# crabs in planted aquarium



## almostaskater62 (Apr 28, 2007)

i recently got a fiddler crab (or red crab, the one with the one large claw) and it's in a planted tank (about 5.2 ish gallons)
i know plants don't like salt, but the crab would, so would any amount of salt kill the plants, or could i add a little, anything else i could do to make the crab feel better short of making it a brackish tank, which i can't
i've read that crabs can do all right in freshwater though, so i think i'll ride it out


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## DonaldmBoyer (Aug 18, 2005)

You can add a little sea salt to it. Maybe 1.5 tablespoons would be fine, and it should not negatively effect the plants in there. To be sure, though, I would need to know what type of plants you have in there.....


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## almostaskater62 (Apr 28, 2007)

i have a corkscrew val, what i think is hairgrass, a smaller grass plant (i know i'm kinda stupid for not knowing the names) and a cabomba
i think i'll add a bit of salt to it, not much


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## DonaldmBoyer (Aug 18, 2005)

The vals and hairgrass with be fine in brackish conditions. If you have Green cabomba, it would also do ok in slightly brackish water too. A tablespoon and a half of sea salt won't be a problem, and would probably help the crab out. Just make sure to do regular water changes!!!


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## almostaskater62 (Apr 28, 2007)

sweet thanks
it's tankmate is a betta, but i've read they do fine with salt as well, correct?


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## DonaldmBoyer (Aug 18, 2005)

Yeah...they'll do fine with that amount of salt. I wouldn't push much higher than two tablespoons of sea salt per five gallons, though!! BTW, "sea salt" is also "aquarium salt".....wasn't sure if you knew that or not. I am not trying to underestimate your intelligence!


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## almostaskater62 (Apr 28, 2007)

yeah i'm sure that's what i have


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## Terra Incognita (Jun 12, 2007)

I've had a Fiddler Crab in a 100% pure freshwater tank for about 8 months, and he seems to be doing just fine. He scampers around and crams his little claw into any nook or cranny he can find, so I'm sure he would be just fine in freshwater if need be.


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## Blitzhill (Sep 2, 2006)

When I first started my planted tank I added salt because I had livebearers, and I never had any problem (that I know of) related to the salt. Also, I was thinking about getting crab, but I thought I had read that they need land to come up onto, is this not true for some of them? --Thanks and good luck with your crab and betta almo.


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## 247Plants (Mar 23, 2006)

Actually that can be a little confusing. "Sea" and "Aquarium" salt are the same but dont confuse either one with Aquarium sea salt...i.e. for salt water tanks.

If you do add salt remember to watch the salinity in it and make sure you take evaporation into account when you do water changes.


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