Petco Fiddlers--anyone know the species?

[skylsdale]

My local petco keeps some fiddlers in a low-level tank that I look at every time I go in there. However, I'm not sure of the exact species, and not quite sure if they require pure freshwater, or would tolerate/prefer brackish or marine conditions.

Anyone know what I'm talking about?

 

[Anonymous]

Can you get a pic? I would say the Uca genus might be a good place to start looking. I have seen zillions of fiddlers on the atlantic coast and gulf coast in slightly brackish to full marine - usually in marshy environments.

I think I vaguely know the ones you are talking about though and they are usually kept in fresh water in pet stores. Being an intertidal type animal I would say it's adaptable but I'd lean towards it being freshwater variant - or the aforementioned store may be clueless as to it's care needs. Has happened before!

 

[skylsdale]

I just found this care sheet put out by Petco, but who knows if they stick to stocking just one species: http://www.petco.com/assets/articles/ca ... 052003.pdf

From what I've read it can be pretty difficult to ID them based on pic alone...but if it can be narrowed down that would be fantastic (probably more for my own state of mind than anything). I'm thinking a pretty terrestrial sand flat tank with a lowered water level and a mangrove propagule or two could be fairly interesting...

 

[teknopanda]

all fiddlers require a brackish environment in order to live full lives. fiddlers that are kept in freshwater environments will typically live shorter lives. I doubt they will do well in a marine tank, if for any reason, because they need dry land to live on too. It would be interesting to try a tidal pool set up though.

 

[skylsdale]

My concern is that if they inhabited brackish/FW estuaries and such that they might be overly sensitive to a much higher salinity. I had no plans to keep them in a reef tank--that just wouldn't look natural at all. If anything, it would have been in a mostly terrestrial sandflat type setup with a mangrove or two and a scattering of LR on the shore and in the water. I've got an 80 gal down in the basement with no purpose, and I thought that might be an interesting setup...and a nice break from the norm.

 

[teknopanda]

i have fiddlers in a beach setup. 8 inches of sand on 3/4 of the tank and it tapers into a shallow water area with an underwater mini filter. the tank is 29g tall. they don't dig holes like they do in nature, but they do spend an equal amount of time on land and water. oh also i put a few large smooth stones on the sand and in the water and they like to stand on those and do some "arm waving." they also spar with no injuries.

i've also noticed, the best way to feed these guys if you are going to do dry food, is to break up the food and sprinkle it over the sand. you'll notice that they eat by grabbing sand grains and putting them in their mouths and then spitting them out. they don't really go grab the full size pellets and eat them.