# | Red river crab i caught at the run off at the dam|



## bettaboyshiva (Jul 14, 2011)

*>=(. .)=< <- like my crab lol!*

*well i went to get some ghost shrimp and i found this guy in the run off...where the water was drying out..he would have died if i hadn't gone to the dam..he is a water crab..so yea he was in trouble. i thought maybe i could keep him and feed him scraps from the tetras i feed to my catfishes.*


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## Mo (Mar 15, 2012)

A bit small of a washing bowl, don't you think? If a Betta won't appreciate a tank of that size then I highly doubt that any type of living sea creature of that size will appreciate a bowl of any size unless larger than 10 gallons


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## bettaboyshiva (Jul 14, 2011)

Mo said:


> A bit small of a washing bowl, don't you think? If a Betta won't appreciate a tank of that size then I highly doubt that any type of living sea creature of that size will appreciate a bowl of any size unless larger than 10 gallons


 
umm i just placed it in there to get some pictures since he is fiesty...and its not a SEA creature...its a "river" crab...means that it lives in fresh water..and bettas appreciate bowls of that size....it holds approx 1 gallon of water..oh and the crab lives in a 5 gallon bucket where he is treated well so i assure you he is well taken care of.. thanx for your concerns.


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## Mo (Mar 15, 2012)

Sorry, I accidentally typed in sea creature, I meant creature. Also IMO, bettas don't do as better as they would in a larger tank such as a 15 gallon+ opposed to a smaller one such as a 1 gallon. I can speak first hand in this situation, I manage to keep all of my bettas healthy in 15 gallon+ tanks with heating, filteration, heavily planting, and soft acidic water which is ideally the prefered habitat by Bettas IME


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## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

OMG I love him. I love all the wildlife around you, haha you are so lucky!
I think maybe you should give him a way to get up on land, maybe a piece of wood, I know even some water crabs need to come up for air every now and then (fiddler crabs for example) 
The one claw bigger than the other either means it's a male, or it lost a claw at one point and it regrew. I think it's pretty crazy that they can just grow their legs back.


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## bettaboyshiva (Jul 14, 2011)

Mo said:


> Sorry, I accidentally typed in sea creature, I meant creature. Also IMO, bettas don't do as better as they would in a larger tank such as a 15 gallon+ opposed to a smaller one such as a 1 gallon. I can speak first hand in this situation, I manage to keep all of my bettas healthy in 15 gallon+ tanks with heating, filteration, heavily planting, and soft acidic water which is ideally the prefered habitat by Bettas IME


well its good that you have all that for your bettas  but i have a fish room and its loaded with adult bettas..most in 1 and 2 gallon tanks and all seem to be fine...most of my bettas live their complete life span 3 -4 years. All my bettas are brightly coloured and are fasr from sick or denied anything they need. I have big tanks...but they have predatory fish...


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## bettaboyshiva (Jul 14, 2011)

Olympia said:


> OMG I love him. I love all the wildlife around you, haha you are so lucky!
> I think maybe you should give him a way to get up on land, maybe a piece of wood, I know even some water crabs need to come up for air every now and then (fiddler crabs for example)
> The one claw bigger than the other either means it's a male, or it lost a claw at one point and it regrew. I think it's pretty crazy that they can just grow their legs back.


 
i always catch red crabs but i decided to keep this guy because he is probably close to the end of his life span anyways..they live for a few years..Oh and he loves to eat dead tetra lol...


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## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

So is he max size?
Weird question, but can you eat them? I love crab meat hahaha.


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

bettaboyshiva said:


> well its good that you have all that for your bettas  but i have a fish room and its loaded with adult bettas..most in 1 and 2 gallon tanks and all seem to be fine...most of my bettas live their complete life span 3 -4 years. All my bettas are brightly coloured and are fasr from sick or denied anything they need. I have big tanks...but they have predatory fish...


Also because you're a breeder and if you had 15 gallons for each of your bettas that would be extremely difficult to have all your fry in each 15 gallon. I understand why you would have them in 1 gallon bowls.

@MO: That's really cool. Do you have a sorority of them or each male/female in a 15 gallon?

Your crab is amazing. Pretty color as well.


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## Mo (Mar 15, 2012)

Yes, I have each one to a 15 gallon, well.... One is temporarily in a 5 until his fins heal, in about 2 weeks I will give him his permanent set up


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## bettaboyshiva (Jul 14, 2011)

Olympia said:


> So is he max size?
> Weird question, but can you eat them? I love crab meat hahaha.


 
yep they actually taste very sweet..yep and thats his max size so you will need atleast 20-30 crabs to make a decent cook


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## bettaboyshiva (Jul 14, 2011)

bettalover2033 said:


> Also because you're a breeder and if you had 15 gallons for each of your bettas that would be extremely difficult to have all your fry in each 15 gallon. I understand why you would have them in 1 gallon bowls.
> 
> @MO: That's really cool. Do you have a sorority of them or each male/female in a 15 gallon?
> 
> Your crab is amazing. Pretty color as well.


thanx bettalover..and yea glad u understand how much of space i'd need if i had to put each fish in a 15 gallon tank :/...


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

bettaboyshiva said:


> thanx bettalover..and yea glad u understand how much of space i'd need if i had to put each fish in a 15 gallon tank :/...


