i have this crab , the only time i ever see the little guy is when i do maintenance on the filter for my aquarium because he has taken up residence in there, no matter how many times i put him in the aquarium he still goes in there, i have plenty of rocks with little nooks to hide in so i dont know why he chooses the filter, im afraid he will starve to death because he NEVER comes out. ive never seen him eat a pellet even once. so what can i do? theres now way to block the filter because of how it operatres, he get up to the edge of the tank and works his way around to the spillout part of the filter and in he goes. what could i do to encourage him to live in the damnd fish tank like a normal crab rather then in the filter box?
2007-06-18 13:17:40 · 10 answers · asked by None 4 in Pets ➔ Fish
I'm going to guess you have red clawed "shrimp" (they look kind of like crayfish), not crabs. I keep the red clawed shrimp too and I have solved that climbing problem by filtering their tank with a plastic air powered box filter that sits on the gravel inside the aquarium. Their claws are not big enough to grip the airline to climb on, so they have to stay in the tank. Water level is 1" below the rim of the tank.
A small Tetratec Deepwater air pump and a box filter or large sponge filter will solve your problem unless it is a very large tank (55 gallons or larger). You might need 2 inside filters for the larger sized tanks. I have just one air powered sponge filter in a 40 gallon corner tank, but it just has 2 adult angels and their fry in it. Not too big a bio-load.
19 of my 25 tanks are filtered with air power. I have one linear air pump that takes care of all of them. Don't worry about him getting enough to eat, I have seen mine actually reaching into the filter to pick "stuff" from the filter media inside the plastic box. Don't know what he is getting, but there is plenty of food in the tank for him that he is ignoring.
I got creative in another tank that houses dwarf blue crayfish when I learned that they will climb right up the air tubing and get out onto the floor. I took a Cool Whip lid and cut 2" circles out of it, then drilled holes in the center that were just a hair too small for the air line. Then I forced the air line through it and positioned it just below the edge of the tank. Voila', a perfect block for escaping crayfish. You might have to build yourself something similar out of plastic lids or containers that you can afix to the edge of the tank or filter to block his escape attempts.
Many shrimp species like to be right in the flow of water so that food drifts by them and they don't have to go hunting for it (that may be his motivation). My bamboo shrimp are like that, they sit on top of the filter box or on a piece of wood that extends out over the outflow of bubbles from the filter and wave their little fans in the stream of water that is moved by the bubbles so they can catch small particles of food.
2007-06-18 13:55:34 · answer #1 · answered by 8 In the corner 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Try to get a different type of filter that he cant climb into, but do keep the other one. Once you've had your new filter for a while and your crab has realised its not a place he can exactly hang out anymore he'll find somewhere more sensible to hide. After this put your Original filter back in, if he realises the dramatic change of filter and goes to hang out there again repeat the treatment. Or another solution to this problem is to just remove the filter for half an hour see if that helps? Get some nice big green plants that he can explore. If you've already got some... Get more! The more the merrier. Your crab will be happier and you'll be less worried. Though check on him now and again, make sure he's okay. If this does not help call a crab specialist, your local aquariumriam, or the place you got your little crab from to see if there is any other solutions to your Filter hiding crab. But the one thing I'm not sure about is if the pumping water coming from the filter is to much pressure on him. =S I hope my advice helped, and your crab is okay. -Lottie
2016-05-19 01:33:07 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you have a fiddler crab, they like to enjoy the air. I'm assuming you have the external cartridge type filter. It is turbulent up there and it can sit in the air/water interface and chill...plus it's a cool place for him to hide. Fiddler crabs live on the shore and only go into the water if food is not available on shore.
2007-06-18 13:35:08 · answer #3 · answered by ro 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Do the rocks you have allow him to climb completely out of the water? They need this, so if you have only underwater hiding places, that's one of the reasons he's climbing. And he's doing partly just because he can - they're very good at escaping from tanks.
They also should have some salt in their water (another thing Pet Not-so-smart forgot to tell you?).
2007-06-18 13:32:19 · answer #4 · answered by copperhead 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
1
2017-02-10 02:30:56 · answer #5 · answered by Randy 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Maybe he likes being where he can get air. Make sure you have something like a rock or decoration that he can climb on to get to the top of the water.
2007-06-18 13:28:45 · answer #6 · answered by Cathy S 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
eather get him a diffrent tank, or buy some PVC pipe. ok now i have no idea the science behind it or anything, or even if there is any science, but my lobsters have always loved PVC pipe to hide in. it looks bad, but looks should be second to an animals comfort. if you do use pvc piping make sure to wash it really well
2007-06-18 16:16:02 · answer #7 · answered by jared j 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm sure he's eating the stuff that gets caught in the filter. If it really bothers you though block off the hole he uses to get in there.
2007-06-18 13:26:26 · answer #8 · answered by I Know, I Know 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You're in trouble. I guess you could feed him in the filter and just give him time to adjust.
2007-06-18 13:23:01 · answer #9 · answered by Madikar 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
keep them some where else
2007-06-18 14:20:12 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