i bought a crab to go in my aquarium yesterday and i woke up this morning and it looks dead?

Question

I have heard they shed their exosceleton. How can i tell the difference?

Answer 1

I agree with the answerer who said that an exoskeleton will be empty. Also, you should know that if your crab is a fiddler crab or a red claw (or Thai) crab, they need quite a bit of salt in their water AND a place where they can get out of the water to do well in your tank. Most fish stores don't keep them in the proper conditions and don't tell their customers how to care for them properly!

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile101.html
http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/show_article.php?article_id=112
http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/rarespecies/a/fiddlercrabs.htm
http://inin.essortment.com/fiddlercrabspe_rslq.htm

Answer 2

Crabs, shrimp and other invertebrates can be harder to keep than fish. They can be more sensitive to all sorts of water parameters including the pH, nitrates, temperature and salinity of your fish tank. Some shrimp and crabs also need a very slow acclamation process where you spend several hours mixing some of your aquarium water with the pet store water that they came in. If your crab hasn't move for a couple days, he is likely dead. Best thing to do is find out what species you are buying and do a bit of research before bringing him home.

Answer 3

Crab and shrimpb are hard to take care of, start a crayfish tanki they are easy to take care of. They are very hardy.

Here is some info i made from years of experience:

This may help you i made it myself:

Ive had alot of experience with crawfish ( I call them crayfish). Yes, as long as ther whole under side is kept wet .Get a good filter, feed him only a maximum of 3 shrimp pellets every 4 days, DO NOT PUT RAW SHRIMP IN TANK( shrimp carry deseases fatal to crawfish), Put 2 or three live feeder fish fish every week or so , gat him a bubble maker to put oxygeg in the tank, and about 2-3 hiding places. If you evr think of getting 2 crayfish get a 20 gallon( for best results get a 30gallon) and 5 hiding places. Remember this rule, it applies to most species of crawfish: 1crayfish per 10 gallons. If he molts(shed off his shell) he will get bigger and lost limbs will start to regenerate, leave the molt in there so he can eat it and regain calcium from the molt to harden his shell(do not touch it after it molts, its body is fragile at that time.

oh yea, they can live in partly salt water but would prefer fresh.

So They are extremely hardy and can live without food for weeks!

Answer 4

If it's an exoskeleton, it will be hollow, and won't have any weight other than the water inside of it, and the crab will be hiding somewhere.

Either way, you'll need to remove it from the tank.

Answer 5

REMOVE HIM FROM YOUR TANK.

If he's dead, he is fouling your water.
If he's alive, what you remove will be hollow, and he'll come out of hiding after a while.

Answer 6

go see a vet

Answer 7

Is it big enough to boil and eat?