• Laser Beam Fish Feed And Grow King Crab

Looking to add some vibrant color to your tank, or are you just dipping your toes into the hobby? Either way, getting a few freshwater crabs is a great place to start.

Red claw crabs, in particular, are rather easy pets to care for, making them ideal for even novice aquarium enthusiasts.

By JSutton93 (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 licence)

What can you expect from these interesting pets? Do they require special care? What is mandatory for their habitat? Can they play well with others?

To help you make the best decision for your aquarium, we’ll break down all of that and more. Let’s dive into what red claw crabs are like, how to build a proper red claw crab habitat, and how to care for these cool critters.

Contents

Feed and Grow: Fish for PC cheats - Cheating Dome has all the latest cheat codes, unlocks, hints and game secrets you need. Founded by an Alaskan crab fisherman, FishEx proudly offers you premium fresh & frozen king crab. Sustainably sourced, and high-quality, premium king crab legs are our customer-favorites! All king crab is large, but we offer a variety of choices to fit everyone's tastes and budget. King Crab achievement in Feed and Grow: Fish: Grow a Crab to Level 10. Find guides to this achievement here.

• 2 Red Claw Crab Care
• 4 Red Claw Crab Tank Mates

What Is The Red Claw Crab?

The red claw crab—also known as the Thai crab, the mini crab, the red crab, perisesarma bidens, sesarma bidens, or (pseudo)sesarma moeschi—is a crustacean species typically found in the Indo-Pacific region from Zanzibar to Japan and Fiji in mangrove swamps.

Usually, these areas are near rivers that flow out to the sea, which creates a unique mix of freshwater and salt water. Red claw crabs live in shallow, tropical waters with beds of fine sand.

These crabs are best known for their small size and vibrant red color, making them a fast favorite in the world pet trade.

They have a leg span of up to four inches (or ten centimeters) and the length of their carapace, or top shell, is usually no more than two inches (or five centimeters) at the most – hence their nickname, “the mini crab.”

Male red claw crabs have larger claws than their female counterparts, and they tend to be brighter in color, too. The underside of their shells is also pointier, whereas a females’ underside is rounder.

There is currently no data available on the average or maximum lifespan for this species in the wild. However, red claw crabs typically live for two or three years in an aquarium if they are properly cared for.

Most red claw crabs can easily be purchased online or at your local fish store. These crabs will range anywhere between $2 to $5 at the most, which makes them one of the most affordable and accessible pets you can own!

Red Claw Crab Care

While red claw crabs are quite easy to manage, unfortunately, many websites and aquarium stores often spread misinformation about their care, leading to some disastrous results.

Let’s take a look at the proper way to set up a red crab aquarium, as well as one of the most important questions: “What do red claw crabs eat?”

By RockStarRei (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 licence)

Red Claw Crab Tank Set Up

Most pet websites and employees at aquarium stores will tell you that red claw crabs are best kept in freshwater community aquariums. However, their ideal habitat is actually a single-species, low-end, brackish paludarium.

A paludarium is basically a type of vivarium, or enclosed living area like a tank, which uses both aquatic and land elements to simulate its natural environment.

This means that your tank needs to contain both water and a piece of dry, sandy land for your crabs to properly thrive.

Red claw crabs are not fully aquatic beings, even if many other hobbyists may say otherwise! Access to land is nearly as vital to their health as food.

Water Conditions

Red claw crabs can survive in freshwater, but they actually prefer to settle in brackish water, which is basically a combination of marine salt and freshwater.

Laser Beam Fish Feed And Grow King Crab

To create the perfect blend of salt and water, simply mix one to two tablespoons of marine salt per gallon of freshwater into your tank. It’s wise to mix the salt into the water in a bucket before pouring it into your tank.

Never pour the salt directly into the freshwater while your crabs are still in it! The shock to their system may lead to health problems – or even death.

Tank Temperature and Water pH

Remember to keep the water temperature anywhere between 75 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit. The pH should always remain somewhere around 7.5 to 8.5 as well.

Changing the Water

Be sure to invest in a tank that holds a minimum of 10 gallons of water. You should also give your tank a weekly 10 percent water change to keep their environment fresh and clean.

Of course, filters can help with this, but make sure that the openings to said filter are small; otherwise, your crabs may accidentally get swept up inside it.

Land and Secure Hiding Places

The rest of your tank should be dedicated to building an appropriate, sandy substrate that allows for easy foraging.

