fiddler crab question......

[rattler]

boredom has my brain working(a dangerous thing)......

ive got an empty 18in cube Exoterra tank, a fiddler crab, a "king" betta(basically a short finned male) some wood and some plants.....

suppose the crab will survive with lil enough salt that the betta will be happy? figured i would use a terracotta pot with sand mostly out of the water for the crab to burrow in....bout 5 inches of water in the Exo for the betta to live in....so 18x18x5in deep worth water minus what the pot and wood branches take up.......mount plants on the branches and such.....sorta like some funky half arsed mangrove swamp looking thing.....totally for my amusement, not attempting to make a legit looking biotope....

before you come up with any off the wall suggestions for what may be better remember i live in the middle of nowhere, no pet store remotely locally and am doing this with what i have in my house.....

 

[Timmy]

I know about everything about these. I have their friends the Red claw crabs. Uca are easy just get 5 gallons per crab, and I don't think the betta will make it. Try a black moore they do great but ocasionaaly but rarely the crab could eat the fish. Just use 1 tablepoon of insta ocean per gallon. Have some driftwood to get some air, if you want I could trade you a red claw crab but I have no fiddlers. Eh I'll buy one for you. PM me if you're interested. That tank is perfect for a couple or a trio, but like I stated above, you might want to stray away from the betta and look into getting something like a black moore or something brackish tolerant.

Good Luck!

 

[Exo]

Oh bother.....

 

[amphirion]

there's only one type of betta that may actually withstand more saline conditions and that's Betta sp. Mahachai. unfortunately, it is highly endangered, so i dont think you'll be getting any access to that soon. to tell you the truth, mixing a betta with a fiddler crab will probably not be a good idea. I know you aren't aiming for a biotype but here it's important. Betta splendens and Uca. sp have different husbandry needs and these needs clash against each other.

have you considered keeping mudskippers or archerfish instead? both are just as entertaining.

 

[rattler]

i live in Montana......never even seen a mudskipper in person, tank is to small for archers i think other than young ones.....its 200 miles round trip to the nearest place that sells fish and its a Walmart.....

for the last year and a half all its seemed to take to keep the fiddler happy is somewhere to dig above the water line and a lil salt in the water.....doubt its even truly brackish water he has been living in for the last 18 months......the betta is a new acquisition i picked up while out of town last weekend cause i thought he looked neat and figured i could do something with him....

 

[amphirion]

how much is considered a little salt? a betta might be able to tolerate some degree of salinity, but make no mistake, living like that for a long period of time will stress the fish out.

 

[rattler]

1/4-1/2 teaspoon per gallon

may figure something else out for the fiddler and just set up something for the betta tonight

 

[Timmy]

thats low end brackish, maybe divider?