29G Brackish

[wodesorel]

Thanks!

I can count 9 of them, so one could possibly have died. There were a couple that had started dropping claws so I'm not terribly surprised, unfortunately. Will they dig into the sand? I can't find any reference to if they'll make tunnels or whatnot, but I haven't seen any holes yet.

So that leaves the two males and 7 females. They don't seem to interact at all - they just come up in a group to feed and when they get startled they all run to the same corner. The males will occasionally do the "claw thing" which I think is just the most adorable thing in the world!

The ammonia level was a bit high this morning so I did a water change and seeded the tank with squeezings from the the girliebetta's tank filter. Can't believe I almost forgot to cycle the tank! The hermit crabs have me confused when it comes to caring for non-fish critters now.

I'd like to get out to get some plankton for them tonight as I've been out for a while and I'm sure the Es would like some too. So far they demolish everything I put into the tank including daphnia, bloodworms, krill and seaweed.

[Jellybean!]

How adoralble!!! My fiddler crabs made tunnels
in the sand

they like to climb too btw

[zippity]

That's a really amazing, creative setup!

I always feel like the guy crabs waving their claws are saying "Hey Ladies, Hey Ladies!"

[tigermoon89]

How are these guys doing?

[wodesorel]

Sorry Crystal - just saw your post!

They are doing great. Still seeing nine of them on a regular basis - the tenth may be hiding behind the filter though. The tank is still cycling, so to speed it up I rinsed off the filter from my 20 gallon community tank in the water I was replacing last night. It was pretty laden with fish poo, mainly the digested wood pulp from the clown plecos. I felt really guilty about it since it made the water cloudy, but I woke up today to a perfectly clean tank and loads of fiddler poo! Yeah, it takes a crab person to be excited about seeing poo. But I know they had a wonderful feast last night.

[chloe92us]

We live on the bay and there are hundreds of these guys down by the water in the mangrove line. It's hysterical to watch them because they stay in their little holes and all you can see is their claw waving above the sand. It's almost like they wave them to some secret music beat! They wave, then stop, then a few seconds later, all wave again. It's very funny.

[tigermoon89]

Yeah, it takes a crab person to be excited about seeing poo.

I was the exact same way when I first got hermit crabs- I couldn't tell if they were actually eating, it was the only sign I received!

Glad to hear they are doing well!

[sdevine]

Awe, so fierce!!

[wodesorel]

I found a molt when I woke up this morning! I was waiting all day to get home to tell you guys about it, and when I checked the tank again this evening there were two more molts!!!!

[zippity]

Congrats on the poo and the molts!

[tigermoon89]

Congrats on the poo and the molts!

[Alliecrab12]

That is so neat! I never knew you could keep fiddler crabs. Good luck:)

[wodesorel]

Um.... how bug are these guys going to get! We went to a different Walmart and they had three male fids in with the bettas. They were scary enormous! Their large claws were bigger than my entire thumb. That will give me the willies in the future. (I can probably manage to free them up either a 29 or a 30 gallon in a few months if they do get that large.)

[wodesorel]

Yep, they're getting the E's 30 gallon when the time comes. (And boy, there will be shuffling happening soon, I hope. )

Anyway, I managed to get a series of the male doing his claw thing. My hubby laughs his rear off at me because no matter what I'm doing if I see the males with their claws up I freeze to watch them do their little dance. Of course, I've even got him doing the "claw dance" in public for friends to show them why the fids are so cool!

Just flip back and forth through these three pics to get a sense of what they do almost all day long.







What I thought to be a pretty shot of one of the females. I think she may have molted.


And of course the remnants of a bunch of molts. Don't mind the black stuff - the carbon from the filter got loose the other day.

[tigermoon89]

Congrats on the molts! They are cute!