By Björn König (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 licence)

It should also facilitate the crabs’ instinctual burrowing habits. If you’re lucky enough to catch them, you may even see their natural scavenging behavior throughout the day.

You should also give your crabs several hiding places, which they can use for molting or other activities. This can easily be done by supplying the tank with driftwood, aquarium décor, and/or aquatic plants. These plants can be real or made of plastic or silk.

Just keep in mind that you should not place any of your decorations in a way that allows your crabs to reach the top of your tank.

Red claw crabs are great at climbing and have proven themselves to be crafty escape artists. If the lid to your tank is not tightly fitted or fully sealed, or they find some other means to crawl out of their aquarium, then their escape will quickly spell tragedy.

Red claw crabs tend to dehydrate fairly quickly, so if they cannot get back to their tank and are left to wander around without water, they will die.

To prevent this, always be sure to keep your aquarium’s water line at least a few inches below the rim of the tank. Also, ensure that any openings your crabs can fit through are sealed tight.

This video goes into more detail on the set up of a red crab aquarium.

Red Claw Crab Food

While red claw crabs can and will eagerly hunt for their food, they are not very strict carnivores. Rather, they are opportunistic omnivores that readily accept almost any kind of food.

These include things like shrimp pellets; fish flakes; brine shrimp; bloodworms; blanched vegetables such as spinach, peas, or other leafy greens; commercial crab food; algae pellets; and even small pieces of uncooked fish.

A good diet for red claw crabs consists of many vegetables with some protein. If you want to treat your crabs or encourage exercise, you can also feed them live bait.

Red Claw Crab Molting

It is important for your tank to have many hiding places, as it is crucial for this species’ molting stages.

Crabs and other crustaceans do not grow in a linear fashion like most other animals. They have a hard outer shell that does not grow along with them, and so, in order to maintain their growth, they must then shed these shells in a process called molting.

This process can take them several weeks to complete, making a cozy hiding place all the more vital for their growth.

A day before its molting process begins, the crab starts to absorb the water around it. This helps the old shell to expand and come apart at a special seam that runs around its whole body.

The carapace then opens like a lid. The crab pushes and compresses all of its appendages repeatedly to remove the rest of its old shell. This process usually takes about 15 minutes.

Once the easy part is over, the crab then spends the next few weeks gradually retracting all of its body parts from the outer shell, a few millimeters at a time, all while secreting a new shell beneath the old one.

When a crab molts its old shell off, it removes all its legs, its eyestalks, its antennae, all its mouthparts, and its gills in the process. It also leaves behind its esophagus, its entire stomach lining, and even the last half inch of its intestine in the old shell. As such, they must make entirely new organs in this process as well.

Crabs will often participate in a population molt. This means that they will all start to molt at the same time. If you notice what looks like a dead crab hidden or floating about your tank, but know for sure that all your crabs are alive and well, then what you’re looking at is a cast-off crab exoskeleton instead.

After it is done molting, your crab will be full of water, making them very soft and vulnerable to predators. In what is called the intermolt period, the water is soon replaced by protein and their new shell hardens up within just a few days. The shell will then become extremely hard after a month.

Molting also helps crabs to get rid of parasites, barnacles, and other parasitic animals growing on the shell in one fell swoop. Finally, it helps them get rid of any clingy bacteria that degrade the chitin in the exoskeleton.

By Bernard Dupont (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 licence)

Red Claw Crab Tank Mates

Red claw crabs tend to be very aggressive and territorial, so it’s best to keep them in a single-species tank.

Decent Matches

If you must house them with other types of fish, be sure that they are a non-aggressive, mid-to-top dwelling, or fast-swimming species, such as most tetras, guppies, and mollies.

Due to their opportunistic hunting tendencies, red claw crabs will attack and eat any of slow, sick, or bottom-dwelling fish.

Any potential tank mates should be able to tolerate similar water and environmental conditions as well.

Bad Matches

The primary predators of the red claw crab include the black croaker, the black and yellow rockfish, the kelp rockfish, the copper rockfish, sculpins, the lingcod, the sea otter, the cabezon, and the East Pacific red octopus.

As such, do not house these crabs in tanks that already hold one or more of these species of fish (or mammal, in the case of the sea otter).

Crabs with Crabs

When setting up a single-species tank, however, keep in mind that you should not house multiple males together if you can help it.

Male red claw crabs can become quite territorial of their space, especially during mating season. If a male encounters another male, they will often get into brutal fights that can sometimes result in serious injuries or even death.

