big crab

[BigFish]

i want a crab thats going to be able to be in a tank and whold its own against some mean fish so what types of crabs would you suggest

[WckedMidas]

straight up cheseapeak bay blue crab

[rayman45]

look at the name under ur member name on the left
get a few of those

[piranha45]

blue crabs are marine, and require cold temperatures dont they?

red claw crabs are too small, ive lost about 10 of those things due to my cichlids eating them or them crawling out of the tank

There aren't any monster crabs we know of that are available in the hobby, or that you wouldnt have to end up paying a hundred bucks for. Stick with a crayfish.

[iheartfishies]

I've had my fair share of crabs....

errr...

They always get eatin.

I even had this CRUCIAL HUGE crayfish that couldn't even pick up his pinchers they were so big. He just dragged them around. They just waited till he molted, then he was just a tasty little morsel.

[WckedMidas]

I've had my fair share of crabs....

errr...

They always get eatin.
.




sunds like a ichy situation to me. :cry: :hitting: :omg:

[CentralMayhem]

anyone who thinks any freshwater crayfish could stand the onslaught of a hungry trimac or festae is kidding themselves. with crayfish if they cant eat the fish the fish can more than likely kill them. all crays have to molt as well. then they are sitting ducks.

[iheartfishies]

Yep.
I actually had a crayfish live for months with them.
Then he just died.
Wasn't picked on or eatin.
Just layin on his back.
He was part of the fish family in the tank.:(

[piranha45]

he realized he was different, died from depression.

[iheartfishies]

:topic:

But extreme hilarity.

[guppy]

straight up cheseapeak bay blue crab
Won't that eat the fish, Probem with crabs is that if they are to small they are bait and if they are only a little bigger by morning they are alone.

[guppy]

I've had my fair share of crabs....

errr...

They always get eatin.

I even had this CRUCIAL HUGE crayfish that couldn't even pick up his pinchers they were so big. He just dragged them around. They just waited till he molted, then he was just a tasty little morsel.
not touching that line if you paid me. Reminds me though, for you floridians, how about boxcrabs?

[Oddball]

The main problem with finding a crab that can hold its own around larger fish is that these crabs will also actively hunt down the fish. I started raising malawi blue swimming crabs. These guys reach about 9" across. A major part of their diet is fish. I feed them mostly frozen tilapia and catfish but, they also hunt down and kill foot long shad and scores of minnows. These crabs even hunt down each other. I have to keep them all separated until the males are literally humping the glass to get to a females tank. Then, I have to immediately remove the male after spawning or the female will kill and eat him.

[The TRUST]

The main problem with finding a crab that can hold its own around larger fish is that these crabs will also actively hunt down the fish. I started raising malawi blue swimming crabs. These guys reach about 9" across. A major part of their diet is fish. I feed them mostly frozen tilapia and catfish but, they also hunt down and kill foot long shad and scores of minnows. These crabs even hunt down each other. I have to keep them all separated until the males are literally humping the glass to get to a females tank. Then, I have to immediately remove the male after spawning or the female will kill and eat him.

that sounds pretty messed up. my kinda crab :D

[piranha45]

who/where can you get this crab specie from, oddball?

[rayman45]

i want one of these crabs too

[piranha45]

ur not cool enough to have these crabs, stick with the red claws and fiddlers.

[rayman45]

DONT LISTEN TO HIM
IM COOLER THEN HIM
TELL ME B4 YOU TELL HIM

[guesswho2005]

Not many out there. I have some Florida Blue crayfish they can hold their own but will eat small fish and all your plants. I slowly brought them up to 78 degrees and they do fine, however , they eat morein warmer water.

I did come across a Australian Blue Lobster (FW) they will get over 15" and not much will bother them. As alway when introducing new fish its has always my gole is to do so after a major tank cleaning. I move plants around and change up the territories a bit and they seem to work out much better especially for the new additions.

[piranha45]

Not many out there. I have some Florida Blue crayfish they can hold their own but will eat small fish and all your plants. I slowly brought them up to 78 degrees and they do fine, however , they eat morein warmer water.

I did come across a Australian Blue Lobster (FW) they will get over 15" and not much will bother them. As alway when introducing new fish its has always my gole is to do so after a major tank cleaning. I move plants around and change up the territories a bit and they seem to work out much better especially for the new additions.
what do you keep with the Aussie cray?

[rayman45]

15"
get me one that size

[piranha45]

hah, you're going to have to rip off a hell of a lot more coke machines than what you have been, if you wanna get one of those crays

[rayman45]

get me one plez

[piranha45]

you're gonna have to expand your operations; start vandalizing the local arcades. Coke machines are kid stuff man, you need to think big here.

[rayman45]

ill just start robbing kids

[guesswho2005]

I keep several 3 feet Koi, several 2 feet gold fish. Gold fish are the crab eaters but none will mess with the Aussie

[piranha45]

I keep several 3 feet Koi, several 2 feet gold fish. Gold fish are the crab eaters but none will mess with the Aussie
I would love to see pics of a 2-foot goldfish. I thought they only got 10-12" max.

[Veneer]

red claw crabs are too small, ive lost about 10 of those things due to my cichlids eating them or them crawling out of the tank

There aren't any monster crabs we know of that are available in the hobby, or that you wouldnt have to end up paying a hundred bucks for. Stick with a crayfish.

Red claw crabs (typically Sesarma sp.), as with fiddlers (Uca spp.) are actually truly brackish and amphibious (both thus requiring, at the least, a haul-out platform or element of emergent décor).

Some of the more fully aquatic Potamonids, as the supposed Potamon sp. depicted http://www.wirbellose.de/arten.cgi?action=show&artNo=035 (here) might work well (though, I must note, they may maim or dispatch fish during their nocturnal rest phases, and - as with all freshwater crustaceans - are somewhat vulnerable to predation whilst and immediately after molting).


