The red mangrove crab is an excellent pet option for those who have no experience in keeping exotic animals and do not have a lot of time to care for them.
The mangrove crab does not require difficult conditions and is suitable even for beginner aquarists. What do you prefer?
- Red fish 47%, 225 votes
225 votes 47%225 votes - 47% of all votes
- Crustaceans/molluscs 40%, 192 votes
192 votes 40%
192 votes - 40% of all votes
- White fish 13%, 64 votes
64 votes 13%
64 votes - 13% of all votes
Total votes: 481
18.04.2020
- Red fish 47%, 225 votes
225 votes 47%225 votes - 47% of all votes
- Crustaceans/molluscs 40%, 192 votes
192 votes 40%
192 votes - 40% of all votes
- White fish 13%, 64 votes
64 votes 13%
64 votes - 13% of all votes
Total votes: 481
18.04.2020
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General information
The red mangrove crab is a small tropical crustacean. In its natural environment it can be found among the mangroves of Southeast Asia.
For a comfortable life, little bullies need water, but you need to know that they spend a lot of time on land. In their habitats, crabs live in brackish water, so it is a mistake to call crustaceans freshwater. But in aquaterrariums, mangrove crabs can swim safely in fresh water.
There are about 150 species of red mangrove crabs in nature.
It is very interesting to watch the life of mangrove crabs. Crustaceans love to climb to the top of driftwood and carefully observe what is happening in the house. If they suspect that they are in even the slightest danger, the crabs quickly jump from the elevated surface and swim for cover. They are also very good designers - if they don’t like something, they move the decorations to another place.
There are slight difficulties in breeding crabs, since there is a floating larval stage. In this regard, only imported mangrove crabs caught in natural habitats are sold.
Conditions
When keeping a crab in an aquarium, it is important to know the characteristics of their body, daily routine, and dietary preferences. Before purchasing an arthropod pet, you need to weigh the pros and cons, find out information about keeping and caring for them.
Water requirements
A large number of varieties of crustaceans live in salt water bodies. Therefore, the water in the aquaterrarium should also be salted. To do this, use sea salt. If it is not available, then mix table salt, soda and calcium chloride.
Crabs do not need very high water levels like fish. 10–15 cm will be enough.
Water must be purified from foreign impurities, especially nitrates and ammonia. The inhabitants of the aquarium quickly become poisoned by the products of their vital activity. The water needs to be changed frequently and regularly.
Water hardness does not affect the life of arthropods, but this indicator should be below 10. Water acidity is 7–8 pH. The water temperature should remain at the same level of 25–27 degrees, without sudden fluctuations.
Soil and plants
A soil base is essential in a pet's home. Bacteria multiply in the soil, useful for maintaining biobalance in the mini-ecosystem of the aquaterrarium. A good choice would be zeolite with the addition of crushed coral. Gravel and tuff granules are used as a replacement.
Their size should not be small; the correct size is 4–5 mm. This will facilitate the siphoning process, which is mandatory for crustacean soil.
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Plants in an aquarium are planted not for decoration, but for food. Therefore, it is important to choose safe species of underwater plants. Plants that are aquatic or located in the water column are better suited. On rooted plants, crustaceans will dig up and damage the roots.
Suitable plants:
- Pemphigus.
- Duckweed.
- Java moss.
- Water hyacinth.
- Riccia floating.
- Vallisneria.
Requirements for an aquarium
The main requirement for an aquarium is a sufficient amount of dry land. A fatal mistake would be to add crabs to a tank without dry land; because of this, the arthropods usually die within the first month after purchase. On land, lay a small slide or a ladder of stones that your pet can climb up.
The dimensions of the aquaterrarium for one representative are 50*50 cm, for several - 1*1 m.
Home equipment
When setting up an aquarium, remember the characteristics of crabs. They are more suited not to an open body of water, but to moist soil or moss under their limbs and high air humidity. But the aquarium still has a small bathing area in which the pet can completely immerse itself. The bath is useful during molting or simply to wet the gills.
Avoid placing heating pads, filters, cleaners, or lamps with wires in the aquaterrarium. The arthropods will bite them with their claws and get electrocuted. Place all equipment out of reach.
