Help with reducing clutter?

[Motörcrab]

Cool! It's amazing what you can sometimes cram into one spot. I think it will be a challenge but for some reason I find that fun. We have an entire bookshelf of extra crabby toys, bowls, wheels and other things we rotate through to keep things interesting for them. If they only knew how spoiled they are!

[Kydra]

OK so, as I thought, not much change overall, but all are currently up. I cleaned and dug up shells, added another almond leaf (they destroyed/ate the two I had a few months ago), sprayed the top layer and around the sides, but here's some pics from today...

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[Motörcrab]

Is that black egg crate? I only ever saw white for sale around here.

Anyway, here are my general quick thoughts that you can probably get away with pretty easily. For a super simple second level above your coconut hide you could get two Flukers Tension Rods and and run them front to back. Then cut a piece of egg crate or craft mesh to place on top of the tension rods. Cut a ladder out of egg crate or craft mesh, or use some of the cholla as a ladder and zip tie everything in place. Only 3-5 inches above the sub or 3-5" from the lid would work. Just be sure your lid is secure so you don't have any escapees. You could even get an additional tension rods and place one in the center of the tank and make a ladder to that. Even wrap the tension rods in hemp or jute rope and secure with zipties.

If you use craft mesh instead of egg crate you could space out the tension rods so the mesh would bow in the center. Then you could possibly use that as a make shift shell shop. Moving your shells there would free up a little ground space. It would also give your crabs additional climbing space too.

These are the tension rods i'm talking about. We use them all the time.
https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostor ... amboo-bars

[Kydra]

Is that black egg crate? I only ever saw white for sale around here.

Anyway, here are my general quick thoughts that you can probably get away with pretty easily. For a super simple second level above your coconut hide you could get two Flukers Tension Rods and and run them front to back. Then cut a piece of egg crate or craft mesh to place on top of the tension rods. Cut a ladder out of egg crate or craft mesh, or use some of the cholla as a ladder and zip tie everything in place. Only 3-5 inches above the sub or 3-5" from the lid would work. Just be sure your lid is secure so you don't have any escapees. You could even get an additional tension rods and place one in the center of the tank and make a ladder to that. Even wrap the tension rods in hemp or jute rope and secure with zipties.

If you use craft mesh instead of egg crate you could space out the tension rods so the mesh would bow in the center. Then you could possibly use that as a make shift shell shop. Moving your shells there would free up a little ground space. It would also give your crabs additional climbing space too.

These are the tension rods i'm talking about. We use them all the time.
https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostor ... amboo-bars

Appreciate it. As you know, not much height so didn't really bother contemplating a second level, but I could def do that on the one side. Thanks for the link too; I had to read what you wrote again because had no idea how I'd do that until I saw the bamboo bars. I've seen them at my local Petco. Will give it a shot and post a pic after.

Probably won't get to Petco until next week, but have some ideas of a few things I'd like to try now though. I'm not creative at all as mentioned, but once I see a picture or have an idea to work with, I am usually able to run with it and put something together! Thanks again!

The egg crate and mesh are both black. Ordered from Amazon a while ago. Had absolutely no idea what egg crate or craft mesh were until reading here. Went to Amazon and just searched until I found what looked right lol.

Decided to put it where it's at now in the tank as the crabs would get from the highest point of the spiderwood then hang on the lid and, while they could just drop, they would stay hanging upside down (sometimes for a few days as I was seeing if would just let go themselves) until I would take off the lid and place them back on the substrate. Now I see them every night climbing upside down, but they know how to get down and have not once stayed hanging on the lid during the day since I put the egg crate there and seem to enjoy all the extra climbing space. I rarely handle them and they all dissapear from 5AM until around 6PM.

Anyway, here is the link to that egg crate: Non-Toxic/Fish Safe etc, Amazon's Choice (still)...

https://www.amazon.com/Pomeat-Aquarium- ... cra&sr=8-3

Edit: Just checked Amazon account and was actually this brand that I ordered. Showed as white on the search, but there's a color option to choose black...

https://www.amazon.com/Ioffersuper-Divi ... th=1&psc=1

[Motörcrab]

Here are a two pictures from our tanks. The one is a small second level made of egg crate covered with craft mesh. We added a rim to one side so the crabs won't "easily" knock the food of shells off.



The other pic is of the tension rods xenocrab wrapped with Jute rope. She also made the rope to hang between the tension rods.


Hopefully those will give you some ideas.

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[Hermiesguardian]

Here are a two pictures from our tanks. The one is a small second level made of egg crate covered with craft mesh. We added a rim to one side so the crabs won't "easily" knock the food of shells off.



The other pic is of the tension rods xenocrab wrapped with Jute rope. She also made the rope to hang between the tension rods.


Hopefully those will give you some ideas.

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Is the tension rod suction cup pressed against the craft mesh in the bottom pic? Left side.

[Motörcrab]

Yes, with the tank being 18" wide I had to make spacers on the background to extend out since the rods only extend out to 15".

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[Hermiesguardian]

Yes, with the tank being 18" wide I had to make spacers on the background to extend out since the rods only extend out to 15".

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Ok. But the suction cups actually hold to the craft mesh? I wouldn't thing they would.

[Motörcrab]

As long as you have enough tension they have been working for us on the mesh. You could always use a few zip ties as a lip to prevent the suction cups from sliding. We have better luck with tension rods staying in place on the mesh than the suction cups on the moss pit sticking to the glass.

[Kydra]

Thanks so much for the pictures!!! If this was possible, I'd pay you or anyone with all these great ideas and DIY tricks to just do my upgrade in a few months!

Definitely have a lot more ideas though. Really just want to upgrade at this point especially with all crabs up simultaneously. Not sure I'll get that again. Trying to stick to my schedule to a point here lol. If I noticed the Petco sale prior to the last few days of it, I'd have prob already upgraded.

But... in the meantime, there are definitely more things I can do with all of the things I have. The pictures are great though.

[Hermiesguardian]

As long as you have enough tension they have been working for us on the mesh. You could always use a few zip ties as a lip to prevent the suction cups from sliding. We have better luck with tension rods staying in place on the mesh than the suction cups on the moss pit sticking to the glass.

Wow! Thank you!