Where can i get live crabs?

[philc21]

Where can i get live crabs to feed my Bimac? and also how big are they hes still a baby

 

[i got crabs]

depends where you live. if your by the shore best bet is baits shops while there available. have also had good luck with ebay. you could try aquaculture as ive been told there good. forget there link but im sure someone can post it here for you. best of luck.

 

[philc21]

ive thought about the ones from the baitshop but what kind of crab would i get the fiddler crabs they sell arent fully aquatic and will drown after sometime in my tank. i want some to survive so he has to hunt them

 

[Nancy]

You can use hermit crabs for a baby bimac and you can use the fiddlers for your larger bimac.

Many octo keepers on this website have had good experiences with this source:
http://www.aquaculturestore.com

This is a family run operation and if you need smaller or larger fiddlers, you can phone and they'll be very helpful.

My experience was that fiddlers stayed alive for several weeks in water. I usually ordered a couple of dozen and then kept them in a large flat bowl with islands to crawl out on. Then I fed a one or two a day as supplementary feeding. They live much longer in the bowl, and for years if you set up a damp sand bed with a little pool of water.

Nancy

 

[corw314]

I just bought a pint of fiddlers for $5.00 from a local bait shop. I took down my 15 gal. and have 1/2 out of water and 1/2 in with one of those little air run filter cartridges for goldfish bowls. It's funny as everytime I walk into the kitchen, about 35 fiddlers run for cover. They are eating goldfish flake food at the moment. I know I need to go get a good quality saltwater fish flake for them. Will post a pic later.

 

[Qthooga]

Ooo.

So now I gotta ask -- how bad is the smell? The wife is a concerned, because everytime we've seen those palm-sized hermit crabs there's always this funk lingering around the tank. LOL.

I ask because since I'm at least 1k miles from the ocean in any direction, and I'd like to be able to keep at least 2 months worth of food available at all times for my octo when I get it. For at least a month, winters here get to the -10s and I'd be afraid of any food I have shipped in dying of exposure. Running to the nearest FS is a bit out of the question since they sell crabs as pets and...$5 for a day's worth of food? Ouch.

Right now I'm planning on ordering 100 clams on Saturday, so they get shipped Monday morning and I'll have a chance to let them get comfy in my setup, but I'd also like to set up one of our smaller tanks with just crabs...but everytime I mention it the wife gives me this look...kinda like when I first mentioned we were getting an octo.

I'm planning on trying frozen food, too, but it's common knowledge here...

"Don't trust seafood in a landlocked state."

 

[joefish84]

they dont smell

 

[MITZEL]

Ooo.

So now I gotta ask -- how bad is the smell? The wife is a concerned, because everytime we've seen those palm-sized hermit crabs there's always this funk lingering around the tank. LOL.

I ask because since I'm at least 1k miles from the ocean in any direction, and I'd like to be able to keep at least 2 months worth of food available at all times for my octo when I get it. For at least a month, winters here get to the -10s and I'd be afraid of any food I have shipped in dying of exposure. Running to the nearest FS is a bit out of the question since they sell crabs as pets and...$5 for a day's worth of food? Ouch.

Right now I'm planning on ordering 100 clams on Saturday, so they get shipped Monday morning and I'll have a chance to let them get comfy in my setup, but I'd also like to set up one of our smaller tanks with just crabs...but everytime I mention it the wife gives me this look...kinda like when I first mentioned we were getting an octo.

I'm planning on trying frozen food, too, but it's common knowledge here...

"Don't trust seafood in a landlocked state."

Q
Maybe we could do some sort of bulk shipping and then split it . I don't know I havent actually ran down a food source yet. Still working on the monster and its preperations. The ceph is a spring time project so it will be a while. unless I get the tank for christmas .

 

[Qthooga]

Sweet. We'll have 2 Rocky Mountain Tree Octopi!

Depending on how often I make it up to Denver, we could probably order bulk if it's possible. So far I've had a 100% success rate in my inverts arriving alive, but about half the fish I've received didn't quite make it. Luckily, they're only there to get the tank's nitrogen cycle moving again. One clownfish in a 55 gal tank doesn't make a whole lot of waste. LOL.

Joefish -- Thx for the info. I'm not as worried about keeping a herd of crabs anymore.

 

[DHyslop]

If you're ordering from the aquaculture store you might not need to bother with sharing shipping. They send USPS priority mail instead of overnight so the cost is negligable.

Dan