To prevent burrowing, place a pipe inside that your pet can climb into.
Equipment
To monitor the temperature, you will need a thermometer. It is located on the wall or inside the aquaterrarium.
If the crab spends a long time in water, then install a filter and compressor in the pond. This will help purify the water and create small currents so that the water does not stagnate.
Freshwater
Freshwater crabs in an aquarium require settled fresh water with plenty of calcium carbonate. For an aquarium with fresh arthropods, the water temperature is maintained at 23 degrees. The water should not be too soft.
Appearance
All members of the family have the same body structure. The round body is covered with a carapace - a dense shell. The abdomen is located below, the abdomen is bent inward. Of the 5 pairs of walking legs, the first has the appearance of a claw. With its help, crabs protect themselves from predators and obtain food for themselves. Movable stalks rising above the head have 2 eyes. The mouth contains jaws.
The male shell in an adult male reaches 5 cm in length, in females - 3 cm. The color is characterized by variability, but you can often find crabs whose back is painted dark purple. The walking legs have a similar shade, but the claws are bright red. At the junction of the segments with the carapace, the latter are colored orange or yellow. Small bullies can pinch painfully, so you need to be careful when you want to pick up your pet.
When provided with comfortable conditions, red mangrove crabs live for 4 years.
Habitat
The mangrove forests of Southeast Asia are the natural habitat of red mangrove crabs. High and low tides occur frequently in this area. After the water recedes, the crabs happily swarm in the soil in search of tasty treats and seafood. In these places, the water has low salinity, as ocean waters mix with river waters.
Little bullies are excellent orderlies - they crawl along the shores of beaches and pick up everything that is left after people have rested, or has been washed onto land by water.
The mangrove crab is not very large
Care and maintenance
Before purchasing a mangrove crab, novice aquarists should become familiar with the peculiarities of keeping this tropical exotic and learn how to care for the aquarium.
A representative of crustaceans feels great alone, so don’t be afraid that he will get bored; you can try buying one crab first. In tropical forests, each animal has its own territory, which they consider their personal property and protect from uninvited guests. In this area they hunt and get their food.
Reviews
People speak positively about crabs. Owners are attracted by the beauty of the arthropod, so they don't need to take too much care of the crab. At home, it is better to keep them in a separate tank, because clashes and conflicts occur. Another disadvantage was the frequent replacement of water. But still, the owners are not ready to give up crabs and these disadvantages can be easily corrected.
Compatibility
When purchasing from a pet store, novice aquarists often ask whether the crab in the tank will get bored if it lives alone. Representatives of this species, on the contrary, prefer loneliness, so they treat even their fellow creatures with caution. Therefore, they will not be bored.
When breeding crustaceans in an aquarium, they behave territorially. If an opponent creeps into someone else’s territory, a fight cannot be avoided. And she will be so tough, to the point of losing her claws. But over time, lost limbs grow back.
Living together with some types of fish is unsafe for the latter. If a crab sits in “its” territory, as it itself believes, and an aquarium fish swims past it back and forth, then the representative of the crustaceans will not think for long about what to do with it. He'll just pinch her.
But there are fish with which crabs are compatible. This:
- barbs;
- guppy;
- mollies;
- zebrafish;
- swordtails.
Macrobrachium shrimp are also good companions for red mangrove crabs.
Before you buy other animals and add them to the tank, it is worth learning in detail about their character, habits, behavior and conditions of detention, as well as how they behave towards other inhabitants.
Neighborhood
All crustacean creatures have a nasty, quarrelsome character. It's better if they sit alone. The maximum they will allow to plant is females. But the males will have a hard time: fights will be regular, bloody, with severe injuries. The claws, of course, will grow back, but such atrocities are not pleasant. With all this, keeping aquarium crabs with fish does not cause any trouble. They get along well together and even tolerate turtles. They don't care about them.
Feeding red mangrove crab
The crab eats on land, so food should be placed on a stone protruding from the water. The pet will run out onto the stone and see that treats have been prepared for it.
The diet should include:
- Every day it is recommended to give lettuce, finely chopped carrots, zucchini, pumpkin, cabbage, and not very sweet fruits. If the crab does not have enough food of plant origin, the aquarium greens will suffer.
