My crabs keep dying! What am I doing wrong?

Question

I have a 10 gallon fresh water fish tank with 5 fish. I keep buying crabs,but they keep dying. What am I doing wrong? Do they need saltwater? Am i giving them the wrong food? Also how many fish can I put it a 10-gallon tank? I have heard many different answers. Some people tell me 9, some 10, and some only 5 or 6. What is the answer for happy, healthy fish??

Answer 1

Fiddlers and red clawed crabs both need to be able to get completely out of the water and both should have salt in the water as well. Neither of these have a very long lifespan either - only about 2 years. Both may try and catch slow moving fish, so be careful the fish don't get eaten. Larger fish may try to eat the crabs when they molt. Fish and crabs don't make the best tankmates.

The number of fish you can keep is a number no one can just give to you. A lot depends on the type of fish - some will get larger than others, some need to be kept in groups which you may not have room for if you have other fish, and you may be able to keep more or less by their personalities (if they're aggressive or peaceful) and your filtration. If you have fish the size of guppies or platys (about 2 inches) with a good filter, you might be able to keep around 8 if you do partial water changes of about 25% every week. Larger fish like mollies (around 4 inches) maybe only 4-5. Tetras, barbs, danios, and rasboras are schooling fish that should be kept in groups of 5-6 or more, but corydoras and kuhlii loaches should be in groups of 3-4 or more. For fish that will be larger as adults, you should only keep them if you can get them a larger tank as the grow up.

Answer 2

Did you mean that you kept buying crabs and putting them in the 10 gallon tank? If so, then they wouldn't have a place to come out of the water to breathe! You shouldn't put in crabs with other fish, anyway, they will pinch and rip the fish's fins. Get your crabs a small tank, anout 10 gallons works fine, and fill half with a little bit (like 3 inches) of water and half with gravel. You'll aslo need a filter and heater and water conditioner.
As for how many fish can go in the 10 gal, it depends on how often you change the water (and how big they are), the more fish, the more ammonia- water changes eliminates this. So you can have up to 10 or so fish, but remember to cycle your tank before you add fish and don't add more than 3 fish per week.

Answer 3

SALTWATER. The mixture has to be an accurate ratio of salt:water. Also, they need crab company of the same family. get 2 or 3 at the least.

Answer 4

You didn't say if there is any place for them to get out of the water. They must surface or they will drown. Here is a very inventive way to solve your problem. http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/diy/40170-moss-rope-ladder.html
They do like their own kind, but it depends on your filtration and your tank cleaning schedule. You could probably keep up to a dozen if you are very good about doing water changes once or twice a week.

Answer 5

Maybe, the crabs are clipping the damn fishes, where is your head?Do you really put your freshwater fish/crabs in saltwater?You're confused as your writing appears, and you're seeking real help, go to your pet store, and get some advice, any good pet store should be happy to give advice. Oops, maybe i'm damn confused, out of here, see ya.