# Crab(s) & Frog(s) Advice - Tropical Fish Tank



## pollers

Hi All,

Once I have completed building my fake rock background (Its in another thred) I would like to introduce crabs and frogs to the tank.
Im going to incorporate a ledge in the background for the frogs & crabs to rest, bit of a project I know - but hope it will be worth while.

My question is, has anyone got experiance of tropial fish tank frogs or crabs and if so is there any advice they could off regarding what damage they do, if any, to plants etc. 
Any recommendations of what sort of crabs / frogs to get. Oh and really fancy lobsters, any small lobsters available? dont want to buy one that grows into a monster :lol2:


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## lolly

rainbow crabs are more liekly to do damage to plants. ours destroyed them, but ideally they like to dig in sand and stuff! ( he is in a bigger tank that has a huge top space walking area, his own hut and he will soon have a sandy area on top of the fish tank in some customised funky lid sooon!)

id go for red claw crabs, depending on the size of your tank depends on how many you could get really as they may get terratorial(sp)

i dont know what frogs we have got we got given them, think they are the bog standard tropical frogs, small ones that you get in most shops... but they seem to get on fine as the frogs can get away and such....


i dont know what else i can say, make sure the crabs can get out of the water along with there being enough room for all of them to be out without fighting... ours will sit on each toher and by each other but there is room for them to go elsewhere...

goood luck!


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## pollers

lolly said:


> rainbow crabs are more liekly to do damage to plants. ours destroyed them, but ideally they like to dig in sand and stuff! ( he is in a bigger tank that has a huge top space walking area, his own hut and he will soon have a sandy area on top of the fish tank in some customised funky lid sooon!)
> 
> id go for red claw crabs, depending on the size of your tank depends on how many you could get really as they may get terratorial(sp)
> 
> i dont know what frogs we have got we got given them, think they are the bog standard tropical frogs, small ones that you get in most shops... but they seem to get on fine as the frogs can get away and such....
> 
> 
> i dont know what else i can say, make sure the crabs can get out of the water along with there being enough room for all of them to be out without fighting... ours will sit on each toher and by each other but there is room for them to go elsewhere...
> 
> goood luck!


Hi,

My current tank is (approx) 1.5ft deep x 2ft long x 18" width

I was hoping to have about 2 or 3 crabs and 2 maybe 3 frogs. Red claw crabs sound like a good starter for me. Ive seen frogs - best description I could give them is small albino frogs. I want to make sure these crabs / frogs wont grow in to monsters though. lol
Could anyone advise on the best type of bed to have in the tank, gravel or sand or a mix of both?


Oh just thought, I also have - again not sure of the name of it, best way I can describe it is a "Mitten Shrimp" - its claws scoop the water with fliters that look like mittens for food, constantly going around and to its mouth, would the crab(s) and Frog(s) be ok with this or is someone going to be making a meal of it?


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## lolly

pollers said:


> Hi,
> 
> My current tank is (approx) 1.5ft deep x 2ft long x 18" width
> 
> I was hoping to have about 2 or 3 crabs and 2 maybe 3 frogs. Red claw crabs sound like a good starter for me. Ive seen frogs - best description I could give them is small albino frogs. I want to make sure these crabs / frogs wont grow in to monsters though. lol
> Could anyone advise on the best type of bed to have in the tank, gravel or sand or a mix of both?
> 
> 
> Oh just thought, I also have - again not sure of the name of it, best way I can describe it is a "Mitten Shrimp" - its claws scoop the water with fliters that look like mittens for food, constantly going around and to its mouth, would the crab(s) and Frog(s) be ok with this or is someone going to be making a meal of it?



no idea aboutt he last part as although i keep fish im nto the best to gove out advice as i dont have loads of experience! some others may catch this thread and help though :blush:

the small albino lookign frogs are the ones im on about im guesssing! they dont get that big they stay small, and red claw crabs dont get very big.

