Fiddler crabs are brackish water dwellers that thrive at a temperature of 75-80°F and need a pH or acidity of 8.0-8.3. Carbonate Hardness (KH) should optimally be between 150-350 ppm. They are semi-aggressive and are scavengers too. They love being in a very comfortable place. Many people normally keep them in a bucket instead of a comfortable aquarium, the question is, how long will they last in a bucket, knowing the nature of these crabs.
How long will Fiddler crabs live in a bucket? Fiddler crabs will live up to some months or years in a bucket if they are well cared for.
Fiddler crab is a kind of crab that loves being comfortable because, just like every other crab, they could be easily stressed.
How long they could be able to live or survive in a bucket depends on how you take care of them.
The house or bucket they are kept in doesn’t matter that much, but what matters and also what could determine their overall health and how long they will survive is how they are being cared for.
Let’s take, for instance, the container or bucket you keep them doesn’t matter much, what matters is the actual size of the bucket.
This is because these crabs are very territorial and semi-aggressive too, so they will fight each other if the environment is not wide enough.
So, the bucket they are kept in doesn’t matter, but the size matters a lot, that’s why you could easily keep one fiddler crab or 2 of the opposite sex in a bucket that is only 10 gallons or a bit lower, and they will stay fine, but if you use the same bucket to keep more than two, especially the same sex, they will be Stressed and will fight, which will deteriorate their health.
So, keeping them in a large bucket is one of the ways to take care of them because they will be fine in a large bucket and claim their various territories.
Keeping them in a large bucket, they will live in there for years ( lifespan which is 3 years) because they are comfortable.
So, how long Fiddler crabs can live in a bucket hugely depends on how you take care of them.
Apart from living in a large bucket, another thing that could determine how long they could live in a bucket is how the bucket is being maintained.
How the bucket they live in is being taken care of or maintained is another factor that will determine how long Fiddler crabs will live in a bucket.
Unlike in an aquarium which is specifically built for aquatic animals, buckets could be built for anything, so while keeping your fiddler crabs in it, you need to exercise some maintenance to keep the crabs healthy.
This includes cleaning the bucket regularly, as it could easily get dirty and breed diseases that might kill your crabs.
We know that Fiddler crabs could only thrive in brackish water, provide it for them and make the water only 4 inches or a bit more above the crabs.
Put in place some islands because they are not fully aquatic and will be needing land to rest and breath air.
Feed them quality foods and change their water at least 50% every week if possible and clean the bucket too.
There are many disinfectants out there that are suitable for aquarium animals, so get some and keep to curb infection and diseases.
Make sure they have substrates and live plants too, they love them.
Keep them a room temperature or find a way to install a heater if the temperature is not suitable for them, as I stated above.
With all these in place, they will live till the end of their lifespan.
One thing that normally kills all these animals is lack of proper care, so it doesn’t matter very much if they are kept in a bucket or glass aquarium, etc, what matters is how they are being cared for.
So, Fiddler crabs will live in a bucket till the end of their lifespan if they are well taken care of.
Don’t get me wrong, a normal aquarium that is build for fish and other water creatures matters a lot because they have some features that ordinary buckets don’t have, but all the same, what determines the survival of all these creatures is how well they are cared for, and not where they live, so they can live in a bucket for the fact they are comfortable in it.
How Do You Keep Fiddler Crabs Alive In A Bucket?
To keep Fiddler crabs alive in a bucket, you must provide them with the necessary things they need to survive such as brackish water, substrates and sand, gravels, islands, and proper feeding.
Fiddler crabs are not very expensive because they are easy to be cared for, and they don’t require a lot of care because they are naturally hardy.
So, to keep them alive in a bucket, all I listed above are very necessary, especially feeding.
Feeding them quality foods, keeping their tanks clean, and keeping islands for them are the 3 most important care they need when it comes to keeping fiddler crabs alive in a bucket.
They ain’t fully aquatic and will need islands to stay and breath or they will drown in the bucket, and without cleaning, the bucket which is not designed for them could easily breed diseases that might kill them.
So, the only way to keep Fiddler crabs alive in a bucket is to simply adhere to all these and take proper care of them in the bucket.
Again avoid overstocking them, more importantly, keep a minimum number of males and more number of females to curb excess aggression and their territorial tendency, etc.
Conclusion
So, the question ‘how long will Fiddler crabs live in a bucket’ hugely depends on how they are being cared for.
So how long they could live in a bucket could be a few months or years depending on how you treat them.
