Is this enough Food for a Rainbow Crab?

[DfiantCrab]

I have made some portioned pots of food for a single Rainbow Crab. I don’t have the crab yet, Im getting him on Friday. I wanted to know if you guys think this amount of food is enough for per day? Is it too much?

Contents:
x6 sticks of Turtle Food
x6 pastillmix pieces
x0.5 of A Weekend Fish Food tablet
x1 teaspoon Fish Food Flakes
x1 cube of frozen Bloodworms or x1 cube of frozen Turtle Food

Available always in the Habitat:
x1 Sea Almond Leaf (dried)
x1 Cuttlefish Bone


Thanks for the advice!

 

[ADsnail]

They are gorgeous creatures. Congratulations!

Since they eat pretty much everything (fyi, that would include any fish or snails you add to keep it company), consider the bulk of daily variety. They eat fruit (grapes, apples, etc), vegetables, cooked shrimp, raw fish. Feeding once a day is recommended. Any leftover fresh stuff should be removed so it doesn't cause an unhealthy bioload (I have a pair of slender tongs to remove this so I don't get nabbed by my crawfish).

So, looking at this bounty, how much total food per day? I might start with half or a third of what's in your cup, plus half a grape, or little chunk of apple or zucchini, or little chunk of seafood, for one day. See how much is eaten. Rotate the fresh food daily.

I'm guessing you're getting a baby? So requirements will change with time, and your crab will let you know how much of what to feed. I've found that with crustaceans, they power-up on the protein just before they molt, so if your buddy suddenly shows more interest in protein foods than fruit and vegetables for a couple days, look for a disappearance before a whole new big version appears.

That looks like a good variety in your cup. I think I would also keep some Hikari Crab Cuisine to fill in the nutritional menu; this might be the occasional day where you're in a hurry and don't have time for chef duty.

Good luck - send us a picture when you have him/her established!

 

[DfiantCrab]

Thanks for your reply!

They are gorgeous creatures. Congratulations!

Since they eat pretty much everything (fyi, that would include any fish or snails you add to keep it company), consider the bulk of daily variety. They eat fruit (grapes, apples, etc), vegetables, cooked shrimp, raw fish. Feeding once a day is recommended. Any leftover fresh stuff should be removed so it doesn't cause an unhealthy bioload (I have a pair of slender tongs to remove this so I don't get nabbed by my crawfish).

So, looking at this bounty, how much total food per day? I might start with half or a third of what's in your cup, plus half a grape, or little chunk of apple or zucchini, or little chunk of seafood, for one day. See how much is eaten. Rotate the fresh food daily.

I'm guessing you're getting a baby? So requirements will change with time, and your crab will let you know how much of what to feed. I've found that with crustaceans, they power-up on the protein just before they molt, so if your buddy suddenly shows more interest in protein foods than fruit and vegetables for a couple days, look for a disappearance before a whole new big version appears.

That looks like a good variety in your cup. I think I would also keep some Hikari Crab Cuisine to fill in the nutritional menu; this might be the occasional day where you're in a hurry and don't have time for chef duty.

Good luck - send us a picture when you have him/her established!

Thank you for the well thought out informative reply! You clearly know you’re stuff, so I’ll take your advice! I was thinking the pot might be a little too much for it to begin with. We will see how much he eats. Im not sure if the one im getting is a baby, they are wild caught where Im getting him. He is still small though.
About the crab food menu, I work at a pet store and I like to buy from here because I get a good discount. But my store doesn’t carry food specifically for crabs, they have food for Shrimp and Crawfish, and Prawns though, can I use those too?

 

[ADsnail]

The Crab Cuisine is good for shrimp, snails, and all crustaceans as well as crabs; I think other brands may not have as much protein (I haven't compared them, but a random poll of people I know with shelled creatures swears by the Hikari). The brand name Hikari seems to be the Cadillac of bottom-sinking food for crustaceans; I'm actually not sure what else is out there as an alternative. Maybe you are the one to find a definitive comparison!

The things to look for in these foods is A.) No copper (copper kills), and B.) Protein sources as well as vegetation. Algae will be present in all of them. Your crab is a little carnivore, so he'll need steak as well as salad. If nothing at your shop is checking all the boxes, perhaps you could ask them to start carrying the Hikari Crab Cuisine? A lot of people use only this, so the shop might increase revenue by carrying it.