- Twice every 7 days you need to pamper your pet with lean, raw meat. These are bloodworms, insects, tubifex, seafood.
- At the pet store you can buy food intended for feeding crustaceans. The option is not the best, but it is also acceptable.
A varied diet will affect the brightness of the crab's body color - it will become brighter and more attractive. His behavior will also be interesting to watch. The pet will get used to the feeding ritual and will already wait for the owner to come to feed him. As soon as the aquarist appears in sight, the crab will run out onto the stone and itself will pull its claws, waiting for the next tasty treat.
Time will pass, and the mangrove crab will not be afraid of its owner. Then it will become interesting to watch how he crawls along the bottom and puts things in order in his house with his claws: he sorts out the pebbles and puts them in another place, according to his liking.
Useful tips
To create conditions, crabs require not only a certain skill and knowledge of equipment. Crabs are creatures with a strong personality and their own character. Therefore, take into account their features:
- Almost all crabs have a grumpy disposition. These are territorial creatures that will sort things out for any reason. Crabs have long and serious fights, fraught with sad consequences. During the fight, they can tear off an opponent's limb and even kill him. Therefore, do not place 2 or more males in one container.
- The best solution would be to populate the aquaterrarium with two creatures of different sexes. If you want to acquire a whole colony, then provide each crab with its own personal territory. This requires a very large container.
- Try to equip the area with a powerful external filter. Crabs are extremely sensitive to water pollution.
- The aquaterrarium must be equipped with a tight lid - the crabs are active and can escape from it. And then you have to look for them throughout the house. When making an escape, place a bowl of water in a visible place, and the crab will definitely be next to it when he gets tired of traveling overland.
- During molting, crabs become vulnerable. Therefore, during this period, provide your pet with a suitable, dark shelter.
When preparing an aquaterrarium, 7-10 days before adding a crab there, introduce small fish into the water. They tolerate an alkaline environment and will have a beneficial effect on the creation of the ecosystem.
Shedding
At a young age, pets shed 6 times a year, every 2 months. Adults molt 2 times a year.
When the shell becomes too small for the crab, it leaves it. With each moult, noticeable growth of the animals is observed. This indicates that their health is fine. The old shell should not be removed from the aquarium; the crabs will find something to do with it. After molting, the pet's color may vary slightly, but over time the shade is restored.
Note!
Molting is a stressful moment in the life of invertebrate animals. If difficulties arise, you need to add a few drops of iodine or a pinch of sea salt to the water.
Red mangrove crabs are omnivorous crustaceans
Prices
The cost of a crab depends on its age and type.
- The average price for young aquarium crabs is 150 rubles.
- Price for teenagers is 250 rubles.
- The cost of adult individuals ranges from 300 to 550 rubles.
Varieties of crabs. Each type of crab has its own price. It depends on the prevalence of the species, the ease of its care and cultivation and other factors.
- Dwarf crab costs 160–170 rubles.
- Mangrove - 370–400 rubles.
- Vampire crab - 530 rubles.
- Rainbow crab - 500 rubles.
- Royal leopard - 550 rubles.
Reproduction and breeding
November is considered a good month for marriage. In the natural habitat, this period is associated with the beginning of the rainy season and depends on the phase of the moon. First, the males leave their secluded places and move towards the ocean. Then come the females. Since changes occur in the hormonal background, males are tolerant towards each other. Having tramped a long distance and reached the high tide zone, the males dig individual burrows for themselves and again become aggressive, as they guard the occupied territory. They are impatiently waiting for females.
Is it possible to breed crabs?
- In their natural habitat, crabs reproduce constantly, preferring to do this during the hot summer season. Reproduction of marine arthropods occurs through the laying of eggs.
- But in conditions of captivity this is impossible to achieve - the offspring during development require the planktonic stage, which is provided only in the oceans and seas. Although mating games are present in aquarium crabs.
Only freshwater crabs can be propagated in an aquarium. For breeding, increase the water temperature by 2-3⁰С. They do not require special conditions for spawning. The larvae grow quickly and adapt.
