if they should have some land?

 

[TL1000RSquid]

I'm no expert but from my understanding most if not all fiddlers are semi aquatic. Not to say he wont do ok living 100% in water, in the wild some types of hermits and other crabs we keep in reef tanks do wander out of the water onto the beach occasionally.

 

[KRAZE]

right, so it leaves me in this dilema whare i think "well they will go onto land when available, but to they need land in order to be the most healthy?"

I think what i will do is put one of my branching tonga rocks sticking a couple inches out of the water, away from the edge in the center area of the tank, but not directly under the lights. Then i'll see if he utilizes the opportunity. Then i'll know for sure, and it will prob look pretty cool to come home and see my crab just hanging out on his own little 'island' lol

 

[BEASTIEPENDENT]

Sorry I'm not here every day. This is a female fiddler crab. They live in colonies at tropical and subtropical beaches. Fiddler crabs are land crabs, some of them can even drown. Reef safe but they cannot live there for long (given it is a species that does not drown). They dig burrows in the sand or the salt marsh where they long the tide and come out at flow to forage. The males have one very big chela with which they "fiddle" in territory fights and display.

 

[ahmer1781]

Wow I was at petco and bought the sand crab, same behavior, put a rock out of the water and now he basically lives there above the water. What happened to him?

 

[IdahoGuy]

They need access to dry land.. They'll eat snails and hermits as well, although if fed well they probably won't exert the energy.

 

[reefdeep]

yeahhhhh.... so mine were in the tank without a way to get out and i just found them dead really wish i had known they needed dry land before i bought them but hey not a bad lesson to learn for future builds

 

[mokeyz]

and they will climb out of the tank if they can.

 

[FishAndAquatics]

I got the ID. I have about 40 of these in my reef tank that I purchased from my store. They're called Flame Backed Fiddler Crabs ( Uca flammula) And they're reef safe. The problem with them is they require a rock to climb out on to get air every few hours. They're very cool looking!