How to Build a Vampire Crab Enclosure | BigAlsPets.com

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Vampire crabs are a very interesting, relatively new species of freshwater crab that are amphibious and appreciate time on land. They are omnivorous eating both live and prepared meaty foods, along with some plant based foods. All around quite hardy and easy to care for! Today I am going to show you how to set up a simple enclosure to keep your Vampire crabs happy so they don’t jump out and suck your blood!

For a small group of 3 to 6 crabs, a tank between 10 and 15 gallons works well. We are going to create an enclosure with approximately 50% land and 50% water so the crabs can live their amphibious lives however they so choose; no judgments here.

I have here a 12 gallon Seapora tank made with ultra-awesome high clarity glass and it is roughly 24 x 12 x 15 inches which will provide lots of room for both the terrestrial and aquatic sections.

To build the land up without it just sloshing over to the wet side of the aquarium, I am going to use a filter foam block and cut it to size so it fits snugly in the tank. The height of the block needs to be only a little bit taller than the height of the land you are creating for the terrestrial side, since it is going to act as a barrier to keep it in place while still allowing water to pass through.

Once in place, the next step is to create a drainage layer so that your land doesn’t get soppy and turn into mud. Hydro balls work really well for this and also provide a place for beneficial bacteria to grow and help with biological processes.
Make sure to put enough Hydro balls to achieve the same depth as the maximum water height you want in the enclosure so that the water doesn’t touch the substrate layer.

Next some screen mesh over the balls will prevent your substrate from just falling through the balls.

And now lets get some fancy dirt in there! Reptisoil is ideal since it is soft enough for the crabs to excavate, has good drainage properties, and also works well for live plants which we MAY just want to put in there too *wink*.

Now that the land is made, we want to create a comfortable and attractive transition from the water side to the land. For this you can use your choice of aquarium safe rocks or stone. This will also help to keep that foam block in place.

Once the rock is in place it is time to add some sand to the aquatic side of the enclosure. Sand is ideal since the crabs prefer this type of substrate.

To add even more surface area and give the enclosure some extra levels and barriers to help detour any territorial aggression, I am going to add driftwood! Not to mention it just plain looks great.

With the hardscape done, we can move on to plants! You don’t have to use live plants, but it does make for an attractive enclosure and provides the added benefit of reducing nutrient buildup by using the crab’s waste to grow.

You can also added mosses, dry or live, to both the land and the watery part of the habitat. The crabs will often lay their eggs in moss when they are ready to hatch, so having moss available is ideal.

For a more rugged natural look, you can add leaf litter and some seed pods or cork bark bits as finishing touches!

Water movement and heat are ideal, so adding a small heater to keep the temp between 70 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit, and a small water pump or internal filter to keep that water a’move’n will make sure your Vampires are comfy cozy.

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Видео How to Build a Vampire Crab Enclosure | BigAlsPets.com канала Big Al's