My Stone Crab Lefty..... Help!!!

Fantor · 06-01-2007, 03:05 PM

Hi:

Well my reef tank is now pretty much setup. More about that later in my reef tank thread. For now I need some help with Lefty. Let me explain.
A few weeks back I was at my LFS. They had a stone crab that they took in from another customer. He was a pretty good size, I would say about 3" in size. I thought he was the coolest thing and I wanted him for my reef tank but the LFS dude said he would destroy my tank and mess up my live rock. SO I decided not to get him. Every day since I was thinking about him and i decided what the hell I'll just setup another tank for him. So I setup a 10 gallon tank with live sand and crush coral as the bedding. A bunch of lace rock and live rock with little caves for him to hide in. A heater and a small 10-20 gallon filter. I let the tank sit and heat up for about a week and I went to buy the stone crab. When I got to my LFS they gave me a discounted price "$5.00" on the crab since he lost his right arm in a fight with a shrimp they had in the tank with him. SO from this point on he is know as Lefty...:-) Anyways The first week I had Lefty he moved all my rock around to make his own caves " No biggie it was cool watching him at work". I was feeding him snails from my freshwater tank and he seemed to like them. Well I quickly ran out of snail so I switch him over to veggie rounds that I feed my hermit crabs in my reef tank. He didn't seem to like them that much so I went out to my local supermarket and bought him some raw shrimp and raw catfish nuggets from the butcher. He seems to eat the shrimp ok but not as fast as the snails and he wont touch the cat fish...:-( I have had Lefty now for two weeks and I just took some water readings. WOW Ammonia, Nitrites, and Nitrates are out of control!!!!! I did a 50% water change and plan on another 50% change tomorrow.
Lefty needs HELP!!!! Can he survive with high Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate levels or should they be zeroed out like my fish tank? Also how much and how often should I feed him???
Right now he is kicking sand out from his layer and seems to be digging in deeper then before. What should I do??

Thank You: Fantor

bosscrab · 06-01-2007, 03:23 PM

Things should be as close to 0 as possible. Pics?
Just let him dig

medicdiver · 06-01-2007, 03:33 PM

tank is pretty small and discarded food will make levels go up quickly. Siphon substrate and WC. I would think that feeding every 2-3 days would be enough (but not sure on that one). Others with more experience willl chime in for that. But with a 10 gal tank, there is not much room for error and level will go up ( and down) very quickly..

BGJ223 · 06-01-2007, 03:34 PM

Just keep up with your water changes. From my experience, stone crabs are pretty hardy little buggers. I am not sure how often you are feeding him, but you do not need to feed him everyday. I fed the one in my sump 1 to 2 times a week and he was just fine.

Also Lefty won't be lefty for much longer. He should have his right claw back within in the next few molts.

Hope this helps