Red Clawed Crab Mystery

[TonyWilson]

I have 4 red clawed crabs in my 55 gal tank, 3 females and 1 male. The morning after i'd put them in i found the male dead, not suprising as he only had 1 leg on one side, but he was still red in colour. I immidiately tested the water and it was fine so just bought another male.

1 Month on and everything was fine until this morning, i found what looked like one of the females on top of one of the plants but she was white in colour. She looked real enough when i picked her up as i know they shed their skin, so that would mean i'm down to 3 crabs. However whilst watching them i thought i saw 4 crabs in total. I've looked really hard but it's difficult to be sure as there always hiding and thre is plenty of places to hide in my tank.

Could one of the carbs have shed their skin? Or am i seeing things?

 

[radioaktiv]

yes they shed, and it looks like a dead white crab

 

[TonyWilson]

OMG i can't believe how real the shedded skin looked, i could have swore it was a real crab, I'll get pictures next time, that's awesome. Cheers mate

 

[radioaktiv]

i thought i lost a crab myself, the first time i saw it

have fun with em

 

[TonyWilson]

How much space should leave for them to get out of the water? I have a couple of small slate rocks sitting across the top of my internal filter, they climb up the filter to get there then sit round the rim of the tank. My pH is 7.4 and i have noticed a quick build up of brown algae since adding the crabs. Will they be ok with this set up?

 

[radioaktiv]

well heh, i cant make any recommendations on keeping them long-term...you see i have a puffer :/

but from what ive read it should be 50/50 land water IIRC

 

[TonyWilson]

Thankyou for the advice, i'll get some pictures up soon.