New pics of old tank (Native Fish)

[guitarest]

The glow in some pictures is the window in my front door.


Small Spade Fish, was size of quarter and he/she is the second youngest tank member. I have had this fish since last fall. I love the stripes and how it looks like a optical effect. This fish is a estimated 4.5 inches from front to rear.


Both Spade fish so you can see the size difference, the big one will easily fill a dinner plate. This fish was caught right after BP Spill.


My female blue who is pregnant or at least I believe so, she has the markings and eats but has yet to shed in months. My newest male (let other one go he was too big) has shed his shell 2 times in 3 months.


The male in his fav hiding spot. You can see also how I trim the claws to prevent attacks on healthy fish.


Some of the smaller residents, they are usually all eaten within a week or so. You looking at two very lucky shrimp.


My grand daughter caught this guy a year ago and put him in the tank.


See not just for bait any more, lol. Behind him is a Pinfish who was very small when he was caught. I didn't even know I caught him until he just showed up one day.


I wish he would just stay still long enough to take a picture thats isn't blurry.

[Scott Allen]

I was about to ask how you kept the crabs from killing everything in the tank! Poor claws. Do they grow back?

Pipefish hitchhiker is pretty awesome too!

[guitarest]

They sure do Scott every time they shed, and they get cut every time they shed. It may be cruel to do this to the Blue crab but on the flip side these guys live in a protected environment get fed twice a day and they eat oysters and shrimp daily and once every other week they get catfish nuggets. So the trade off is they get fat and live in a great area and they do not get eaten when they shed which is very difficult for me to do since I love fried soft shell crab. I tried without cutting the fingers and I lost a clown fish over the deal. The clown fish was in the tank 9 months and got along with the native fish and crabs. I decided to not cut the crab finger and maybe two weeks after my big male shed he caught and ate the clown fish. I also lost a horseshoe crab after a few months. First is was really cool to have him but the horseshoe hid in the sand all the time. I guess blue crabs like to eat them also, I saw what was the last of the horseshoe crab next to the big male. One thing I do is I allow the crab to shed and I do not cut the finger and keep him till he is hard again, feed him as much as he can eat prior to letting him go. The final thing I do is write on his top shell "I was a pet, please do not eat me".So if ya hear about a crab with this on his shell in a trap, the fisherman is not crazy it was my crab let go.....

Oh I got great news also to report, I found my oyster fish or he allowed me to find him. During the night feeding he was in the sand near the back of the tank.

[Scott Allen]

Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm not worried about the crabs feelings. If I was... I wouldn't sleep at night for all the crab claws I eat on a monthly basis.

From what I understand, blue crabs are the extreme of opportunistic feeders. They will eat anything they can grip. I love watching their movement though.

[guitarest]

No problem Scott, I also enjoy watching crabs in the 100gal. The way they zig-zag towards food is really coo. They also will sit next to the glass waiting to be fed. I also have pics of the male and female in missionary position making baby crabs. It was the wildest thing I have ever saw. Instead of them being one on top of the other the male held on to the female while she was basically on her backside. They stayed like this for hours, I first thought the female was dead; although during feeding time they both ate while in that position.

If people want to see the pics let me know.