Adding live plants to crabitat

[Ps_694]

I'm new to the forum, and I am interested in adding at least on live plant to my crabitat. It's a 20 gallon long, and I'm currently using an eco earth only substrate. I was wondering if a silver potho(scindapsus pictus argyaeus) would be a safe plant for the crabitat? The tag on the plant said low light. I currently do not have any lights on my crabitat, but I am planning on adding a reptisun 5.0 uvb. Will this be a good light for the plant? Thanks

[ciaraalston]

A great plant that's easy to maintain is chia seeds. The crabs munch on them and they look good! I planted some in an old butter container to grow, once they're a couple inches tall I'll move it into my 20 gal long. I use eco earth and play sand for substrate, that eco earth is the best! Love the way it looks

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[Ps_694]

Thanks! I will defiantly try the chia seeds out! Do they require any type of light? Also I forgot to ask, is the reptisun 5.0 good for crabs? I have heard that the compact UVBs can be too bright for some reptiles?
Can never have too much eco earth!

[CrabHappens]

Not sure about crabbies, but pothos are poisonous to people and other pets when ingested. I think I have read that crabs ignore it, but I have never wanted to take the chance myself. I agree that chia seeds or bean sprouts are the way to go. Although sometimes they are destroyed literally overnight.

[Ps_694]

I definitely will not do the potho then, thanks! At least the crabs will have fun eating/destroying the chia seeds

[GotButterflies]

The reptisun is a great bulb. I use them.

Some crabbers use Pothos. I do not though. Any plant that you use in your crabitat you will need to convert to organic before doing so. Whatever you put in the tank WILL get taste tested. I think @AussieJJDude was putting a list together of safe plants for crabs. Spider Plants, Bamboo (Not Lucky), Prickly Pear Cactus, are a few things that come to my mind that I have put into my tanks before. They have just gotten DESTROYED.

To convert a plant to organic, purchase plant from safe list. Remove all soil from it. plant in organic worm castings, organic peat moss, cocofiber. I personally use organic worm castings to fertilize my plants.

[Ps_694]

I think I will stay away from pothos just to be safe. I may look into a spider plant. If I do get plants I will definitely remember to convert to organic soil. Thank you everyone for the advice!

[aussieJJDude]

I would consider pothos safe personally. After countless discussions with crabbers that have live plants in their tanks, they noted that crabs tended not to eat plants that's considered' toxic'. So a lot of plants I would say make great candiates.

Thanks for the reminder GB!

When i last left off, was in the final draft mode and probably needs a (very) good polishing before its considered done! But GB covered most of what I had to say; so yehh....

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[Ps_694]

Thanks for the reply! I really like the look of pothos, but I don't want to risk the crabs' safety. I will do a little more research before adding anything. Right now I'm leaning towards a spider plant and some chia seeds. Will the plants grow any better or worse if I add play sand in with my eco earth? Should I add worm castings into the substrate?

[aussieJJDude]

Thanks for the reply! I really like the look of pothos, but I don't want to risk the crabs' safety. I will do a little more research before adding anything. Right now I'm leaning towards a spider plant and some chia seeds. Will the plants grow any better or worse if I add play sand in with my eco earth? Should I add worm castings into the substrate?

I personally would reccomend planting in pots. Thats just me though, easier to remove because most likely crabs will destroy.

They don't/wont mind sand, very good for drainage; and EE closely simulates soil. Worm casings is good for fertilisation since its filled with 'compound goodies'. What they do mind is salt, if you mixed salt in with your substrate the plants will not enjoy that, so would highly reccomend potting to help keep the salt away from the delicate root system.

Another plant of woudl reccomend is the prayer plant. Very forgiving, can handle 'wet roots' and from my knowledge, non-toxic.

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[Ps_694]

thanks! I will look into the prayer plant and next time I clean the crabitat I will be adding in some play sand and worm castings with the eco earth

[ciaraalston]

If you're looking for a lot of worm castings, check home depot. I went by yesterday and they have a 6 pound bag of organic for like $8.

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[Ps_694]

Thanks! I'll check it out next time I go in there. If I don't find any at Home Depot I will order from the hermit crab patch