# Red-Clawed crab



## Aaron4321 (Jul 28, 2009)

Just been to a local pet shop and found some Red-Clawed crabs. I have a tank with tiger barbs, common plec (About 3"), Raphael Catfish (About 1.5") and a Red Tailed Shark (Hes a big softy about 1.5"), with two baby Turtles (The turtles are soft so wouldn't really a threat to the crabs). Just wondering if i would be able to have a Red-Clawed crab in the tank?

The pet shop said no, but i have read differently. Just wondering if anybody knows?


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## Esfa (Apr 15, 2007)

Nope.


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## Aaron4321 (Jul 28, 2009)

Reason being? Just so i know...


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## Shell195 (May 31, 2007)

They will eat your fish:whistling2:


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## Love_snakes (Aug 12, 2007)

They are brackish animals. They need some salt in the water to thrive.


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## Aaron4321 (Jul 28, 2009)

Hmm, alot of caresheets say that they are freshwater...


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## daftlassieEmma (Oct 23, 2008)

Shell195 said:


> They will eat your fish:whistling2:


fish will try and eat them :gasp:



Aaron4321 said:


> Hmm, alot of caresheets say that they are freshwater...


 they prefer slightly brackish water as said, don't believe everything caresheets tell you

nice to see a shop giving out sound advice


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## SteveCourty (Oct 4, 2009)

I keep tropical fish and breed them succesfully along with quite a few of my friends We all have the small red claw crabs in the tank with the fish and never had any problems with them. Make sure they can get out tho and have abit of room to move. If you have slow moving fish then it may become a problem


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## Aaron4321 (Jul 28, 2009)

Hmm, so people say no and someone said yes lol


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## SteveCourty (Oct 4, 2009)

go into alot of maidenhead aquatics which in my opinion are brilliant and they mix all breeds of crabs with fish the only big company to say no is PAH which quite frankly shouldnt be allowed so sell live animals my four year old niece nos more than them


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## Andy_WSM (Feb 1, 2009)

Aaron4321 said:


> Hmm, so people say no and someone said yes lol


I have red claw crabs in with shrimps - no problems (yet).


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## SteveCourty (Oct 4, 2009)

I also have shrimps  mountain shrimp yamato and several others


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## luke 413 (Sep 25, 2009)

i have had a red claw in my tropical tank since xmas. hes doing fine had a couple of 'sheds' and is getting big. have corydoras red tail shark, upside down catfish, gourami and tetra. the only thing he poses a threat to is tetra. but i cannot confirm whether he killed them or if they died and then he ate them. 

i would say go for it imho the most entertaining thing in my tank.


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## SteveCourty (Oct 4, 2009)

luke 413 said:


> i have had a red claw in my tropical tank since xmas. hes doing fine had a couple of 'sheds' and is getting big. have corydoras red tail shark, upside down catfish, gourami and tetra. the only thing he poses a threat to is tetra. but i cannot confirm whether he killed them or if they died and then he ate them.
> 
> i would say go for it imho the most entertaining thing in my tank.


definely the best thing in mine. They normally dont kill but do eat the remains of anything that does die. In my opinion there great for the tank


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## Aaron4321 (Jul 28, 2009)

I am just going to get one! Just need someway of getting them out of the water... Not sure how as i need the water to be deep.


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## Aaron4321 (Jul 28, 2009)

Anybodt got pictures of their Crabs and set ups?


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## SteveCourty (Oct 4, 2009)

cant upload pics but a bit of woof going to the top is enougth or a slate tower. Also they climb up the tubes in your tank and sit on the ledge so as long as you have a secure lid so they cant get out!


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## luke 413 (Sep 25, 2009)

mine seem to do just fine climbing up the heater and sitting on the wire thats sticking out of the water. i usually put a magnetic glass cleaner there for them to sit on as well. just make sure there arent any holes in your lid!!


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## jay_2k (Oct 2, 2009)

My local pet shop told me that crabs need to be able to come out of the water. Kept in water all the time with shorten the life span to a 5-12 months if your lucky. Also, your crab would have a go at anything in the tank so be careful. 

The are great to watch; i would love one in my freshwater tropical tank.


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## Aaron4321 (Jul 28, 2009)

Got a crab in the end and he is awesome. Doesn't bother any of the fish or turts and none of them bother him, but he seems to be like a ninja.

Last night we couldn't see him but then we noticed he was on the cork bark, which is on the surface of the water and no thing going up from the bottom just a peice of wood near it. How did he get up there?


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## Aaron4321 (Jul 28, 2009)

Can they climb up glass or something? o.0


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## snoopyfrench87 (Apr 27, 2009)

They are very good climbers!, and they love to be able to get out of the water - provide floating cork wood etc - or if you keeping just the crabs give them a staggered beach out of the water.

mine never climbed glass but scaled filter wires etc, so its always advised to use a secure lid!

heres mine: 

















i will see if i can find a pic of my old setup x


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## Aaron4321 (Jul 28, 2009)

Are they actually handleable? I wanted to hold mine but was scared of it lol


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

They can pinch, but it doesn't really hurt.

I would be inclined to keep a few crabs either on their own or with some fast-swimming fish, and with a proper haul-out area (some rocks, or a nice big bit of driftwood poking out of the water- tank filled about half full with water). 

In your set up, frankly, I would be more worried about the turtles- soft shelled turtles can have a vicious bite once they grow a bit, and their natural food is fish!


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## Aaron4321 (Jul 28, 2009)

I have Cooters, when they are older they will be almost 100% Herbivours and they are not aggresice to anything in the tank or me.


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

Wait and see...


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## Aaron4321 (Jul 28, 2009)

Comcidering they are already herbivours and hav not eaten any of my live fish i am fine.


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## gal gecko (Sep 20, 2009)

SteveCourty said:


> go into alot of maidenhead aquatics which in my opinion are brilliant and they mix all breeds of crabs with fish the only big company to say no is PAH which quite frankly shouldnt be allowed so sell live animals my four year old niece nos more than them


One PAH place near me has their crabs with no access to air, and told me if I didnt let them have access to air then they can't sell me one.... imagine their embarrasment when i pointed out that their crabs had NOTHING in their tank... never mind access to air!!!!


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## SteveCourty (Oct 4, 2009)

lol they had the same at my local one I also said the same thing they now have a shallow tank more like a rockery its actually quite nice i mite do one myself.

I found a perfect bit of woof that sits in my tank and has a ledge on the top with lots of holes in it. He lives mainly on the wood and in it


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## Aaron4321 (Jul 28, 2009)

I have a two pieces of cork bark with mopani wood going from the bottom of the tank to the bark, one for my Turts one for my Crab, he sometimes chills with the turts. 

I usually just seem him wondering the bottom of the tank and wood.


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