These crabs do not usually like anything coming near them, whether it’s a fish or a fellow crab. They will usually raise their claws to intimidate intruders, and will even pinch them if they dare get too close.

Some people report their crabs getting used to them after a while, but just keep in mind: they will not hesitate to pinch you if you ever have to handle them for whatever reason. When they feel threatened or annoyed, they don’t mind acting on that.

It may help to provide your crabs with multiple hiding places and territories within a large aquarium. Just be sure not to put too many crabs in one tank. An overcrowded tank can stress your crabs out, leading to disease, numerous territorial fights, and other issues.

If you get a 23.5-inch paludarium, placing one male with two or three females should work out well for both you and the crabs.

Mating Red Claw Crabs

Red claw crab mating will occur seasonally throughout the year.

Typically, the average brood per year is 3.5, with females reproducing for one to two months per clutch. They will often take short periods of rest in between these seasons, but not to care for their babies.

Many young crabs do not get parental care while they grow up; they often have to feed on algae and other microorganisms to survive.

As you can imagine, raising a successful brood of baby red claw crabs is almost impossible in a man-made tank setup.

Here’s a video with more information on red claw crabs.

Conclusion

The red claw crab is a feisty but simple pet that is fairly easy to care for.

Both novice aquarium enthusiasts and more seasoned experts alike will find this vibrant species a fun and interesting addition to any of their tanks.

Do you have experience caring for red claw crabs?

Did You Know?

Red king crabs can provide many dietary benefits including a good source of protein.

General Description

Red king crabs (Paralithodes camtschaticus) are a species of large crab that appear dark red or burgundy in color. Red king crabs can grow very large with carapace (the shell covering their back) lengths up to 11 inches and a five foot leg span. Red king crabs have 'tails,' or abdomens, that are distinctive, being fan-shaped and tucked underneath the rear of the shell. They also have five pairs of legs; the first bears their claws or pincers, the right claw is usually the largest on the adults, the next three pairs are their walking legs, and the fifth pair of legs are small and normally tucked underneath the rear portion of their carapace. These specialized legs are used by adult females to clean their embryos (fertilized eggs) and the male uses them to transfer sperm to the female during mating.

Size and Sex Determination

Male red king crabs grow larger than females and their sex is determined by examining their abdomens. Male red king crabs have a narrow abdominal flap whereas female red king crabs have a wide abdominal flap that covers most of the underside of the abdomen.

Similar Species

Red king crabs are a member of a superfamily of decapod crustaceans also know as stone crabs. They are closely related to blue king crabs (Paralithodes platypus) and golden (brown) king crabs (Lithodes aequispinus).

Life History

Reproduction and Development

Adult females brood thousands of embryos underneath their tail flap for about a year's time. When the embryos are fully developed they hatch as swimming larvae, but they are still susceptible to the movements of tides and currents. After feeding on plant and animal plankton for several months and undergoing several body changes with each molt, the larvae settle to the ocean bottom and molt into nonswimmers, looking for the first time like king crabs as we normally think of them, except they are smaller than a dime. Red king crabs settle in waters less than 90 feet deep.

Growth

Because a crab's skeleton is its shell (made mostly of calcium), it must molt its shell in order to grow. Juveniles molt many times in their first few years, then less frequently until they reach sexual maturity in four or five years. Adult females must molt in order to mate but males do not. Adult males often skip a molt and keep the same shell for one or two years. Red king crabs can grow very large with the record female and male weighing 10.5 and 24 pounds, respectively. These large crabs were estimated to be 20–30 years old. The male's leg span was nearly 5 feet across.

Movements

Adult red king crabs exhibit near shore to offshore (or shallow to deep) and back, annual migrations. They come to shallow water in late winter and by spring the female's embryos hatch. Adult females and some adult males molt and mate before they start their offshore feeding migration to deeper waters. Adult crabs tend to segregate by sex off the mating-molting grounds. Red, blue, and golden king crabs are seldom found co-existing with one another even though the depth ranges they live in and habitats may overlap. Adult male red king crabs in the Kodiak area have been known to migrate up to 100 miles round-trip annually, moving at times as fast as a mile per day.

Range and Habitat

Red king crabs occur from British Columbia to Japan north to the Bering Sea with Bristol Bay and the Kodiak Archipelago being the centers of its abundance in Alaska. Red king crabs can occur from the intertidal zone to 100 fathoms or more.

