Ive been slowly and surely chipping away at progress building this for weeks now and I’ve already built everything up only to tear it all down and start all over (twice now!). I spent an extra long time building the rock barrier this time around, so I really dont know if I should just keep it or retry. Whenever I build the barrier, it always seems to go back way too far, and whenever I stack rocks together, they have such big gaps I dont know if its safe. So, i spent an extra long time breaking up rocks and fitting each stone together and siliconing them in place. I spent a lot of money on rocks so I could have more of a variety. I am worried however that there is not going to be enough land to breed vampire crabs.
As I understand it, 5 gallons is the minimum to breed vampire crabs. and only 80% of that 5 gallons is land. the way i figure, since im using a 10 gallon, and about 50% of that is land, i still have 20% more land than a 5 gallon would have. Still, it feels very small.
That being said, the tank has gotten many scratches in it (i cover with a little silicone) and the bottom rim is slightly uneven ( but i put foam under it, unsure if i should remove), and i think perhaps buying a new tank and starting all over could be nice. however, ive already wasted 2 tubes of silicone already and I dont wanna waste any more.
Any help?
by crabboh
4 Comments
Can’t listen to the video but what’s the issue you’re worried about? If it’s about land area, put some aquatic moss on the rocks, put hollow wood on the land and put lots of plants, and they should be ok given you keep the population relatively low
You can ask over on r/vampirecrabs for more feedback but I think it looks good. Folks over there will have more specific knowledge about this build for them.
I don’t think you’ll be able to get any less of a slope than what you already have. You may have to raise the water level a little bit.
What is the issue with the tank? so far the tank looks great. Your rock wall doesn’t need to be waterproof. put some that thick aquarium filter sponge down in the land section so it sits right above the waterline, add leca cover it in weed barrier and add your substrate deep enough to hold small plants and so the crabs can dig. Add some driftwood so they can climb and hide.
In the water section and add a layer of aqua soil and cap it in a layer of sand. The lava rock is prefect for Java moss you could glue it on with plant glue or jam it in the crevices of the rocks.
I’ve been around on the vampire crabs sup reddit because I also an building one from my understanding unless your paludarium is massive around 80 20 is considered the ideal yes otherwise they fight for land in big paludariums people just add les vampire crabs compared to the volume it can hold so on those cases there is no fighting.
In your case what my consideration would have been was using only part of the front as a kind of compromise.
To do that only part would need to go and be curved to the front glass and it would give you more land without losing nearly as much depth while also keeping the higher stone and water Elevation.
But I really would recommend saying the new plan to r/ vampirecrabs first just to be sure if you feel unsertain about something