CtryLuv's Crabbie Cove Fiddler Crab Care
The basics I am listing here will be things I have learned from other fiddler crab owners (Thanks NarNar!), websites, and forums. If anyone sees anything that they know to be incorrect, please, email me immediately!!
- General Care Fiddlers need a half water half land environment. They need sand to burrow in, but they must have water to live in also. Their humidity needs to be like hermits, between 70-80, and they prefer the higher end temps between 78-85. They like having things to hid in and things to climb on. The best tanks for them would range from a 5 gallon to maybe a 20 gallon, probably a long. To set it up you pour about 4-5 inches of sand into the aquarium and smooth it out, then start adding your water. When you have added the amount of water you want, (I believe it should be at least a few inches deep, maybe a bit more, then start sloping your sand up so that half of the tank has a beach. This is were you can put their fresh water dish, a hidey hut, or whatever you dont want under the water. Crabbies like to climb and bask, so have a climbing rock in the water where they can crawl out and sit. Make sure you have a lid on your tank! These little guys can figure out how to escape, and if they do, at least judging from mine, once they are loose, there will be no catching them. Mine can move probably 50 miles an hour, lol.
- Molting - Fiddlers molt just like hermies, but they do it differently. They always molt underwater, and then they are off and running. The dont seem to require the resting period our hermies do. They might eat the exo, or they might not, I guess it just depends on the crab. If its still in there in 2 weeks, I would remove it. UPDATE: Not sure about them always molting under water now. When I was removing excess sand from my tank, I found the exo of my large female. It was about 3-4 inches under the sand. I also found the large female, so I know it was an exo. Now either she molted under the sand, or she buried her exo. I will be doing more research on this!! Notice in the pictures below that the 2nd one is very light and almost looks like a "ghost". That is the shed exo. You can click on the pics for full image. UPDATE: I have since changed my opinion on fiddlers always molting underwater. Although they do so quite often I discovered the other night when I was replacing some nasty sand, and found 3 exos buried in the sand that they apparently molt under the sand too. Sneaky little buggers!!!
- Food and Water - The fiddlers need brackish water for their main source. This is a weak salt water. Ive read a few different things about their water. Of course, first of all, it needs to be dechlorinated. As far as the salinity, Ive seen 2 different things. One site says to have the salinity at 1.005 - 1.010. Another one Ive found says to keep it around 1.020. Right now I have mine at 1.09 and will probably bring it up a bit. The PH should be right around 8, so if you get a ph tester, you need to get one for higher end aquariums.
You must also have a small dish of fresh dechlorinated water for them.
As far as food goes, fiddlers root around in the sand and get microscopic organisms and such from the sand. The also like algae, so I make sure I always have an algae wafer in there for them. I also feed things such as bloodworms, shrimp, freeze dried shrimp, raw fish, and Ive even tried oranges. Im still working on their diet.
- Tank Cycling - Your tank will need to be cycled. Cycling is getting rid of all of the bad bacteria and replacing it with good. You can buy little testers that suction cup onto the side of the tank that will tell you where you tank is as far as cycling. In ideal circumstances, you tank should be cycled before adding the fiddlers. The bad thing about that is it is extremely hard and takes extremely long to cycle a tank that doesnt have anything live in it. You can add live sand or live rock, but you will have to have the salinity up to where a reef tank would need to be. Brackish water is not sufficient to sustain live rock or sand and it will die. However, salinity at those levels would not hurt the fiddlers either. You just mix the aquarium salt according to the directions on the package. Now whether live rock or sand needs other things a reef tank does, Im not sure, but I will try to find out when I go to our oceans environment store this weekend.
- Breeding - Although it is not unheard of for fiddlers to mate in captivity, the young will not survive. The female must lay the eggs in the ocean, and they hatch and survive there. We cannot reproduce the tidal flows and such that the female needs to lay the eggs, and the tiny water life the babies need to survive after they hatch.
- Hands on or hands off - This I am still learning about. I have yet to handle my fiddlers, first because I want to know how to do it without hurting them, and second because if they decide to run, Im scared they would be gone, lol. I will be doing more research on this, and adding my own experiences also. UPDATE: I got to handle one of my fiddlers. I was removing some sand and water because it was really too deep in my tank. After I did that, I sat in the kitchen and slowly and carefully went through the sand again to make sure that I didnt miss a crabbie and I found my large female. She sat in my hand ever so quietly as I got up and walked to the living room and put my hand in the tank. When I laid my hand down, she looked around, decided she was home, and walked off my hand. Still very nervous about holding them because I know how fast they can move, but the first experience was successful. Ok, I did a deep clean on the tank awhile back cause the sand was getting way too nasty!! I did get to hold each of my fiddlers. They are quick and very hard to catch, but once you have them in your hand they seem to just sit there. Im not sure if its out of fear or what. I still dont think they are the kind of crabbie you can pick up and play with, but Ive not had any problems handling them so far :)
I was able to get some decent pictures of 3 of my crabbies so Ive decided to post them here. First up is Tweak!!
Next up is Fiddle Faddle!! This is when he was dancing for us :)
Last but not least is my new female Miss Priss. Notice how she seems to be darker than the others. I think she is a different species. She is also my most active fiddler.
Unforunately my other female is extremely shy and only comes out late at night after everyone has gone to bed. I see her once in a while in the mornings when I get up, but then she goes and hides.
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