Crabs...social??

My local fishhouse is selling freshewater tropical crabs at the moment.
They look very pretty and might add interest to this trop tank I hve
inherited. The aquarium is in my wifes place of work, so is a display thing
more than a personal interest one and these little red crabs would certainly
be intresting. But would they live in peace with the other fish,
particularly the albino cories that dwell on the floor? Anyone got any
experience?


David

Subject: Crabs...social??
From: "david"
Date: 11/5/2003 8:35 AM Central Standard Time
Message-id:


My local fishhouse is selling freshewater tropical crabs at the moment.
They look very pretty and might add interest to this trop tank I hve
inherited. The aquarium is in my wifes place of work, so is a display thing
more than a personal interest one and these little red crabs would certainly
be intresting. But would they live in peace with the other fish,
particularly the albino cories that dwell on the floor? Anyone got any
experience?


David

Hello David.
If we are talking about Fiddler Crabs (aka Mini Crabs), they need a place to be
able to get out fo the water and dry out a bit. This is often not told (or not
known) by shop keepers. Their tank need to have a tight fitting lid, as they
are magical escape artists. Let me tell ya.....it's a scary sight to be walking
in your bedroom at night and catch a glimpse of a good sized male Crab
scurrying sideways across the room.
(I wasn't aware I could reach that pitch)
After realizing it wasn't a huge spider (hence the scream), I was happy that I
found the little Houdini (sp?) instead of my 2 cats or Rott.
They're usually ok with fast moving fish and cause no harm, however, they can
catch fish and eat them.
Usually it's either sick or dying/dead fish that are caught and eaten. However,
I had been told by other hobbyists that they had seen fish being caught that
were swimming by. I saw it with my own eyes a few years back too.
Ihad this pair of Fiddler's in with my Angelfish and female Bettas for long
over a year. These guys are as comical as Clown Loaches are. The males
communicate with their enormous claw by moving it around in the air,
well...water. Anyway, one day the bugger was doing his territory claw signals
and just snatched a female Betta that was swimming past him.
As uncommon as this is, it needs to be kept in mind and know it's a
possibility.
As for the Cories....they should be fine with them.
The questions I have are what are the other fish in this tank, and what size is
it?
If it's a good size, there are these little shelf like things that suction onto
the glasswall of the tank (at the surface) that can be used for the Crabs to
crawl up on.
They're usually geared more towards Newts.

Thanks for the answer. Escapologists! Yikes!! No thanks, I have this
agreement with my scaly friends...I wont live in their space if the don't
live in mine!!

Its odd you know, I really love looking at fish, and I do enjoy keepin
them - always had aquaria for as long I can recall, nothing spesh., just
goldies usually in 2 or three foot tanks with the od tank of tropies every
now and then - but the thing is, and this is embarrassing...I'm really
scared of touching them. How odd is that? I mean really, shaking scared!
And I'm a 110kg six four male human!!

I can just about scale and gut a dead salmon nowadays, but I couoldnt touch
a live one.

Anyone else scared of fish they keep, or just me?

David

On Wed, 05 Nov 2003 17:01:24 +0000, david wrote:
Anyone else scared of fish they keep, or just me?

It's you. Seek help.

There are only 2 "aquarium sized" fish that really scare me. The
Scorpionfish has dozens of sharp spines, and is highly venomous. Less than
10 percent of people stung survive.

The other is a tiny parasitic fish that lives in the Amazon basin. After the
eggs are fertilized, the female finds a mammal ( a cow, dog, human, etc. ).
She then swims up the unfortunate mammal's urinary tract, and lays hundreds
of eggs inside. The victim releases fry every time it urinates for the 2 to
4 weeks it takes to die in agony from secondary infections.
shudder

Keith J.

"david" wrote in message
...
snip
Anyone else scared of fish they keep, or just me?

David

On Wed, 05 Nov 2003 20:15:27 +0000, KEITH JENNINGS wrote:

There are only 2 "aquarium sized" fish that really scare me. The
Scorpionfish has dozens of sharp spines, and is highly venomous. Less than
10 percent of people stung survive.

Does anyone keep Scorpionfish? I am not big on sal****er so I don't know.
But, people do keep Lionfish (like Capt Picard in ST-TNG)
which also has venemous spines.

The other is a tiny parasitic fish that lives in the Amazon basin. After the
eggs are fertilized, the female finds a mammal ( a cow, dog, human, etc. ).
She then swims up the unfortunate mammal's urinary tract, and lays hundreds
of eggs inside. The victim releases fry every time it urinates for the 2 to
4 weeks it takes to die in agony from secondary infections.
shudder

I have never heard of anyone keeping a Candiru at home. But, if
you do decide to, and don't make a habit of urinating in your tank,
then you are still safe.

My LFS has the large lionfish, but I am waiting for them to get some of
the dwarf varieties before I get one. From all the info I have on them
they are easy to keep, just don't get to close to them or face a wicked
sting.

Vicki

Does anyone keep Scorpionfish? I am not big on sal****er so I don't
know. But, people do keep Lionfish (like Capt Picard in ST-TNG) which
also has venemous spines.

Visit me on line at http://shamrock4u.250free.com

KEITH JENNINGS wrote:

The other is a tiny parasitic fish that lives in the Amazon basin. After the
eggs are fertilized, the female finds a mammal ( a cow, dog, human, etc. ).
She then swims up the unfortunate mammal's urinary tract, and lays hundreds
of eggs inside. The victim releases fry every time it urinates for the 2 to
4 weeks it takes to die in agony from secondary infections.
shudder

Candiru!



--
.................................................. ............................

"We feel that Goldstein took a preventative measure against yet another
Arab attack"

-The Jewish Defense League's position on Baruch Goldstein, who
who opened fire on unarmed Muslims as they prayed in a Hebron
mosque, killing 30 worshippers and wounding over 150 more.

.................................................. ............................
http://www.memeticcandiru.com

david wrote:

Anyone else scared of fish they keep, or just me?


I don't keep any, but still remember releasing some mosquito fish into
my pond.

Right out of the bag they formed a group and immediately started hunting
down the larva. Focused, cold-blooded hunting machines...

I remember thinking that I was REALLY glad they weren't human sized.

-D
--
"When you've lost your ability to laugh, you've lost your ability to
think straight." -To Inherit the Wind

I don't keep any, but still remember releasing some mosquito fish into
my pond.

Hey Donald

You mean you have no fish!!!!!!!!