Fiddler Crab solution

[delosa]

I just ordered 200 crabs from the shop nickcoletti recommended. The website is http://www.unboundground.com. I received them last week and I was very pleased. Only about 10 or so were dead. They night before they came, I had a good idea how to keep them until Felix and Oscar could eat them. I have a small outside water pond that is about 18" deep. I put a small fountain in the middle for water movement. I filled the pond about half full of salt water and poured the crabs in to the pond. I've put rocks in the bottom so they can climb up on the shelf which surrounds the pond so they can get out of the water. The sides are still about 10-12" high above the water line so they can't get out. So far I haven't had problems with birds or other animals getting the crabs. I guess the dogs in the back yard scare everything off.

Just thought I would share my idea. I know it won't work during the winter, but it will work for a while.

 

[DWhatley]

delosa,
I like the outside pond idea (the fiddler house can get smelly) and will try a modification (and far less esthetic) when my little guys can eat something that big. One thing you might want to think about soon though is vacuuming up the detris. It will foul the water very quickly. I have been using a hang-on canister with tubing on the intake side to vacuum up after the sailfin mollies that were supposed to produce octo food (they did produce babies - now growing like weeds in the breeder net and I can't easily remove them) so something similar might be fairly easy to set up.

 

[delosa]

there is a filter in the pond along with rocks and plants. Last time I divided plants out of the refugium I put them in the pond.

 

[Nancy]

Fiddlers, at least the ones I've seen on the Gulf Coast, don't really live in the water. They bury in the sand, and during the day they're out on the beach in big groups. So make sure they can spend a lot of time out of the water.

Also, The Aquaculture Store, from which many of us get fiddlers, recommends brackish water. Add some fresh RO/DI water to the salt water. I used 1:1, and it seemed to work out well.

When submerged so they can't crawl out, fiddlers last only 2-4 weeks.

Nancy

 

[delosa]

I have lots of rocks and a shelf along the side for them to get out of the water.

I didn't know fiddler crabs only live two to four weeks. That really puts a crimp in my master plan. I don't think my octopuses can eat 200 crabs in two-four weeks.

Anybody care to come over for a crab cookout?

 

[Nancy]

Sorry, I must not have been clear - it's only when they CAN'T get out of the water that they have short lifespans.

I've kept them for more than a year where they can get out of the water.

Nancy

 

[delosa]

Oh good. I was worried.

They party is off everyone!

 

[YELLOWFISH]

Why not just change the party? Every halloween float a bunch of apples in your crab pool. Then invite the local kids around for an "interesting" game of bobbing for apples.

 

[delosa]

Now that's funny.... I don't care who you are.

 

[Nancy]

I'm going to ask i_need_cuttle to reply to this thread when he returns next week. He's kept fiddlers in a wading pool with great success.

I kept fiddlers alive for along time, some over 2 years, by keeping them in a low plastic bin with sand from the Gulf (renewed every once in a while. A dish filled with brackish water and sunk into the sand was their "pool". Kept the sand dampened with brackish water (1/2 RO/DI, 1/2 saltwater). I fed them Ocean Nutrition flakes,sprinkled on the sand, lettuce and fresh fruit, and air-popped popcorn (which they loved and dragged down into their burrows).

Nancy