How to keep a grocery store crab as a pet ( Blue Crabs )

This is a care guide on how to keep Blue crabs as pets,

Keeping a blue crab is easy, even for first timers, Its a little bit of work but it can be done,

So for aquarium size you want to keep them in a 40 gallon tank minimum. Bigger is better if you can afford it, but 40 gallons is fine. Anything less is too small, and they need space to move around,

Once you've got your tank, Get you some sand, you can choose any color you want, but personally, I think white or black looks best in aquariums, Click this link to order the sand in the video,

If you can find one, get a big rock, mine liked to climb the one I got, or hide behind it when he wasent in the mood,

Blue crabs need to be kept in temp ranges between 75 and 77 f so you will need a heater to keep the temperature in the tank stable,

Next you are going to need a filter to keep the water clean. A hang on the back filter will work just fine, for tanks 55 and above, I recommend a canister filter,

Blue crabs can technically survive in freshwater, but they do best in saltwater, so you will need marine salt. Aquarium salt is not the same as marine salt, so make sure not to get the 2 confused,

You will also need a tool that measures salt in water called a refractro meter, this is what they look like, and you will need to get it calibrated. Have the fish store employee calibrate it for you,

Than the last thing you will need is a dechlorinator to get rid of the chlorine in the tap water that you are going to add into the tank, Prime is one of the best ones out there and are available at most pet stores,

Once you've got everything, choose a spot in your house that has space for your tank, I recommend a spot away from windows to avoid algae blooms from too much sunlight,

After you have done that, its time to set up the tank, Get your sand and rinse it in a bucket, pour it in your tank and even it out, then add your rock if you got one,

Next get some 5 gallon buckets, I got mine from home depot, you can get them in most hard ware stores, fill them with tap water, then add a few drops of prime in each bucket to get rid of the chlorine

Dosage varies, follow the directions on the back of the prime bottle,

Now its time to mix your marine salt into your water, This might be nerve racking at first, but it gets easy after you do it the first time,

Get your marine salt, a measuring cup, and follow the directions on the back of the bag and add the recommended amount into each bucket,

Get a whisk and mix the salt into the water,

Once you have done this add your water into the tank, and grab your refracto meter, take a few drop of your water and place it on the blue lens,

close the lid and aim it towards a light source, if the salinty level lines up to 1.021, then you are good to go,

Hard part is done now, now you will need to wait 3 weeks for the tank to cycle, Basically this means, you need to wait for the beneficial bacteria to build up, so the water is safe for your crab, I made a whole video on cycling

your tank, you can check it out in the description,

After 3 weeks, you can finally pick out your blue crab,

Find a fish market in your area that sells live blue crabs, and pick out the healthiest one, Usually the one that has all its limbs, and is moving is your best choice,

once you have picked out your crab take it home and acclimate it if you need to, if not, you can put it into your tank,

As far as what to feed it, they will eat anything, but frozen foods such as shrimp and krill are great. They also love night crawlers,

Hopefully this helps, if you have any questions leave them in the comments below, and I'll answer. Thanks for watching.

[doifhg]

This reminded me of sailing, I kept baby blue crabs on the ship that got sucked into the strainers, sometimes I'd be changing the little aquarium tank's water and would put them in a little tupperware container for a minute, and then I'd turn around and like 20% of the time they found a way to climb out of it and where just running around on the floor

[JonathanP-gx]

I had a pet blue crab but it was a juvenile it molted into a bigger shell and shit and ate a crap ton of food I fed it I use instant ocean aquarium salt for my crabs also blue claws are the easiest to keep as pets considering they eat pretty much anything and they adapt to things quickly

[sebslides]

Omg I’m so happy your uploading again I remember watching the videos on your big shrimp and how to keep them, now I have a 10 gallon, 29 gallon and 55 gallon tank. Thank you for inspiring me to keep fish

[nomifrei]

thanks for inspiring me to save a crab and saving yours 😍😍😍

[droney-mckayaker]

Very good and highly accurate information on many aspects of the aquarium hobby, nicely done!

[edgufler]

A good video. At least you stressed the importance of cycling a SW tank

[jst]

I have a jimmy in my tank at college. I love him to death. I try to feed him every morning, either a shrimp or a worm, but he hasnt really eaten in a few days. He ate half of a chunk of porkchop a couple days ago, though lol. He moves around sorta slowly, but I think he's actually doing alright. Not like lethargic, but relaxed maybe? Don't know. He seems to be getting used to me because he's not that afraid of me anymore. He pinched me gently once while I was trying to feed him. It's possible that he is stressed or maybe slightly too cold (I don't have a heater yet, water is 69-70F I think...) I gave him a worm today and he grabbed it, brought it to his mouth and 'tasted' it by chewing on it a little, and then rejected it. I thought he might be about to molt or something, but he doesn't have the red sign yet or anything. I dunno. I'm just amazed he survived the journey here a week ago, he was the only one out of 12 that did. When I try to feed him with a fork he usually shoves it away, which is interesting.

[jasonchui]

Suitable calcium intake from both food and water should be a concern if you want your crab pet to survive their molting cycle.

From experience the bigger and older they are the harder it is for them to survive their own molt.

Water too hard means death in their own shell as they cannot break free while water too soft and poor diet will lead to shell not forming correctly which will make crab less immune to deseases in close tank environment.

[miguelcerda]

What happened? Why are you posting reuploads why I come back here every now and than I just miss ur videos and ur personality. Ur really funny

[cherylmailloux]

This guy sounds so much like another youtuber I subscribe to (The Quiet Nerd) .Anyway great video!😊

[spimer]

I cant get mine to eat. All my stores keep them out of water so it's hard to acclimate them.

[sambruno]

Don’t u need to use RODI water if your doing saltwater ?

[Shark-Biter]

I have a pair of angels they just laid there eggs an hour ago. The movement one lays eggs the other eats the eggs. 😢 What to do??

[HELENGodLoves]

That's crazy talk!!! These blue crab are mean AF... so mean you certainly don't mind boiling them😂

[Tommmmmmms]

So I was walking around and saw some dude selling blue crabs and he gave me two even though I asked for ( I felt bad for them, I've never wanted a crab as a pet) right now I can't get really get chemicals so I've just added some salt and my mom wants me to release them as soon as they get healthy. So question number 1, for how can they survive in tab water mixed with salt ? And 2 is it okay for the two of them to be together in a 20L tank ( it's the only thing I had ) or should I separate them?

[RaceSmokie]

@MasterAquatics do you know some factory which makes aquarium filters? I have one idea for outside air aquarium filter (which I have never seen till now) which I would like to see alive.

[VonWasHere]

Question 2: How Long Do I Need To Cycle It If I Use 1 or 2 Bags of Live Sand?

[jerseattle]

I’ll subscribe don’t kill anymore goldfish ❤

[soneygameing]

How long did it take for the crab to start eating?

[KevsCountDown]

Is sea salt ok for saltwater aquariums or will it just kill the crab