How to Make Fiddler Crab Food

Опубликовал Admin
30-01-2017, 04:00
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Fiddler crabs are a type of brackish water crab commonly sold in freshwater. They sift through sand, looking for any tiny bits of organic material. When they eat, they grab food particles with their small claws and bring them up to their mouth parts. Oftentimes, this just looks like they are moving their claws up and down. They don't need fancy food, as they are scavengers, so this article will show you how to quickly make easily frozen food for these little creatures.

Making Easy Vegetable Bites

  1. Gather soft vegetables or leaves like squash, zucchini, lettuce, spinach, or celery leaves. If you can, get organic to reduce the possibility of feeding your crabs pesticides. If you can't afford or get organic, regular is fine.
    • Scraps of vegetables, if not contaminated with raw meat or other substances, are a great way to use otherwise trashed food.
  2. Wash your veggies! Use special vegetable wash, not regular soap, or make your own. Combine a cup of tap water, a tablespoon of lemon juice, and two tablespoons of white vinegar to use as a soak or spray type of wash. Soak for ten minutes, then rinse.
    • This step is especially important for those using non-organic food.
    • Tougher types of vegetables can withstand hard scrubbing; some leaves are too soft for this.
    • If you get pre-washed, organic vegetables, you can skip this step, unless you want to wash it.
    • Non-organic vegetables with skin should be peeled and washed, as much of the pesticides are found on the surface.
  3. Shred your vegetables. For big vegetables like zucchini, dice up the flesh into tiny pieces. Each shred or piece should be no bigger than your pinky nail.
  4. Soften your vegetables. In a microwave safe container, microwave your vegetables in some drinking water for a minute. It is important not to use tap water so that chlorine or heavy metals aren't ingested by your crabs.
    • Make sure to use small pieces of vegetable so that you don't have to microwave them for a long time.
  5. Let the vegetables cool down. You can drain the water off (be careful if it is hot), put the solids in a plastic bag, and stick it in the freezer for a maximum of fifteen minutes.
  6. Feed your crabs! Stick a few shreds into the water (you might have to stick them in the sand or in a bowl if the pieces float around) daily and replace daily. Freeze any extra for later, and thaw them by microwaving for thirty seconds.

Making Frozen Vegetable Cubes

  1. Start out with washed produce. Again, you can use leaves or soft fleshed vegetables.
  2. Put all of your vegetables in a blender. Add a cup of drinking water for about four cups of vegetables. Pulse on and off frequently to avoid making veggie soup. You should have visible shreds of vegetable floating in water.
    • If you are using thick vegetables, you might want to cut them into smaller pieces before blending.
    • If the ratio of water to vegetable shreds is high, take some liquid out and strain out the solids, then add the strained vegetables back into the blender.
  3. Freeze your vegetables. When you have blended up a nice, non-soupy mix, use ice cube trays to freeze small portions of this vegetable blend. Freeze for at least 12 hours.
  4. Use the cubes to feed a time-release diet to your crabs. Splitting a cube in half for smaller tanks is good so you don't waste food. Stick a cube in shallow sand daily; it will melt and the crabs will be able to sift through the sand to find the food.

Making Frozen Cubes Out of Fish Food

  1. Obtain fish flakes (any kind), pellets, dried bloodworms, or brine shrimp. Since fiddler crabs are omnivorous scavengers, any fish food will be good.
    • If using, soak dried bloodworms, brine shrimp, or pellets in some tank water until softened.
  2. Combine your ingredients. It's best to use a combination of at least two foods to provide variety and nutrition. Mix with drinking water until you get a slightly thick soup.
  3. Pour your mixture into ice cube trays. Freeze for 12 hours. You might want to use smaller ice cube molds, because this method packs quite a lot of food into a cube.
  4. Feed! Using the same method as the vegetable cubes, put cubes a bit under the sand and wait for them to melt. Crabs will be more attracted to this kind of food, as non-vegetable food sources give off more of a "there's food here" smell that crabs can track.

Tips

  • If you want to prepare a large amount of food to freeze for later, you can boil whole leaves or vegetables until soft and then chop them up afterwards.
  • Pieces of uncooked frozen shrimp are a good treat to give to your crabs (and when you don't want to make food!).
  • Unseasoned, uncooked sheets of seaweed are also another treat.

Warnings

  • If you blend the vegetables too much, freeze them anyway but stick them completely into the sand to avoid tiny bits of matter floating around your tank.
  • If you do not have a heater for your crabs (which you should), frozen food will make your water cold.
  • If you use food with a high protein content, do not leave in the tank for more than a day. A filter is also recommended to make sure a protein film doesn't form as quickly on the water's surface.
  • While tasty to crabs, fatty foods like beef heart or salmon will dirty water very quickly.
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