Cheeto’s luxury 5-star suite🦀👑

[Opotter]

Lol you know it’s bad when you significant other is like “how about you just buy a new set up.. like your dream tank?”  True story!

[WV Reefer]

2 minutes ago, Opotter said:

Lol you know it’s bad when you significant other is like “how about you just buy a new set up.. like your dream tank?”  True story!

Score!!! 😁

[Ratvan]

3 minutes ago, Opotter said:

Lol you know it’s bad when you significant other is like “how about you just buy a new set up.. like your dream tank?”  True story!

Was it that or was it "Do whatever the f##k you want?" because that one is loaded

[Opotter]

No it was much sweeter than that.  She enjoys the tank too, but was pretty tired of my ranting and stressing over it.  Solution, new tank, dry rock.

 

There you go.. you heard it here first.. the secret to spousal approval for spending a boat load on another new set up.. stalk around your living room in the middle of the night, red flashlight in hand, stomping your feet and ranting like Napoleon Bonaparte (the French accent may even get you a few extras to add to your new system).

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

I have finally transferred everything from the old tank to the new tank. It looks so much better. I’ll get some pictures later to post. The tank is really clear, and the sand it so fine and nice. The macro is also growing like crazy in this tank. When I first found it on the beach, it was just a small little piece, now I have like 4 medium sized pieces. It’s really taking off. That’s the only macro that survived coming back from the beach, but I’m not complaining, bc it looks nice in this tank. It’s definitely a type of gracillera, but don’t know exactly, bc the tips of the red macro are more spoon like and not sharp like other gracilleras I’ve seen. 

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

The big crab and the little crab actually decided to come out and get a look of their new tank. I’m really starting to enjoy this new tank, bc even tho it’s a cheap build, it’s a lot of fun.

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

Whenever I get the money, I think that I’m gonna buy a common mantis from thatpetplace. It’s a orange ciliata, which would be perfect for this tank. Also water quality is really good and stable also, it’s probably from all the green hair and macro growing on the rocks😂.

[plesioth27]

Interesting fella you got there. 

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

20 minutes ago, plesioth27 said:

Interesting fella you got there. 

Which one?😂

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

Bc the blue crab is gone, he did a disappearing act on me, unless the big gorilla crab ate him. The big gorilla crab is a comedian, he cracks me up all the time. He’s always attacking the glass, as if he sees his own reflection😂

[Tired]

I'm not sure I'd suggest putting another aggressive animal in there, unless you're looking for them to battle to the death. 

 

Also, animals attacking the glass constantly is a sign of stress, or the cause of it if they're looking at a reflection, and you should try to figure out why it's doing that. It may need a lighting change to keep the reflection away, or it might be trying to get out or access something past the glass. Or it may just be trying to climb the glass and you've misinterpreted that as attacking. Do you have any video of it doing that? 

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

39 minutes ago, Tired said:

I'm not sure I'd suggest putting another aggressive animal in there, unless you're looking for them to battle to the death. 

 

Also, animals attacking the glass constantly is a sign of stress, or the cause of it if they're looking at a reflection, and you should try to figure out why it's doing that. It may need a lighting change to keep the reflection away, or it might be trying to get out or access something past the glass. Or it may just be trying to climb the glass and you've misinterpreted that as attacking. Do you have any video of it doing that? 

I’m rehoming the crabs, I already thought of that. I didn’t want to risk hurting them.

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

40 minutes ago, Tired said:

I'm not sure I'd suggest putting another aggressive animal in there, unless you're looking for them to battle to the death. 

 

Also, animals attacking the glass constantly is a sign of stress, or the cause of it if they're looking at a reflection, and you should try to figure out why it's doing that. It may need a lighting change to keep the reflection away, or it might be trying to get out or access something past the glass. Or it may just be trying to climb the glass and you've misinterpreted that as attacking. Do you have any video of it doing that? 

He isn’t always, just whenever I get close to the tank. He tries to attack me. He’s a mean little guy. When I was trying to move him from my old tank into this tank, I got pinched like 6 times.

41 minutes ago, Tired said:

I'm not sure I'd suggest putting another aggressive animal in there, unless you're looking for them to battle to the death. 

 

Also, animals attacking the glass constantly is a sign of stress, or the cause of it if they're looking at a reflection, and you should try to figure out why it's doing that. It may need a lighting change to keep the reflection away, or it might be trying to get out or access something past the glass. Or it may just be trying to climb the glass and you've misinterpreted that as attacking. Do you have any video of it doing that? 

I can probably get one, but I can’t really post it. It doesn’t let me post videos 

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

I’m pretty sure he was just attacking the glass to try to get me

[Tired]

Weird thing for an animal to do, though, isn't it? Seems strange that something the size of your hand at most would want to attack you. They certainly won't do that in the wild- even blue crabs will try to avoid you rather than attack you. I wonder if it might have been trying to get at you because it had learned to associate you with food. How much were you feeding? 

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

1 hour ago, Tired said:

Weird thing for an animal to do, though, isn't it? Seems strange that something the size of your hand at most would want to attack you. They certainly won't do that in the wild- even blue crabs will try to avoid you rather than attack you. I wonder if it might have been trying to get at you because it had learned to associate you with food. How much were you feeding? 

One slice of fresh cod about once a week. Not a huge slice, bc he also eats the hair algae in the tank. 

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

It’s maybe a 2 inch slice, not very thick

[Tired]

How big is the crab, and what else do you have in there? 

 

He would probably do better, and produce less waste food, if he was fed smaller portions multiple times a week. Any particular reason you're only feeding once a week? 

