How to Raise Freshwater Crabs

Crabs are fascinating, useful creatures to have in your fish tank. As scavengers, they keep the bottom clean -- and sometimes help dispose of dead fish for you -- and their unique and slightly other-worldly appearance lends an air of fashionable strangeness to your aquatic landscape. While there are some breeds of crab listed as 'fresh water' (fiddler, red claw, some hermit species), no crab sold in a pet store is truly a fresh-water crab. They all will need access to saline water for the minerals.

Things You'll Need

  • Tank of appropriate size for number of crabs
  • Tank decor such as rocks, plants, underwater crab islands
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Instructions

    • 1

      Purchase a tank that provides at least 1 square foot of floor space per crab. Overcrowding can cause fighting and spread disease, so giving them enough space is important.

    • 2

      Add tank decoration such as rocks, plants and sand or gravel so the crab has access to fresh water, a small pond of saline water and a dry surface where they can get out of the water at times. There are underwater crab islands available for purchase, so if your crabs live in a full fish tank they can still have access to dry land, a small saline pool and fresh air.

    • 3

      Feed your crabs an appropriate diet. They are scavengers, so a commercially prepared scavenger diet will give them proper nutrition.