Status, Trends, and Threats

The Bristol Bay red king crab stock has shown a trend of increasing abundance since the late 1990s. Fishing effort in this fishery has remained high with an average number of permits at 258 during 2000–2004.

Norton Sound red king crab stock has also shown a trend of increasing abundance since a recent low in the mid 1990s. The fishery provides small summer and winter fisheries with an average fishing effort of 43 permits during 2000–2004.

The Pribilof Islands red king crab fishery has been closed since 1999 due to a relatively low stock abundance, low precision of the abundance estimate and to avoid bycatch of the depleted Pribilof Islands blue king crab, as the distribution of these two species overlap.

The red king crab fisheries in Kodiak, the Alaska Peninsula, Cook Inlet, and Prince William Sound areas are closed due to low abundance. A new fishery for red king crab began in the central Aleutian Islands (Petrel Bank area) after high densities of legal crabs were encountered in a pot survey. The fishery began with a small GHL in 2002 and 2003 but was closed in 2004 and 2005.

The Southeast Alaska commercial red king crab fishery has been below threshold and closed since 2006. The personal use red king crab fishery in Southeast Alaska has been open in limited areas. The red king crab fishery in the Yakutat area remains open, but no harvest has been recorded since the 2000/2001 season due to depressed stocks.

Fast Facts

• Size
  Females up to 10.5 lbs; Males up to 24 lbs and leg span of five feet
• Lifespan
  Males and females estimated to live up to 20-30 years
• Distribution/Range
  British Columbia to Japan north to the Bering Sea with Bristol Bay and Kodiak Archipelago being the centers of its abundance in Alaska.
• Remarks
  Red king crabs were historically the most commercially important shellfish species in Alaska. Between 1975 and 2018, U.S. crabbers harvested nearly 854 million pounds of red king crab worth $2.5 billion (not adjusted for inflation) from Alaska waters.
• Status
  Healthy

Did You Know?

• Male red king crabs can grow up to 24lbs with a leg span of five feet.
• Red king crabs can live up to 20-30 years.
• Red king crabs can provide many dietary benefits including a good source of protein.
• When red king crabs grow too big for their shell (exoskeleton), they shed their shell by absorbing water and cracking it, a process called molting.
• Red king crabs are eaten by a wide variety of organisms including but not limited to fishes (Pacific cod, sculpins, halibut, yellowfin sole), octopuses, king crabs (they can be cannibalistic), sea otters, and several new species of nemertean worms, which have been found to eat king crab embryos.

Uses

Subsistence Fishery

Provisions are made in Title 5 of the Alaska Administrative Code for subsistence fisheries on red king crab in four general areas: Yakutat [5 AAC 02.108]; Kodiak [5 AAC 02.420]; Alaska Peninsula-Aleutian Islands [5 AAC 02.520]; and the Bering Sea [5 AAC 02.620]. Bag limits and seasons are generally more liberal and gear requirements less restrictive than for personal use or sport fisheries. Unlike personal use fishery catch, which may be shared only with immediate family members, subsistence fishery catch may be shared with all members of the community.

Commercial Fishery

Historically, the red king crab fishery has been Alaska's top shellfish fishery. Between 1975 and 2018, U.S. crabbers harvested nearly 854 million pounds of red king crab worth $2.5 billion* from Alaska waters, making red king crabs the second most valuable species to fishers during this period. Sockeye (red salmon) has been the most valuable species. Record statewide harvest and value for red king crabs was 183 million pounds and $235 million during the 1966/67 and 1978/79 seasons, respectively.

A near peak harvest of red king crabs occurred in the 1980/81 season, but three years later the fishery crashed, as harvests were down sixty-fold, and the four top historical producing areas were closed completely to red king crab fishing for the first time. A long period of few juvenile king crabs surviving to adult size (recruitment) was the primary reason for the crash. Biologists theorize that fish predation on king crabs and a warmer ocean environment were probably responsible for the poor recruitment. Red king crab populations have remained depressed statewide (except in Southeast Alaska) since 1983.

With the sharp decline of red and blue king crab populations, some commercial fishers have targeted on golden king crabs. From 1980-95 122 million pounds of golden king crabs, worth $338 million, have been harvested by fishermen statewide, with the bulk of this catch coming from the waters surrounding the Aleutian Islands.

* Not adjusted for inflation

Personal Use Fishery

There are red king crab personal use fisheries around the state of Alaska. Each region around the state has their own set of regulations in terms of seasons and bag limits for the personal-use fishery. Some areas require permits for personal use red king crab such as the Juneau area district 11-A personal use red king crab fishery. The personal use red king crab fishery is designed to provide harvest opportunities for Alaska residents and their immediate family members.

