crabs and fish

Question
The type of crab is a Fiddler Crab, I do believe. It is a little guy with one large claw. So that makes him a male I think. Hes small- maybe about 1.5 -2 inches. He is orangish reddish.

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Followup To
Question -
I was wondering if a crab can live with goldfish. I'm not sure if you would be able to answer this question. I bought a little crab at a petstore and I'm moving into a dorm room soon and my roommate has a ten gallon tank with one or two goldfish in it. I'm not sure if the crab would be able to live with the fish or not. Please let me know if you have any information about this.

Thanks so much!!
Answer -
Hi Cevelle;

It depends on what kind of crab it is. Can you describe it? (size, shape, color, etc.)

Followups welcome

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins

Come on over and join us on the freshwater fish forum at About.com to get even more information too;
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My member name is ChrisR62. See You There!  

Answer
Hi Cevelle;

He is indeed a fiddler crab. He needs a place to get out of the water occasionally. If you can lower the water level on the tank a couple of inches and put some plants in there that he can use like a ladder to climb up and on top of, he will do just fine. You will have to make sure the tank is well sealed though. He will get out of the tank and die in your house somewhere if you can't keep him in. He also needs a bit of salt in his water and would like a female to keep him company. The goldfish are perfectly fine with salt at the rate of 1/2 teaspoon per gallon. Here are a couple of links with more info on these interesting little critters;

http://www.aquariumfish.net/catalog_pages/misc_critters/crabs.htm
http://inin.essortment.com/fiddlercrabspe_rslq.htm


Watch him and be sure he gets along with the goldfish. It really depends on the personality of the fish and the crab. They may try to pick on him, or he may grab their fins and take a wild ride around the aquarium while holding on. The trouble is, he can tear their fins while he does that and the fish really don't like it much. It can cause them serious injury. Basically, keep another container on hand for him in case it doesn't work out. Who knows....maybe they will all be buddies!

Followups welcome

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins

Come on over and join us on the freshwater fish forum at About.com to get even more information too;
http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/questionsanswers/a/naavigateforum.htm

My member name is ChrisR62. See You There!