Food source tank?

[squier]

I was wondering what kind of options I have to hold things like clams and crabs? My sump won't do because my extra large skimmer takes up all of it. I guess I need another small tank to hold them in but want to spend the least amount of money I can because it just has to hold the food. Also, where online is good for buying crabs, everywhere local is way overpriced.

 

[i got crabs]

hi squir, sadly there are no inexpensive online sources for crabs. the best you can hope for is moderetly expensive unless you have axcess to the ocean or a bait shop near the ocean. at least that has been my experience. however i have had good luck on ebay. sometimes you can win a rather cheap bid and as long as the shipping dosent get you your o-tay! but dont give up. ive been serching and there is promise such as this one sight i found with has begun aquacultureing green crabs for bait. i emailed them out of curiosity and although there not at the point where they can sell to private individuals they are still growing and will consider in the future, or so im told. as per your question on a tank to hold all this i just use a seperate 20 gal with small hang on da back type filter. the water quality isnt, how should we say, pristine. but its fine and all my feeders seem to be doin fine...at least untill dey get on the buisness end of my octo.

 

[DHyslop]

The aquaculture store sells and ships 10 fiddler crabs for $13. My octo tank cost over $1000 to set up, the octo itself costs $100 inc shipping; if I have to pay $13 every 10 days to feed it, its the cheapest thing about the pet!

Dan

 

[squier]

Do you guys have lights and heaters and everything on your feeder tanks? I would assume a heater but am not sure about lights.

 

[corw314]

I have 2 feeder tanks at the moment. One is run only by an Aquaclear 400 and the other has an Eiheim. No heaters. Course my food is locally caught so it is used to the cooler temp. And one tank has a light and the other doesn't.

 

[lockburn]

Thanks for the heads up, Dan! I just ordered a batch of fiddlers for my octo.

What type of tank do you store these guys in? It looks like they prefer to live in the sand near the water, instead of fully submerged?

 

[Ocho]

I have a 29 gallon feeder tank that is connected to the 50 gallon octo tank. It is also divided in half with a tank divider so I can keep crabs and shrimp separate. I know a lot of people are against having feeders + cephs in the same system, but for my situation, the pros outweigh the cons.

Cons:
-You need the space to set up two tanks near each other.
-Feeders are messy and can die and foul the water, increasing the bio-load.

Luckily I have it set up where the sump+feeder tank is in the garage and the octo tank is plumbed through the wall in another room.
I also bought oversized filtering equipment to compensate for extra bio-load.

Pros:
-Increased overall water volume, which in turn increases water parameter stability, making it a better home for Dr. Pus.
-I can bring back live crabs from the beach and keep them that way thanks to the cooler temps that the chiller provides.
-The stable conditions provided by the octo life support system also does good for the mortality rate of the feeders, therefore further eliminating con #2.

Hope this helps somehow~

Good luck!

 

[Scouse]

So thinkin about a list of equipment for a feeder on its own i.e. not connected to main tank, what do you reckon....

skimmer
carbon
mechanical filter
possibly light


Is carbon necessary?

am I missing something obvious?

Cheers

 

[tjohnson]

So thinkin about a list of equipment for a feeder on its own i.e. not connected to main tank, what do you reckon....

skimmer
carbon
mechanical filter
possibly light


Is carbon necessary?

am I missing something obvious?

Cheers

A lil LR would be great, for hiding and for natural filtration. Also crabs need to get out fo the water, so here you. But other then thats I think your set. Id use the Coralife 9w 50/50 PC its only 28 dollars, and work great.

 

[tonmo]

As Webmaster I have the unique ability to plug my own services as appropriate -- if you've got a feeder tank, www.shrimpstuff.com is your friend. We've had many happy customers, and subsequently many happy aquarium pets (excepting the shrimp).

Just FYI.

 

[Scouse]

Nice one will have to get buyin then....!!

Incidentally, what general water volume have people gone for on the feeder tanks??

Cheers

 

[tjohnson]

I think most people just make a feeder tank out of extra equipment, Before tonmo started selling shrimp, I go them from George and bought a lil 10G tank, w/ no light, cheap filter, and It worked, they didnt die, but water quality HAD to be horrible, I never checked it becasue I didn't even want to know how bad it was in that little tank. But I dont know that I would recommend such a small tank unless your mainly keeping crabs which would like the shallow water, or keeping food for shorter periods.

 

[Scouse]

Cheers mate

Am thinkin I wanna keep crabs and shrimp by maybe splittin a tank, not sure at all.

poss have crabs in one section an do full water changes, with shrimps etc in another would like lots of clams etc... only thing is how to circulate water to be able to run a skimmer an filter, any ideas would be cool....?

Theory is wanna stock and keep for a while to make sure I wont run out.

Can catch shrimp on the coast and have had very good success with them in my tank even thou they come from water way colder, all the snails kopped for it eventually but shrimp doin great.

would be nice to have a multi stcked feeder tank, althou appreciate this may be tricky, but theres the challenge!!

Any one ever kept a multi stocked feeder?