Red Clawed Crabs

[James.burke]

I am considering purchasing some Red Clawed Vrabs however my tank has no where for it too get air. The shop where I am going too buy it from says that they dont need air however some websites say they do. Can someone tell me if they need air or not, and if they do need air how long will they live without air?

[FinalJenemba]

They don't NEED air to survive, but they really like being able to get out of the water every once in awhile. If you don't have any land they will simply leave and go somewhere else. There is no amount of sealing a tank hat can stop a red claw crab that wants to leave.

I have one, and like you I don't have any land areas, but my tank is open and I have a T5 fixture. He likes to get out and hang out on/around the light fixture sometimes. He's pretty smart, and always go back to the water eventually. Once I did find him walking around the living room, but I just put him back in the tank and he was fine. He hasn't come out nearly as often after that, lol.

I've had him about 5 months, seems happy and healthy enough.

[James.burke]

Thank you, So they dont need air but they like too be out of the water occasionally. Thats OK then.

[James.burke]

Can I keep them with fish with long fins like fighting fish. Can I also keep them with small fish like tetra neons?

[FinalJenemba]

I wouldn't keep them with bettas, crabs have an attitude, and bettas have a attitude, I could foresee problems. Just about any other fish would be fine, tetras would not be a problem. What size aquarium are you planning on keeping them in and how many?

[James.burke]

I wouldn't keep them with bettas, crabs have an attitude, and bettas have a attitude, I could foresee problems. Just about any other fish would be fine, tetras would not be a problem. What size aquarium are you planning on keeping them in and how many?
It is either a 10 or 15 litre aquarium so I am getting 1 or 2.

[Aeonflame]

While RCCs are generally peaceful, all crabs are opportunistic eaters. They will catch and eat anything they can, so I wouldn't keep them with any fish except those that are intended as food. That being said, you will be getting a 3 gallon tank which wont be suitable for any fish that I'm aware of.

Red claw crabs should ideally be kept in brackish conditions with a place to climb out of the water. They will live much longer this way. Just be sure to cover the tank properly.

[FinalJenemba]

Agreed with Aeon mostly, I can only speak of my personal Red Claw, but he has never went after any of my fish. Sure he'll charge fish the get in his face, but never in a predatory way, and I have little Kuli's in with him.

That being said, don't, for any reason put crabs in a 3 gallon tank with no dry land. They will climb out, 100% guaranteed. If you cover the tank, they will just be really unhappy, and that's also way to small a place for more then one, they will fight.

Just because you can keep them one way, doesn't mean you should. I made the mistake with mine of listening to the guy at the store without doing proper research, and my crab learned to adapt to the situation. I don't have a proper home for him, and had I researched first I wouldn't have gotten him, I just got lucky in that he found ways to be happy.

You on the other hand are doing this correctly and our asking for advice first, so here it is: If you want a crab tank, do it properly. Get at least a 10g long, or even a 20, and do half water, half land. If you use Argonite sand that will probably make the water brackish enough to make them happy. Do that, and make sure the tank is sealed, and you will be fine.

[frefal13]

If you use Argonite sand that will probably make the water brackish enough to make them happy. Do that, and make sure the tank is sealed, and you will be fine.

I don't know that aragonite sand would produce brackish water, it can buffer pH but to my knowledge it is just made up of calcium carbonate and the only way it should make water salty is if there is residual salt left from when it was collected. At the same time sand should be rinsed so that would also remove any residual salt, just a heads up

[James.burke]

I meant that it was a 15 gallon tank.

[ADF Whisperer]

Red claw crabs are almost always wild caught, and they are semi aquatic crabs from brackish mongrove swamps. They absolutely must be able to dry themselves out or they will be miserable and in constant search for air access. If kept w/o air access, and even worse in freshwater, they will not live anywhere close to their full lifepsan.

[evilhorde]

I've only had a red clawed crab for a few months now but I feel that I can pass on a few thoughts on things I have seen.
My crab spends quite a bit of time out of the water. As best as I can tell, it spent three straight days out of the water once.
After my last re-scape I made some hiding places for the crab and now I hardly ever see the little bugger. When I get home from work, the crab is almost always out of the water but as soon as it sees me, it's back into the hole.
In the crab's tank (37 gallon) I also have cherry red shrimps, zebra danios and a male betta. The crab charges at the shrimps but has never caught one (that I have seen at least). I have never seen the crab go after a fish but the other day the betta was missing a chunk out of his rear fin. this may have been a crab attack or just a snag on an ornament.

Oh boy, it seems I'm a liar. I just fed the shrimps some algae wafers and I guess the crab is hungry because it just came running out. It charged the shrimps, took a swipe at the betta and then grabbed up a wafer and ran back to his hole. I've never seen the crab so frantic and aggressive before. Nobody got hurt, but the crab was running around like a madman attacking anything near 'his' wafers.