 

Also, cod isn't very nutritious. Predatory and scavenging animals in the wild eat the whole creature, organs, bones, and all, and multiple creatures at that. Just one piece of meat from one animal isn't balanced at all. You should really get an actual fish food, something containing whole animals (krill or maybe silversides, or a mix containing mysis), and feed that, especially if you want a mantis shrimp. 

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

14 hours ago, Tired said:

How big is the crab, and what else do you have in there? 

 

He would probably do better, and produce less waste food, if he was fed smaller portions multiple times a week. Any particular reason you're only feeding once a week? 

 

Also, cod isn't very nutritious. Predatory and scavenging animals in the wild eat the whole creature, organs, bones, and all, and multiple creatures at that. Just one piece of meat from one animal isn't balanced at all. You should really get an actual fish food, something containing whole animals (krill or maybe silversides, or a mix containing mysis), and feed that, especially if you want a mantis shrimp. 

I have one stone crab, about the size of a ping pong ball, and two other mystery small crabs that hide almost all the time and eat hair algae. 

14 hours ago, Tired said:

How big is the crab, and what else do you have in there? 

 

He would probably do better, and produce less waste food, if he was fed smaller portions multiple times a week. Any particular reason you're only feeding once a week? 

 

Also, cod isn't very nutritious. Predatory and scavenging animals in the wild eat the whole creature, organs, bones, and all, and multiple creatures at that. Just one piece of meat from one animal isn't balanced at all. You should really get an actual fish food, something containing whole animals (krill or maybe silversides, or a mix containing mysis), and feed that, especially if you want a mantis shrimp. 

I was feeding once a week, bc he also chows down on the hair algae. 

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

14 hours ago, Tired said:

How big is the crab, and what else do you have in there? 

 

He would probably do better, and produce less waste food, if he was fed smaller portions multiple times a week. Any particular reason you're only feeding once a week? 

 

Also, cod isn't very nutritious. Predatory and scavenging animals in the wild eat the whole creature, organs, bones, and all, and multiple creatures at that. Just one piece of meat from one animal isn't balanced at all. You should really get an actual fish food, something containing whole animals (krill or maybe silversides, or a mix containing mysis), and feed that, especially if you want a mantis shrimp. 

I can only get what my local Kroger’s has in stock. They don’t have much. I have a bunch of different food, and I do feed him mysis every now and then. Everything I feed him is mysis, scallops, cod, and red snapper. 

[Tired]

You need to switch to a fully nutritious diet. Do you not have a local pet store you can buy from, or an online possibility? All mysis would be a decent diet. Scallops are already cleaned in the store to remove the organs, those aren't any good as a main diet, it's just muscle again. Oysters or clams could be good, but are messy. 

 

And you definitely need to be feeding every couple of days, small amounts, instead of a huge amount once a week. Animals that aren't full herbivores need plenty of protein, and your mystery crabs may not eat algae at all. 

[Wonderboy]

The crab is clearly omnivorous and the provisions and frequency therein that Ethan has described is IMO more than sufficient, in fact I would rather say a perfect approach. Opportunistic feeding is completely fine and a natural occurance for a species like this. No scavenging crab gets a consistant protein/nutrient-full regimen in the wild because of competition with other crabs and other species. Very frequently, I bet a wild crab would only get access to just the meat portion of an animal, and that's only if it was lucky enough for it to drift its way. Scavengers are designed to make do with little - and algae is typically the main part of a scavenger's diet because algae has every nutrient it would need without the occurance of "meat" anyways. I don't think it's raining flesh in the ocean (I guess maybe once in a while); death is still a single occurance for most species.

 

Also, when you tell someone what they need to do, I suggest letting them know of your personal experience over the matter so they know where you're coming from and what the concern of alternative consistencies may be. 

 

PS - Don't tell anyone, but I have had a strawberry crab in a .25G jar... for months now; there's bigger fish to worry about in the ocean.

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

3 hours ago, Tired said:

You need to switch to a fully nutritious diet. Do you not have a local pet store you can buy from, or an online possibility? All mysis would be a decent diet. Scallops are already cleaned in the store to remove the organs, those aren't any good as a main diet, it's just muscle again. Oysters or clams could be good, but are messy. 

 

And you definitely need to be feeding every couple of days, small amounts, instead of a huge amount once a week. Animals that aren't full herbivores need plenty of protein, and your mystery crabs may not eat algae at all. 

I know for a fact that they are eating algae. I’ve seen them eating it.

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

1 hour ago, Wonderboy said:

The crab is clearly omnivorous and the provisions and frequency therein that Ethan has described is IMO more than sufficient, in fact I would rather say a perfect approach. Opportunistic feeding is completely fine and a natural occurance for a species like this. No scavenging crab gets a consistant protein/nutrient-full regimen in the wild because of competition with other crabs and other species. Very frequently, I bet a wild crab would only get access to just the meat portion of an animal, and that's only if it was lucky enough for it to drift its way. Scavengers are designed to make do with little - and algae is typically the main part of a scavenger's diet because algae has every nutrient it would need without the occurance of "meat" anyways. I don't think it's raining flesh in the ocean (I guess maybe once in a while); death is still a single occurance for most species.

 

Also, when you tell someone what they need to do, I suggest letting them know of your personal experience over the matter so they know where you're coming from and what the concern of alternative consistencies may be. 

 

PS - Don't tell anyone, but I have had a strawberry crab in a .25G jar... for months now; there's bigger fish to worry about in the ocean.

Thank you, I thought I was doing it correctly, but what he was saying was making me question my methods. Obviously I don’t do the same thing in my main reef tank, I feed twice a week in that tank. 

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

Here’s a few pictures of how the tank turned out.