Alternatively, one might wish to investigate the following crustaceans:

Aegla[/i]]http://www.wirbellose.de/arten.cgi?action=show&artNo=295 (Large anomurans of the genus Macrobrachium spp.):

Adult male M. rosenbergii (look to the following images) may attain lengths exceeding 60 cm (24 inches).

- http://www.msstate.edu/dept/crec/prawn.jpg
- http://southcenters.osu.edu/aqua/intro/sld013.htm (The immense "Kentucky King")
- http://www.papuaweb.org/gb/foto/muller/ecology/08/

Some aquarist accounts concerning M. rosenbergii:

i was the proud owner of "Louie" i had to give him to a friend of mine because he more than outgrew my 30 gallon tank. i would recommend keeping it alone unless you want it to kill everything. i had a 10" florida gar in the tank momentarily until i got my 55 gallon setup. it was for a very short time. two days later the gar was prawn food.he also ate a pleco, two snails, and my rafael cat. his normal diet was feeders and he loved shrimp pellets. Louie was definitely an awsome shrimp though. i gave him to my buddy to put in his 75g, and on my birthday Louie died :( . he was about 14" of body and about 8" of claw, by far the coolest aquatic pet that i have ever owned.

(From a now-defunct forum; boldface mine)

I have a blue prawn and
can verify it will catch and eat anything it gets it claws onto. The
LFS failed to warn me about this and I foolishly did the "there's only
one, I should grab it before it's gone" kneejerk purchase. It ate nine
tiger barbs, a whiptail catfish, a skunk, a beta and even a 6" bala
shark. Did I mention this loss was all in about the first three weeks!

They're extremely agressive and complete hogs. I drop in three algae
wapers and he'll find all three and attempt to eat them similtaniously,
even bullying the Pleco to give up the one it's working on. Now Mr.
Snappy is my population control tool for my pair of Convict Cichlids,
added after massive fish losses when I opted to go with agressive
species. The convicts, pleco, skunk and remaining balas all know to
steer clear of him. Convicts seem rather peaceful in comparison. I would
NEVER get another prawn should I loose Mr. Snappy.

(From http://www.aquarium-forums.com/general/Freshwater_Shrimps_142346.html)

- A truly striking male M. nipponense (apparently 40 cm/16 inches in length) may be viewed at the bottom of http://www.h2.dion.ne.jp/~karo/new_page_14.htm (this page).

[piranha45]

Very interesting. Do you know of any online dealers of these crustaceans, sir?

[rayman45]

http://www.papuaweb.org/gb/foto/muller/ecology/08/05.jpg
i want

[guesswho2005]

I would love to see pics of a 2-foot goldfish. I thought they only got 10-12" max.

Gold fish sorry, they are gold but are in Carp family not fancy at all just big and gold. My golds fish were close to 15" they were used as feeders. My buddy loved them since I owned then for almost five years. From what I undersand his snakehead and Arampias loved them too. All were over 4" thick.

[rayman45]

i feed 12-14" goldfish to my sh

[guesswho2005]

http://www.papuaweb.org/gb/foto/muller/ecology/08/05.jpg
i want

Rayman, were did you get the pic of those crayfish. Man those are about the size of the Blue lobsters from Austrialia. DO you know if they get any bigger. I bet you would not have a live plant in your tank with those big boys......

[rayman45]

i dont remeber

[Veneer]

Rayman, were did you get the pic of those crayfish. Man those are about the size of the Blue lobsters from Austrialia. DO you know if they get any bigger. I bet you would not have a live plant in your tank with those big boys......

They're not crayfish - rather, they're prawns (Macrobrachium rosenbergii), and have been known to attain total lengths (including extended chelipeds) of around 26 inches, at which point they will kill or maim most cohabitants.

I recently purchased some 5-inch juveniles from Petco at $5.99 each under the heading of "Long-Arm Prawn".

Images:

http://www.msstate.edu/dept/crec/prawn.jpg
http://southcenters.osu.edu/aqua/intro/sld013.htm
http://www.papuaweb.org/gb/foto/muller/ecology/08/

[rayman45]

get me some THAT big

[Astro_Creep]

If you want to keep crawfish then when they molt you need to put in a cave or something they only they can fit into.

[beef137]

have you tried yabbies??? theyre sold as blue lobsters over here, and theyre the only crawfish we can legaly keep. only problem is the one i had would ignore the fish in his tank for a couple of months, then pig out over night, nothing left in the tank but dave (the crawfish) looking fat and smug. i never had anything touch him, even when he was moulting

[invisyblegypsey]

blue crabs are marine, and require cold temperatures dont they?

red claw crabs are too small, ive lost about 10 of those things due to my cichlids eating them or them crawling out of the tank

There aren't any monster crabs we know of that are available in the hobby, or that you wouldnt have to end up paying a hundred bucks for. Stick with a crayfish.
blue crabs can be kept in FW i have caught lots of them in fresh water byous in La.

[likestofish]

They're not crayfish - rather, they're prawns (Macrobrachium rosenbergii), and have been known to attain total lengths (including extended chelipeds) of around 26 inches, at which point they will kill or maim most cohabitants.

I recently purchased some 5-inch juveniles from Petco at $5.99 each under the heading of "Long-Arm Prawn".

Images:

http://www.msstate.edu/dept/crec/prawn.jpg
http://southcenters.osu.edu/aqua/intro/sld013.htm
http://www.papuaweb.org/gb/foto/muller/ecology/08/
Those are sold at a local market as freshwater shrimp for 2.99 a pound.