Blue crab from the gulf????

[imaburch]

Can anyone tell me if it would be a bad idea to put a Blue Crab that I brought home from the coast in my 55 Gallon. I have some emerald crabs and blue and red hermit crabs now. Please, does anyone have any experiance with this??????

 

[alyssia]

Can you post a pic?

 

[pat713]

From what I have heard, wild crabs have a tendency to pick at the fish in the tank since they do this in the wild.
Not sure though...

 

[gen1dustin]

I was wondering the same thing.

 

[imaburch]

The crab is about 2 inches in total width. It is really cool and would love to add him to my tank, but do not want to risk the rest of the gang. I also picked up 4 large snails, not sure what kind. They are around 1 inch in size each. Anyone else have any advice in the matter.

 

[04mach]

I knew a guy that used to put them in his tank but they didnt last long.
It maybe because he had a very large Queen trigger in there also.......

 

[nygel]

my uncle did that, he put it in one tank and it climbed out, they thought it died, but one day about a month later it came crawling across the carpet... just thought i'd share that

 

[happyhourh]

If its got swimming appendages on its caudal end I dont think it will do too well. It might work for a while, but may eat some of the other tankmates. The snails may also be predatory so keep an eye on them unless you've already identified the species. A picture would really help.
Is it a blue crab like you eat?

 

[imaburch]

Originally Posted by happyhourh
Is it a blue crab like you eat?
Yes I do yhink it is!
I guess now I am confused

I hate not knowing what to do.

 

[imaburch]

Originally Posted by happyhourh
The snails may also be predatory so keep an eye on them unless you've already identified the species. A picture would really help.
How dangerous can snails be???????

 

[mr. guitar]

I don't think it's a good idea to put blue crabs in an aquarium. They love open spaces and expecially turtle grass. They are much better to be eaten.

Plus, they'll eat everything in your tank. Then again, if you have blue crabs you could have a pretty good crab boil.

 

[whitey_028]

blue crabs will eat everything i put one in my tank a couple years ago and my corals went bye bye real quick not to mention my tang... they are very agressive and fast... careful with those things.

 

[promisetbg]

Originally Posted by imaburch
How dangerous can snails be???????
Extremely! If you found them at the shore then they are predatory, I can almost guarantee it. Some even have poisonous toxins. The crab is a bad idea too. Why did you bring them home? Can you bring them back?

 

[chipmaker]

We used to keep a "local or native" species tank from spring to fall every year in the Florida Pan handle when we live on the coast and Blue crabs are not a suitable tank critter by any means. What they don't attack and kill and eat they literally just destroy........for the fun of it it seems. Even the local hermits we would find were undesireable, by the typical hermits normally bought in lfs.

 

[promisetbg]

Originally Posted by chipmaker
Even the local hermits we would find were undesireable, by the typical hermits normally bought in lfs.
There is a reason why you can only purchase certain critters. :thinking:

 

[rara12]

I had one i got when it was no bigger then a dime and kept it till it was 3 inches wide. Not a great choice but can be handled when small imo. The idea was to feed it to my best friends puffer to help with those teeth. I kept mine with a large cbs and...a pistol shrimp.
We Fed the little guy to the puffer in like late june and boy was it a show.

 

[dennycrane]

GET RID OF IT, QUICK! Blue Crabs are highly predetory and opportunistic creatures. A sleeping fish is as easy as a microwave dinner to these guys. When I started into SW about 15 years ago, I had an aquarium at the beach on the gulf where I lived during summers. I was into taking creatures out of the gulf and putting them into an aquarium - lots of good animals.
Well when I went off to college at Auburn, I brought back a bucket of things I caught for the home aquarium. In particular, some very small blue crabs that I was going to feed the cat shark I had.
Let me just say that the shark evenually won and ate all the crabs, but not before the crabs killed every fish and animal in the tank. Watch them - you'll actually see them try to catch fish.
I say flush 'em or chop them up for a treat for your fish. Either way, someone's getting eaten.