Fiddler Crabs

[Mzungu]

I saw that a couple of you were talking about fiddler crabs in another post, so I want to start a new thread on them. I used to have one, I think I was in kindergarten.    He was neat, but I don't remember much else.

I've not read much about them, but from what I have read most prefer access to dry land, and can live underwater for a time but will eventually die because of it. But then again, I haven't read all that much. Anyone else keep them?

[Brownsnoutuk]

Re: Fiddler Crabs

Ive mentioned that i keep one in each of my 55's. The Females tank has long vals and she climbs to the surface. The males tank has no way for him to climb and he just roams the bottom of the tank.Hes been in the tank for 2+months and seems perfectly fine.

I was told you can pick them up off galveston beach? I bought 3 from a lfs for like $2 each. One escaped and i found her a week later in the next room.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: Fiddler Crabs

my grandfather ( may he R.I.P.) was a commercial fisherman and he would catch them all the time for us along the beach and my father would sometimes bring us out there when fishing so we could catch them.

they dig holes/tunnels on the beach and when scared they run into them. what we did was we went around filling the holes in and then chase the fiddlers.  

[jwyde]

Re: Fiddler Crabs

According to this site (Keeping Fiddler Crabs as Pets) the Fiddler does need land.  The site also says they need slightly brackish water.  The funny thing is, the person who wrote the article had her crabs die in 2 months time, so that's not exactly a glowing endorsement of her knowledge.  I'd also like to hear from people who have been successful at keeping them. I snagged my Fiddler from Petsmart and they were keeping the crabs in freshwater, completely submersible.  I made the assumption that I could too.  Unfortunately, I didn't get enough time to test the theory or build the little guy a new environment.

When looking around to answer the question whether fiddler crabs need land, I ran across this tidbit on wikipedia:  "if a male loses his larger claw, the smaller one will begin to grow larger and the lost claw will regenerate into a new (small) claw."  I thought my lobster got my little fiddler because I found his big claw in my tank. However, after reading this and with your experience:

One escaped and i found her a week later in the next room.

Perhaps he made a brake for it and left his claw to throw me off!  :)

I can say that they are darn cute.  They have eyes that sit way up off of their body, which they can retract individually.  It makes them look like they are winking at you.  They love to climb, hang, stretch, and generally scamper about (sideways, of course).

[Mzungu]

Re: Fiddler Crabs

Oh dear, she doesn't even tell any details! Just, "Unfortunately, after three months or so and several molts, all of the crabs died."  :(  :think: It would be nice to know what went wrong...

Perhaps he made a brake for it and left his claw to throw me off!  :)

[Brownsnoutuk]

Re: Fiddler Crabs

Perhaps he made a brake for it and left his claw to throw me off!  :)

Yeah that made me laugh too.


jwyde - You left Dance off your list. My male dances all the time. He stands in the same spot and gets his groove on. I used to think it was because the females were close by, but he does it to the other fish now hes seperated.

AND- mine walk forward. Seriously...I thought they couldnt but they can take several steps forward, that ive seen.

Ive had the crabs at least 3 months and they look healthy and are very active. I use salt in all the aquariums but only about 1tbspn/5g.

[spyke1969]

Re: Fiddler Crabs

I had one for about a year and 1/2, no dry land, no salt, then he got out & died. I got some more a couple of months ago, since then one ripped the others big claw off, it grew back. The larger one molted, His claw was huge, then he got out & died. They are great cleaners & quite the entertainers, I love the Crab chi that he does!!

[Ellen]

Re: Fiddler Crabs

Since they live on the beach in the wild (I'm thinking of the right ones right?) and since so many people's have "gotten out", it seems like the best setup for these guys would be one with mostly land.

I don't have any personal experince with these guys, I'm not claiming to be an authority or anything! I'm just noting that it would make sense for these guys to have a large land area to claim, even better if they could burrow like they do naturally.

Ellen

[Mzungu]

Re: Fiddler Crabs

I agree, I think they would be best suited to a type of brackish terrarium/paludarium, whatever the word is these days. But I also think it would be a lot of fun to set up something like that!

[Ellen]

Re: Fiddler Crabs

I was reading about them and several different sites stated that when the tide comes in, the block the hole on their burrows with mud balls to keep the water out. It also said that they have to breathe air, but that their gills need to stay damp...

You should set one up Mzungu! I'd love to see pics!  :wink:

Ellen

[Tiapan]

Re: Fiddler Crabs

sounds like a fiddler project. would love to see pics of that. especially since i love inverts. when i had a saltwater tank that was what i focused on i love all the little nitches that they fill.

[daisymac]

Re: Fiddler Crabs

I don't know about fiddler crabs, but the hermit crabs that most people have as pets (out of an aquarium) are actually land crabs and cannot live submersed. They like some water, but they like to climb, so they need a cage that has bars for climbing, and they like some sand. They are really neat little creatures.

I would think that the ones you find on the beach are really land crabs. That's why you see so many for sale in Galveston - free inventory for the price of a walk on the beach.

There is a little shop around the Strand that sells those t-shirts with the dirty sayings on them, and they have a bunch of hermit crabs in there. The woman that was working there kinda looked like your grandma, had a thick Ohio acccent, and loved the crabs. She told us so much about them, and even picked one up and asked for a kiss, and the darned thing  responded! It was a hoot!