Also - if you don't find anything that suits you and end up buying the Hikari elsewhere, at least the bag will last a long time. You don't need to feed a lot of super crustacean food when you're providing a varied diet.

 

[ADsnail]

Compare to this:

Hikari Crab Cuisine Ingredients: White fish meal, wheat flour, rice bran, soybean meal, corn gluten meal, brewers dried yeast, protease, salt, vitamin A, vitamin D3, vitamin E, vitamin K3, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, niacine, pantotenic acid, pyridoxine, vitamin B12, biotin, inositol, choline chloride, l-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (stabilized vitamin C), calcium iodate, manganese sulfate, magnesium carbonate.

Guaranteed Analysis:
Crude Protein (min) - 31%
Crude Fat (min) - 4%
Crude Fiber (max) - 3%
Moisture (max) - 10%
Ash (max) - 9%

 

[Autumnsky]

This sounds great. Can't wait to see a build thread and "baby" pictures!

Also if you want to have some "on hand" food, look at the frozen food cube options too. Calcium and minerals for growing shell. Some veggies but also shrimp shell like foods with Mysis shrimp. All my inverts and bottom feeders for that matter love Hikari Crab Cuisine, from dwarf shrimp, dwarf Crayfish and fancy crayfish all love it (my dwarf shrimp prefer it to Shrimp Cuisine)!

There are many other really quality shrimp foods, and may consider something like Glasgarten Mineral Junkie - I use them for the Dwarf shrimp and Dwarf Crayfish, as well as all the snail types like it!
https://www.glasgarten-aquarium.de/english/mineral_junkie_pearls.html

I just purchased a new bag of Northfin Krill Pro (aka Krill gold) and it is looking pretty good for nutrition, 85% Krill meal, lots of healthy stuff (also has wheat) but has some immunity boosters and ingredients for digestion. My fish really like it. It does come in various sizes. And if you have fish they can share. An additional option is using the tiny ice cube trays and add all the variety of foods you would want to feed per day / feeding and us it as a daily feeding when you are in a hurry.

If you have a build thread, please link it here!

 

[DfiantCrab]

I think I found a good German Alternative!

I looked for Hikari Crab food available in my area, and it seems this food is in general unavailable in the German Market. There are a few websites supplying it, but the shipping is very expensive for some reason. So I have been looking at alternatives, and came across what seems to be a popular brand of crab food often used by germans and europeans (im UK but live in DE). JBL Novo Crabs actually has more protein than Hikari, at 35%.
Crude Fat - 5%
Crude Fibre - 10%
Ash - 12%
Vegetable by-products
Molluscs and crustaceans
Vegetables
Fish and fish by-products
Cereals
Algae
Yeast


Unfortunately my store doesnt carry it personally. But I can order it a lot easier than Hikari. Do you think it is similar enough to Hikari?

 

[ADsnail]

That looks like great stuff. Did you receive the crab yet? Have you chosen a name?

 

[DfiantCrab]

I havnt got him yet as the pet store didnt receive any last week! They are getting some this week on friday, so I'll be getting him then. He doesnt have a proper name yet lol. He has been called several names so far, most popular is Crabert lmao. I think he will get called several things haha. I have some pictures up of the Paludarium by the way! I'll link the thread here.

https://www.aquariumadvice.com/foru...on-someone-to-move-in-379543.html#post3574561

 

[ADsnail]

Love it. Looks like he lives in a park. What is that super cool blue accordion tube-thing for him to crawl through? I want one!

 

[DfiantCrab]

Cool!

Love it. Looks like he lives in a park. What is that super cool blue accordion tube-thing for him to crawl through? I want one!

It’s pretty cool right? Thats a bit of “reduce, reuse” sentiment from me. I have pet rats, and I got this stretchy extendable tube thing as a toy for them (its made of pvc and stainless steel wire) but they didn’t have any interest in it! So I cut a section off and turned it into a crab cave lol. My step mum said it looks hilarious, like someone left trash on the beach ? I think its funny, I like it haha