# Rainbow Crabs Help- reposted from noobie forum!



## Cherry100 (Mar 27, 2012)

Hiya 

Nice to meet y'all! I've come across this site a few times while researching exotic pets, so figured it's about time I signed up! 

Boyfriend and I have always wanted something more interesting than your usual family pet (Though we have 3 cats now... my bad!) And now that our wonderful and much loved Pleco has gone to the big aquarium in the sky, we have a 4 foot aquarium sitting on the side, horribly empty and basically just drawing attention to the fact our home is no longer complete. 

I'm pretty sure Boyfriend has settled on having a Rainbow Crab- the tank is plenty big enough and he's always thought they're "omg sooo adorable" so I'm wondering if anyone might be able to help me get the very best for our potential new friend? Would like to know what specific products and set ups have worked for other people so I can look around in more detail?

(It's worth mentioning that I'm a complete animal addict and that I'll very happily have a house full of all sorts of creatures given the chance so don't be surprised if you next see me trawling the lizard forums etc!) 
I never ever get a pet without completely and thoroughly researching it's needs first, so forums like this are a god send! 

Thanks guys and gals!


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## _simon_ (Nov 27, 2007)

Wrong forum section but never mind  Crabs would come under inverts.

I kept a rainbow for a while until it died during a bad moult once.

Young ones spend the majority of their time in the water, where as older crabs spend most of their time on land. A cave on the land area is a good idea. This was a fair while ago now and I can't remember what temperature I had mine at but 27C rings a bell for water temperature.

I fed a diet of Hikari crab cuisine, fresh fruit and nuts.

Once they get used to you they calm down and won't shoot off and hide all the time. I was able to give mine food that it would take from me.

Some old pics I found:



















I started out using an empty exo terra









Then sold that and moved it into a RUB. Looking at the pics now the exo set up was much nicer to look at but the RUB was cheap and practical.









When it stopped using the water so much I changed the layout to this:


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## Cherry100 (Mar 27, 2012)

Well I just posted in the forum suggested to me tbh

thanks for your help, though- What sort of sand did you use, and how did you set up the heat mat so the water didn't get too hot?


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## markn (Jul 29, 2010)

Probably setup the heatmat on a thermostat.


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## Cherry100 (Mar 27, 2012)

markn said:


> Probably setup the heatmat on a thermostat.


:neutral: yeah i'd figured that- but having not used heat mats before, i don't know if they should span the entire length of the tank, or if it should sit under say, half the water, half the substrate, so there's some medium?


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## _simon_ (Nov 27, 2007)

Play sand well washed. Aquarium heater for the water. The heatmat I used to heat the tank air and had on the outside of the tank.


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## Cherry100 (Mar 27, 2012)

_simon_ said:


> Play sand well washed. Aquarium heater for the water. The heatmat I used to heat the tank air and had on the outside of the tank.


Oh really? any soft sand is ok? I thought reptile calcisand would be beneficial when they're moulting at least, but i suppose if they have a calcium rich diet, perhaps that's not so urgent... that's very interesting indeed. 

We were going to have the heat mat under the tank, set on a thermostat, but i don't know how effective that'll be when it's got a few inches of sand over it, if you see what i mean? 

Would you say the internal water heater is essential? I'd assumed the heat mat would keep the water right? 

Thanks so much for getting back to me  Really appreciating all this personal experience!!  xx


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## _simon_ (Nov 27, 2007)

An aquarium heater is the best and probably most efficient way of heating the water. You can pick them up cheap as chips from online. I used a titanium one from hong kong (ebay) with an external thermostat with digital readout on it. If you choose a normal glass one then I'd advise getting a protective plastic cage for it. You probably won't need a heatmat at all. If the room you keep it in is cold and the heat from the water is making no difference to the ambient then you could look at a way of heating the air. Personally I'm not keen on heat mats, especially on a glass tank that won't retain heat very well and the spread of heat isn't ideal. If I was to keep one again I'm use a bulb for heat. Perhaps a low wattage ceramic on a pulse or dimmer stat.

Play sand is perfectly fine. Pick up a bag or 2 from argos for a few quid, stick it in a bucket under a running tap and stir it around until the water turns clear.


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## Cherry100 (Mar 27, 2012)

Hi Simon- thanks for that- that's fantastic! 

We'll be maintaining an uninhabited set up for a couple of months so we can make sure the water and ambient is maintainable, then we'll be ordering our crab from our LFS- they're v reliable and have never done us wrong yet. 

EEH! excited now lol  x


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