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Keeping live food

Joined
Oct 1, 2009
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I am curious as to where you all keep live crabs and shrimp until they are added to the octopus tank. I have several tanks I could put them in. has anyone had issues with shore shrimp and fiddlers in reef tanks? What information I find says fiddlers are reef safe, still question them though. Cannot find anything on shore shrimp but I assume they'd be fine. Interested in personal experiences. :smile:

(Sorry, if this is the wrong forum please move it)
 
I keep a couple of small bare tank about for live food. Fiddlers are supposed to need surface access but do well in a reef tank when not eaten. I keep mine in shallow tanks (2 gallon) with a piece of lava rock as they don't seem to do well in a small tank with LR. I have found that feeding them a little dried algae works best but others feed them flake food (Experience suggests they are more of an herbavore than a meat eater). Shore shrimp are also scavengers so anywhere you have to put them and can catch them is fine but they are shrimp so monitor for dead one.
 
Actually, I don't know where this post would best fit, but it's a good question.

Shore shrimp are no problem and they help keep your tank clean. Keep them in a feeder tank or a reef tank.

Fiddlers are another matter, because they don't really live in the water full time. If you put them in a tank, they will live few weeks. (When you see them along the shore, they are living in burrows in damp sand.)

So, you can fix up a small tank that has shallow water and an ample place to climb out for these little crabs. I've tried a shallow turtle bowl with rocks sticking out of the water. For a more permanent set up, I've used aquarium sand or pebbles with a "pool" made of a plastic dish sunk in the sand. Food can be left on the sand (fish flakes, lettuce, fruit). I've never ordered more than 20 at a time.

I've also known people in warm climates who keep them outdoors in a kid's swimming pool with a sand "beach"

Nancy
 
The problem with anything too large is cleaning the environment though. I find with the two gallon acrylics have modest loss if I keep a small amount of coarse marine substrate and one piece of fake rock in the center (they will escape if anything is too close to the side) and rinsing the entire mess (sans crabs) in fresh water once a month or so (depending upon mortality or odor). I do a final rinse with saltwater and then fill with about 2 inches of new. The marine algae has little smell even after a couple of weeks and seems to keep them happy where othe foods I have tried foul the water.
 
Hey do you know a source for live foods in/around chicago? I know aquaculturestore.com, but do you know anywhere local?
 
Now that you mention it, I remember the little fiddlers scurring around on the beach in Florida. I have a small 2 1/2 gallon tank I can set up for them and the shrimp (when I do order them) will just be put into one of my reef tanks, I think I will keep them seperate from my peppermints, I have quite of few of them and don't want to loose any.
Some very good suggestions, thanks so much :biggrin2:
 
kpage;144317 said:
Hey do you know a source for live foods in/around chicago? I know aquaculturestore.com, but do you know anywhere local?

I have never tried fiddlers, I know I could order them online cheeper but I thought I call around to see if I could get a couple to test. Ocean Design Aquarium near Irving/Auntin has some. They are expensive but I am going just buy 2 and see if my octopus goes for them.
 
I'd be a bit leery keeping them in such small tanks unless they are really small quantities. I keep shore shrimp in a few 10g and 20g tanks. They dont seem to mind any water quality or salinity changes.

I've had some for many months and I never change the water only top off and they're still fine. I'd be scared to test the water. but they live and grow.
 
As long as you keep the water from being polluted with dead crab/food decay the 2 gallons will support 15-20 (they do not eat each other, even in the soft shell stage). I do loose some and will feed or freeze them but I have not had better success with larger environments.
 
I'm keeping 100+ in 10-20g tanks

I get them from aquaculturestore.com shore shrimp, or any live food other then tigger pods are tough to come by in Canada. Fedex shipping is expensive.
 
I just thought I'd post an update...
I have been keeping my fiddlers in a 2 1/2 gallon pico with appx 1 1/2 inches of sand, 1 chunck of rock. small lid from a jar with salt water and a tiny 10 w. light.

Photos were posted in my journal but I will repost them here~
fiddlers2.jpg

fiddlers.jpg


I change water daily, moisten the sand bed every couple days and feed plankton krill flake food 2x daily, they seem to love it. It has been appx 4 weeks and have lost one. Funny as soon as I purchased the fiddlers I lost my octopus :sad: This system for keeping fiddlers is working well so far.

Today~
fiddlers112209.jpg
 
Shore shrimp are fine, fiddlers I would only put in one at a time until they are eaten but I do not believe they will harm the coral. As for keeping them before feeding I have done several different things they all worked fine in their own different ways I just like trying different things. You can set up a refugium specifically for ceph food to run in line with your system, you can keep a small tank inside your main tank with some drilled out holes, preferably with non transparent sides as so it does not drive your hungry critters crazy seeing their food, and chances are they will figure out how to open it pretty quickly, you can keep a separate 10 or however large gallon and even subdivide it for certain food sources if desired, I've even just kept a home depot bucket with an air stone and done frequent water changes... you can go as simple as tupperware or as nice a set up as Lmecher has made it's up to you
 
Quick question of my own:
Me and my roommate catch shore crabs and keep them in a 5 gallon buckets about a 1/3 filled with the water we get them from.. That used to be fine, we could keep them there for a week at least, and lose just maybe 1.. but lately, they all die in no more than 2 days, even when we aerate the water by scooping the water and pouring it back in.. We have nowhere else to put them right now besides straight into the tank, and we dont want our cuttle to overfeed or eat too many so that they dont last long.. any ideas on how to keep the food alive longer?
 
Is the temperature in the dorm/house warmer now with the heat on? Also test the water for ammonia, you may be getting more plankton that is dying off an poluting the water quickly, both or either may be causing the problem. You might try using the water you draw off your tank during water changes in stead of the water at the collection site.
 

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