Information About Fiddler Crabs

First thing, Fiddler crabs are not the same thing as Hermit Crabs. They are somewhat similar but the main way to tell them apart is that fiddler crabs aren’t inside of what appears to be a seashell. They have little beady eyes which stand up above their heads. They also have one big red claw and raise it every few seconds to show it off to you. They live in the water and hermit crabs live on dry land. Fiddler crabs like to come out of the water to look for food and enjoy the sunlight. Fiddler crabs are very easy to care for. Hermit crabs are much more delicate requiring a certain humidy level and two water dishes, one for salt and one for water. Hermit crabs will actually drowned if you place them in water.

Fiddler crabs have really cute personalities. If you watch them in the pet stores they will look like they are waving and dancing. All of them will be rasing up their big claws which is quite funny. They are also very inexpensive. You only need about a ten gallon tank to house a few fiddler crabs. Fiddler crabs will not grow as large as hermit crabs will and they will also not live as long. Some hermit crabs will get to be the size of a baseball and that’s quite scarey.

Fiddler crabs do not require a certain humidity level because there is water in the tank. You should place a bunch of rocks in the tank for the fiddler crab to climb up on and enjoy being dry. Fiddler crabs must have access to both air and land. The water that is required for fiddler crabs must be saltwater. This means you will need to add a salt mixture for saltwater tanks into the water in a seperate bucket and keep the salinity level at about 1.020-1.025 in order to keep the fiddler crabs alive. The salinity level must always remain at the same level, avoid any sudden changes with salinity. You can purchase a meter which checks the salinity level.

Most pet stores will keep the crabs in a freshwater tank. They will not tell you that fiddler crabs need saltwater. If you place your fiddler crab in a freshwater set up it will eventually die because it is weak. You cannot place the fiddler crab in a regular tank without water and expect it to live either. Fiddler crabs need saltwater and land in order to strive. You can also purchase crab food from your local pet store and you can also purchase different decorations to place in the water for the crabs to climb up on. The more crabs that you have the bigger tank you will want to get.