Management

The U.S. federal government through the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) and the State of Alaska jointly manage the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands crab stocks, whereas the State of Alaska solely manages the Gulf of Alaska crab stocks. Harvest strategies vary among areas and species, but all crab fisheries have minimum size limits, male-only restrictions, and specific fishing seasons (i.e., size, sex, and season, or “3-S” management). Minimum size limits have been enforced to provide at least one opportunity for males to mate with females. Single-sex harvest has been in effect to protect mature females for reproduction and specific fishing seasons are set to avoid harvesting crab during mating and molting (soft-shell) periods. A number of king and Tanner crab fisheries are managed with a guideline harvest level (GHL) determined either from available abundance estimates and appropriate target harvest rates or from historical average catches. The fishery performance within a season is monitored, and if the fishery is expected to exceed the GHL before the declared closure date, then the season is closed by an ADF&G Commissioner’s emergency order. Incidental mortality of crabs in other fisheries (trawl, pot, and dredge) is reduced by enforcing maximum allowable crab bycatch thresholds. Additional management measures include pot limits, permits, onboard observers, registration areas, reporting requirements, vessel tank inspections, legal gear specifications, and provisions for gear placement, removal, and storage.

Six Bering Sea crab stocks are managed by the NPFMC according to fishery management plans with thresholds for overfishing (an excessive annual rate of removal) and overfished (a minimum biomass level). These stocks are Bristol Bay red king crab, Bering Sea Tanner crab, Bering Sea snow crab, St. Matthew Island blue king crab, and Pribilof Islands red and blue king crabs. If the stock declines below the ‘overfished’ biomass level, then the stock is declared overfished, and management actions in the form of reducing fishing mortality or rebuilding plans must be implemented.

In addition to federal management regulations, the ADF&G has developed harvest strategies for king and Tanner crab stocks in selected fisheries of the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska. The harvest strategies aim to maintain sufficient spawning biomass for stock productivity by controlling the removal of mature males. Minimum stock size levels (mainly of mature portion) and minimum GHLs (for a few stocks) are estimated for assessing stock viability and for assuring manageability under continued fishing.

Research

The Commercial Fisheries Division of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) conducts stock assessment surveys for red king crab in seven areas throughout the state. Trawl surveys are conducted on an annual basis in the Kodiak area, annual or biennial in Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound, and triennial in Norton Sound. An annual pot survey is conducted in Southeast Alaska, and occasional pot surveys in the Pribilof Islands, and the Petrel Bank grounds in the central Aleutian Islands.

NOAA Fisheries conducts annual multi-species trawl surveys in the Eastern Bering Sea, including Bristol Bay. In 2007 and 2008 the Bering Sea Fisheries Research Foundation conducted several trawl surveys in Bristol Bay targeting red king crabs with a small mesh size trawl and 5-minute tows.

Besides population estimation, stock assessment surveys are used to gather life history information on red king crab. Over the years, life history studies have provided information on movement, growth, natural mortality, and fecundity among others. This helps to improve population modeling techniques which support sustainable management of stocks.

Get Involved

There are a number of ways to get involved in the regulatory process for red king crab. Since red king crab stocks in Bristol Bay are jointly managed through the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) and the State of Alaska, you may get involved at both the State and Federal levels by attending Alaska Board of Fisheries (BOF), NPFMC meetings, participating in local advisory committee meetings or writing proposals to the BOF.

North Pacific Fisheries Management Council

NPFMC meetings are open, and public testimony - both written and oral - is taken on each and every issue prior to deliberations and final decisions. Public comments are also taken at all Advisory Panel and Scientific and Statistical Committee meetings.

For more information see: http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/npfmc/default.htm

Alaska Board of Fisheries

The Board of Fisheries meets four to six times per year in communities around the state to consider proposed changes to fisheries regulations. The board uses the biological and socioeconomic information provided by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, public comment received from people inside and outside of the state, and guidance from the Alaska Department of Public Safety and Alaska Department of Law when creating regulations that are sound and enforceable. Proposed changes can be submitted by the general public. The public is invited to comment on proposals prior to deliberation through written or oral means. The public is also encouraged to participate in their local advisory committee. There are 81 committees throughout the state that provide recommendations to the BOF on a variety of issues.

For more information see: Board of Fisheries

More Resources

General Information

• Maps(Statistical Area Charts)