im also rubbish on dimensions of tanks but if you add them slowly, youll see how many you can get in and how they interact 

each to their own really...
as for the lobsters... i dont think they mix with crabs but im not 100%


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## capester

Hi mate, the little flat frogs are dwarf clawed and stay small. The albinos will be _Xenopus_ and they do get big!To be honest I wouldn't mix crabs and crayfish with each other or with frogs as they will eat each other given half the chance. I don't think there any dwarf crayfish widely available and the blue and red ones get big and aggressive. The shrimps are called bamboo shrimps and they would be ok with the small frogs but I wouldn't put them with anything else you have mentioned. Oh and all the creatures are escape artists so make sure your lid fits! I think I'd go for loads of different shrimp species (bamboo, bumblebee, cherry, harlequin etc), plants and dwarf frogs. Also they wouldn't damage anything and the frogs are apparantly easy to breed. Hope this helps :2thumb:


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## LiamRatSnake

Don't underestimate the crabs, they can escape from anything, the tiny tiny little gaps. The dog ate mine after it got out, just from the gap where the wire for the filter stopped the glass closing fully, I had to tape the gaps up.
I searched four hours on my hands and knees and heard the dog crunching on something!


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## lolly

i agree with escape artists.... ours is a lidded tank in three seperate sections... we now have two bolwing pins and a weighted sheep and a palstic box placed ontop of the tank to weight it down... 

he was escaping by lifting the lid up... this is the rainbow crab though not the red clawed crab!

though the red clawed crabs can walk up wall paper.... ours escaped and when we chased it it ran up the wall.. so you do have to look EVERYWHERE!


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## Ron Magpie

DEFINITELY don't get the albino frogs for your tank- they are almost certainly Xenopus and will eventually get big enough to eat everything else! Hymenochorus are the 'small flat frogs'- they do fine with smallish fish, although you may have to make sure they get enough to eat. They may take some flake food, but really need live or frozen bloodworm, daphnia etc. They won't use your ledges, though, they almost never come out of the water, although they appreciate clumps of weed to rest on near the surface. A few red clawed crabs probably won't do any harm- they're not fast enough to catch either frogs or fish- at least during the day; sleeping animals might be different!


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## LiamRatSnake

Ron Magpie said:


> DEFINITELY don't get the albino frogs for your tank- they are almost certainly Xenopus and will eventually get big enough to eat everything else! Hymenochorus are the 'small flat frogs'- they do fine with smallish fish, although you may have to make sure they get enough to eat. They may take some flake food, but really need live or frozen bloodworm, daphnia etc. They won't use your ledges, though, they almost never come out of the water, although they appreciate clumps of weed to rest on near the surface. A few red clawed crabs probably won't do any harm- they're not fast enough to catch either frogs or fish- at least during the day; sleeping animals might be different!


I;ve got a couple of the little ones, mine will take flake but get bloodworm 3/4 times weekly


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## Stan193

I think the crab will kill the frog


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## Esfa

Crabs will eat frogs, no doubt. : victory:


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## pollers

Esfa said:


> Crabs will eat frogs, no doubt. : victory:


Bummer! Im now starting to worry, will the fogs eat the fish? Looks like crabs are off the wish list if the above is true


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## LiamRatSnake

pollers said:


> Bummer! Im now starting to worry, will the fogs eat the fish? Looks like crabs are off the wish list if the above is true


The little ones won't the albino looking variety will no doubt grow large and eat everything lol


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## kiz

pollers said:


> Bummer! Im now starting to worry, will the fogs eat the fish? Looks like crabs are off the wish list if the above is true


The frog probably won't eat the fish but they have a habit of getting randy in bred
eding season and can grab onto fish. The spawning embrace can last hours and if the frog has the fish on the gills it could suffocate.


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## pollers

kiz said:


> The frog probably won't eat the fish but they have a habit of getting randy in bred
> eding season and can grab onto fish. The spawning embrace can last hours and if the frog has the fish on the gills it could suffocate.