That would be pretty cool and really crazy. You might as well be rich. I guess it works best for owners that keep them as pets.

@MO: how many bettas do you have?


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## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

Reading your signature of all the crazy fish you have, shiva, I'm already curious as to how you fit all that in your house! Do you keep some outside, since it's warm enough where you live?


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## bettaboyshiva (Jul 14, 2011)

Olympia said:


> Reading your signature of all the crazy fish you have, shiva, I'm already curious as to how you fit all that in your house! Do you keep some outside, since it's warm enough where you live?


my basement is 60ft by 50ft....pretty big and has 4 rooms the main room has all my bettas...and i have two 4ft tanks and a 6ft tank ... one of the 4ft has the smaller fish and the 6ft has my catfish and sharks, the other 4ft has my pacus...then i have a 3ft with my red devil and another 3ft with a red flower horn. then i have a divided 8ft by 4ft concrete pond outside..where i breed plants and well lots of guppies live in one..the other i have to put the pacu's when they get a lil bit bigger but im planning on selling them..then my betta room i have ten 2 gallon tanks and 12 one gallon tanks...as well as three 2 ft tanks to put my spawns..and i have about thirty 1 gallon water bottles with the top removed to jar male juvenile bettas.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

I have my bettas in 1+ gallons. @ males in 20s (because they were empty.) and 2 in 10s, and females in 29. some in 1 gallons, because my desk has a computer, and I don't like divided tank xD I don't think tank size matters.... well, a little, as long as you have a 1+ gallon (breeders can use jars) and keep up with cleaning :3 cleaning is MORE important than a HUGE tank for one betta. (although if I won the lottery had a nice house one room would be the "large tanks with bettas" room) let's drop the "tank size controversy" in this thread that does not concern bettas nor tank size and love the crab 

the last picture of the crab looks like "noooo no more pictures!!!" xD he's cute though. I like crab meat >.> but I couldn't cook live animals myself. or break their necks, or chop their heads off, or drown them.....or boil them alive.... I'm a "give it to me raw and dead or cooked, but not alive!" person =D often then not you find minnows, leaches, and shrimp here. I'm actually going to test out in an empty 20 (eventually) if minnows, shrimp and plants from a lake can survive tank live. but the tank has to be established and I have to have patience that day  dare I find a goldfish


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## PhilipPhish (Mar 6, 2011)

Beautiful! I love crabs! I really want to get one, but my moms against anything outside of fish, rabbits, dogs, and chickens.

Your a lucky lulu! I wish I could find pretty red crabs like yours!

My grandpa has crawdad's that like in the rivers, streams, and creeks by his ranch, but my tiger oscar ate the 3 we caught the other year.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

lol oscars do that xD the store had a saucer sized guy. he scared my dog. :|

We never had any critters near edmonton. but at least here (although it is manmade) the lake has an assortment of interesting critters. what are the critters in the plants, I wonder? :/ creepy looking. xD


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## PhilipPhish (Mar 6, 2011)

Oscars are poos! lol!

I could catch all kinds of stuff at my grandpa and my aunts horse. Snakes (water and land), frogs, lizards, salamanders, crawdad, minnows, and lots more!

I love love love your crab! I can't get enough of looking at him!


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

I still like the last picture. xD


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## bettaboyshiva (Jul 14, 2011)

since you guys love him i will get some more pics for you all later...i cant right now because im at the college library lol...i've caught females with eggs and released them ...and i dont usuallly bring home crabs for pets ...since i can go anytime and catch one but this guy well i brought him home beacuse i just felt sorry for him in his small drying water hole..said wat the heck might as well bring him home ....oh and some of the river crabs actually look purple at one stage ...


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

Purple?!


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## bettaboyshiva (Jul 14, 2011)

yep when they are much smaller some do look purple ...next time i get one i will try to get a shot of it.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

aww cool!!! I'm totally catching pics of our lake's live forms when I get my new camera!!!!!! xD I'll cry if I see a non-native fish in there. and being me I might catch and rehome the darn things. it's a danger to our nature to release non-native critters :/ turtles, too. goldfish. sometimes danios... 

at least you get the cool stuff =D


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

I have never heard of any other color crab,but then gain they have blue crayfish and other colors.

I wouldnt be as surprised.


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## rckstr1253 (Nov 21, 2011)

That's awesome! A pet store on long island here has small versions of these guys for a price of $2.69 and he has one larger than the one you have pictured, for $5. The larger one is ornage/black/and yellow and I think he has it labeled as a bumble bee fresh water crab.


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## Sheldon31 (Mar 21, 2012)

We're thinking of having a crab if we get another tank. Not entirely sure what they can lie with. Obviously not Bettas. Surely they'd claw at their pretty fins. He's super duper cute!


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

My crayfish used to climb one of the driftwood decors I had in the tank at the tippy top, he would hold his claws open and wait to catch a fish at the top. I soon took that decor out and fed him his normal sinking pellets.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

awww =3


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## bettaboyshiva (Jul 14, 2011)

this guy was eating a fish a day...that is he was eating a 3 inch 2 spot tetra a day...so i decided it was best i released him back into the dam ...where he may mate and make more crabs  ...so i released the big guy today..


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