29G Brackish

[Thalomos]

This is awesome that you have this going in captivity. I used to live on a brackish water canal and used to catch these guys by the hundreds daily. I'd play with them in a 5 gallon plastic paint bucket then let them go. It may be something I consider doing one day.

The males look rather young, that or their species does not get very big. I used to catch them with claws longer than my middle finger (and I’m 6'3 with not small hands). They always burrowed, but i think your sand may be too moist for them to burrow. If they DO burrow it would be really easy to catch them:

When they see you they will hide in their hole, but only barely inside. Just stick your finger into the sand nearby, hook your finger around underneath them and push up on them and they will be forced to slowly come out. For males just grab the pincher at the joint and you're good to go. For females just grab them anywhere because they cannot pinch hard. (However I don’t think you would get any enjoyment out of holding them other than to just clean the tank, they are, as you know, not slow and do not have a mild temperament like hermit crabs)

I remember washing some of them off to see some really cool designs on their "backs". Looks like yours are coming along too!

Good luck and keep the pictures coming so I can relive my active childhood while stuck in a desk doing IT work.

[wodesorel]

Thank you for the info! I was wondering about the sand being too wet!!! I haven't seen any sign of them burrowing at all, and I figured that would be something they should be doing. Mine are still babies as I've seen the full grown males at two different Walmarts now, and their claws are larger than my thumb. And here I thought they'd stay all tiny and cute.

Do you think they may be the same species you caught as a kid? (Which is so cool by the way - I was stuck chasing butterflies and praying mantises.) I can't find a species ID anywhere on them so I'm not 100% certain how warm their tank needs to be in the winter. If they're a northern species I might just keep them at room temp during the winter so it's more natural. I think they are one of two native species to the U.S., but I don't know if they're the northern or southern ones.

They are really a fun addition to the house. Very active, but like you said they are not an interactive pet. I had three of them, back when I was about eight or ten, and when I knew nothing about them and there was no internet. I set them up like the pet store said to - a small KK, fresh water in the bottom, and lava rocks from my grandpa's garden to climb on. I think I had them for three or four weeks when they passed away. (All three of them stuck to the rocks like statues.) They may be the reason why my mother is so against non-mammal pets - I cried so hard when they died! (The babysitter bought them for me, so she wasn't too happy about that either.) It's been a fight to get her to understand now that they'll live for years and I'm not wasting money or getting emotionally invested in a short-lived pet. I'm glad my hubby gets it. (I think he secretly loves them as much as I do.)

I'm also still debating on the best way to set up the 30 gallon when they get moved. I don't like the half-sand thing as I feel they don't have enough room (and the sand is so wet!), but they just LOVE hanging out on the slope halfway in and out. I'm wondering if I should try doing some sort of double-layer thing in the bigger tank with ramps made of sand and silicone, and a second layer made from a storage container filled with sand-castle sand. I've found all of four examples of tanks out there, and mine looks just like them! I'm starting to think fiddler's have it way worse then hermies do.

[eloise13]

Why don't you get a piece of acrylic/glass and put it at a angle, and use that to separate the water and the sand? like it was done in this thread http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 39&t=42827

[wodesorel]

Why don't you get a piece of acrylic/glass and put it at a angle, and use that to separate the water and the sand? like it was done in this thread http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 39&t=42827

Everything for that is downstairs right now It's been in the works for a while but I had to wait until we could find and gather it all together! I have to glue the PVC together, coat that and the acrylic in silicone and sand to camouflage it, and the tank will be ready for fiddlers, live plants, and hopefully a few fish!

[eloise13]

Oh awesome!

I just thought of something. Mudskippers have the same requirements as fiddler crabs, in terms of housing. So when you want ideas, you could also search mudskippers

[wodesorel]

So all I'm waiting on is the silicone to dry and I can set up their new tank!

(Pardon the room in the photos - it's my basement workroom/laundry room and I do all my projects down there because of the cats.)

This is the mock-up of the tank:



I used plexiglass and PVC pipe. You know what's really cool about plexiglass? YOU CAN BEND IT WITH FIRE!!! (Do not try this at home - hot plastic can cause third degree burns, and working with an exposed flame is dangerous. Melting plastic gives off harmful fumes that you won't notice but may cause you to grow a second head or a third arm at some point in the future.) Still, YOU.CAN.BEND.IT.WITH.FIRE!! I used a little propane lighter to heat it enough to get it to bend, and it was actually really easy. Oh - and if you ever work with plexi, get the little plexi cutters they sell specially for the job - sooooo much easier than a utility knife or a dremmel.

This thing:

Is the best thing I ever bought. It's a cement mixing trough, and it came in perfect for this project, and will come in handy for anytime I'm mixing sand, pulling things out of the crab tank, or working on my fish tanks. It was $8, and it is heavy duty.

I couldn't get a picture of the silicone smeared on the plexi and PVC since my hands were icky, but I did get a shot of it getting covered in sand:



And after:


This will be filled with sand for the land section of the tank:


So... just waiting for the silicone to cure! Some of it had already dried before I was done working, so I'm hoping that it really will be ready in 24 hours and we can set it up on Saturday!!

[eloise13]

Looks great!

[wodesorel]

I don't have enough salt left to set up 25 gallons of water, so I have to wait until I can get more a week from now. So not happy right now. *pout*

On the other hand, when I was doing a water change and messing around with the filter in the current fid tank, I caught my male getting...friendly ... with one of the gals. Right in front of me, and with both hands in the tank. :roll: I was able to get my camera and come back to get a few pictures and even a quick movie. (Since when I googled it I found nothing on the subject.) So I guess I must be doing something right! I'll be keeping my eye out for more eggs, and this time they'll have been made in my tank!

[eloise13]

I know exactly how you feel! The other day, I headed out to get hermit crabs, but when I got to the shop they were all out. I know of heaps of other shops, but it was a sunday and it was close to 4pm, so by the time I got to any they'd be shut.

I'm so impatient! haha.

[SoulLonely]

Can't wait to see it all set up! And congrats on the sexy acts hehe

[wodesorel]

Okay, I musta gotten really high from the fumes last night, because I SWORE I posted here.... Woah, wierd.... I hope I didn't put the post somewhere odd instead....

Waiting turned out to be a good thing! The silicone and sand did not stick in the least to the PVC or the plexi - I was able to wipe it away with my fingers like it was just smeared butter. So, I tried using PVC glue with the sand on the stand section, and I used Envrio-tex Lite (left over from the display case build) and sand on the PVC support stand and the plexi ramps. I should have waited and done it outside because even with the window open and a fan on I got gassed pretty bad. (Eh, jsut ah phew losd brene sulls. )

Today they barely smell and they look perfect! I'll have to wait a few more days before I can test them in water, and if they don't alter the chemistry then I'll be on schedule to setting up the tank on Friday. If they do mess with things then I'll have to start from scratch again and figure out a better way to glue the sand on. Cross your fingers!

[DustAndEchoes]

Did you try roughing up the plexi with sandpaper first?

[wodesorel]

Did you try roughing up the plexi with sandpaper first?

No, it was hard enough to sand the printing off the PVC pipe! Me being lazy = bad project.

Honestly though it's probably for the best as the pipes and platforms look wicked cool now. I couldn't use a thick layer of silicone anyway because it was so expensive, so everything came out looking like it had been dusted. Both the PVC glue and the epoxy make the platforms look like beach waves have been running over them, and the pipes look crusted.

[DustAndEchoes]

That does sound much better. I can't wait to see the pics

[zippity]

Both the PVC glue and the epoxy make the platforms look like beach waves have been running over them, and the pipes look crusted.

That sounds very cool...