Brings a whole new meaning of [email protected]'d the life out of em. :lol2:

Right need to forget crab idea, shame :-( and need to find mini frogs. :lol2:


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## daftlassieEmma

pollers said:


> Bummer! Im now starting to worry, will the fogs eat the fish? Looks like crabs are off the wish list if the above is true


crabs and fish/frogs are not a great mix, not a fan of frog/fish mixes either but that is just my opinion

as for frogs it depends what species you get:

- african clawed frogs _(Xenopus laevis) _get quite big and will scoff your fish if they can fit in its mouth; 

- dwarf african clawed frogs _(Hymenochirus boettgeri)_ are a lot smaller and would be a better choice i reckon

as far as i'm aware there isn't an albino variety of the dwarf clawed frogs so i think the ones you mentioned are the former

: victory:


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## pollers

daftlassieEmma said:


> crabs and fish/frogs are not a great mix, not a fan of frog/fish mixes either but that is just my opinion
> 
> as for frogs it depends what species you get:
> 
> - african clawed frogs _(Xenopus laevis) _get quite big and will scoff your fish if they can fit in its mouth;
> 
> - dwarf african clawed frogs _(Hymenochirus boettgeri)_ are a lot smaller and would be a better choice i reckon
> 
> as far as i'm aware there isn't an albino variety of the dwarf clawed frogs so i think the ones you mentioned are the former
> 
> : victory:



Right I figure _Hymenochirus boettgeri <- them ones are the ones

_Im looking to put these in a tank with neon tetra, hope there not too small? 
Also - May sound strange, but want to be sure. As mentioned before (in another thred) Im also building a rock & tunnel background for the same tank. I had intended to place a shelf for the crabs to rest on. If Im no longer going to have crabs - IN THE TANK or any where else :lol2: , will i need a shelf for the frogs? Do these frogs need somewhere to come out of the water?
Im looking to build the background this weekend so knowing asap will make a big difference to the design on the background.

Thanks for all the help Ive received and love the image of the bee in the eye


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## daftlassieEmma

i *think* they're completely aquatic, so no need for a land area, this site seems like a good one: African DWARF Clawed Frogs


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## Stan193

I've got one of the big albinos, I keep it with fish, it tries to eat the fish sometimes if they get close but theyre all to big for it.
here's a clip of it:

YouTube - 100 0284

Scientists believe that xenopus frogs are responsible for spreading the fungus thats decimating amphibians all over the world. If i'd know that i wopuldnt have bought one, I did also have another amphibian - a typhlonectese natans, theyre a type of aquatic caecillian and the shops sell them as rubber eels. I put that in the tank with the frog and it caught some sort of fungus and died, could have been due to being with the frog or could have been after being bit by a fish.


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## hedgehog738

:gasp: i had frogs years ago and they managed to jump out of the tank.:gasp:


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## Ron Magpie

pollers said:


> Right I figure _Hymenochirus boettgeri <- them ones are the ones
> 
> _Im looking to put these in a tank with neon tetra, hope there not too small?
> Also - May sound strange, but want to be sure. As mentioned before (in another thred) Im also building a rock & tunnel background for the same tank. I had intended to place a shelf for the crabs to rest on. If Im no longer going to have crabs - IN THE TANK or any where else :lol2: , will i need a shelf for the frogs? Do these frogs need somewhere to come out of the water?
> Im looking to build the background this weekend so knowing asap will make a big difference to the design on the background.
> 
> Thanks for all the help Ive received and love the image of the bee in the eye


No, you won't need a ledge for Hymenochirus. Just try and have some weed that they can rest in, near the surface. Neons will be fine- I've kept them with guppies, and they sometimes ate the young- but so did the adult fish!:lol2: VERY rarely, they might try and climb the corners- a decent tank lid will prevent escapes.


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