sheedin tanks

[ramblin man]

hey guys im new to the forum. Ima 14 year old commercial crabber in va. Thats right by myself. Um when i sell my crabs i dont sell them all at once so if i were to keep hard crabs in a tank 8x4x1(no peelers of course) would that work for a couple of days if i put in some food?

[genecrabman]

You'd be better off keeping them in a 50 degree cooler.. You'll have dead loss by keeping them in a tank,no matter how much you feed them they will kill each other.. They just don't get along with other crabs very well, in the water..

[rdbeard]

 i agree with gene,. i tried putting 1 bu in a 4x8 tank with about 5 in of water overnight and as soon as i put them in there was mayhem. totally clear water turned murky white from the damage done from fighting. i waited a short time but had to remove them within 1 hour for fear of loosing them all.

[Mikie]

You can keep them in a live box in the water. We keep crabs that way all summer. You lose a few because they kill the weakest ones and eat them. Whenever you add new crabs, the ones already in there will attack the newer ones looking for the weakest. If you keep them for any length of time you should feed them - they eat quite a lot! Don't feed them rotten fish, they will actually start to taste like rotten fish. 

[jack1747]

I keep hard crabs for 2 or 3 day all the time.  We use old hard crab pot with the funnels mashed shut.  Up to 12 crabs in a pot and they are fine.  I do feed them everyday.  At first we closed the doors to the polar and the funnels were open, but we would always have a new caught crab in the bottom.  They are almost impossible to get out.  Next we closed the funnels and open the doors to the polar.  That worked better.  Now I cut the section of wire between the bottom and the polar out of the pot.  I leave a section of wire between the bait box and the sides to help keep the pot together.  This has been the best yet.  Losses are minimal, 2-3 crabs over 3 days when the water gets hot.  Welcome to the BCA.

[Mikie]

My live boxes are made with plywood bottoms (with small holes drilled through the bottom to help let the silt out), wood lath sides spaced 3/8" apart, and 4" plastic pipes capped on each end for floats - the full length of the box on each long side. I normally have 3 boxes - 2  4' x 8' and 1  4' x 4'. I start out with the small one until it gets crowded and then swap it for a 4' x 8'. When the large box gets "dirty" (scummed up) I swap it out with the other large one (normally have to do this several times through the summer).
The last place that I had to buy wood laths went out of business last year.    When my supply runs out I'm probably going to have to try going straight to a sawmill.

[Crabslayer]

The last place that I had to buy wood laths went out of business last year.    When my supply runs out I'm probably going to have to try going straight to a sawmill.

Mikie, National Lumber up in Baltimore.  Rt 40 (Pulaski Highway) 410-675-4740. 

[jack1747]

Gad! Their still there?    I bought rough cut solid oak 6x6x12s from them a century ago... 

The Lowe's in Pocomoke has plaster lath.... 

[Mikie]

Gad! Their still there?    I bought rough cut solid oak 6x6x12s from them a century ago... 

The Lowe's in Pocomoke has plaster lath.... 

I used to get them at Church Hill Lumber (they used to stock them because a lot of people would use them in the old houses to keep them authentic). I guess if the Lowe's in Pocomoke has them I could probably get them at the Lowe's in Easton, even if they had to special order them. I thought about trying the lumber yard in Linkwood if I can't find them anywhere else. I don't like to go to Baltimore unless it's the absolute last resort! I still have several bundles so it probably won't be a problem this year.

[ramblin man]

thanx for your help that is really helpfull um mikie. what is the difference between your live box and my sheeding tank. from what you described the both sound the same just yours is bigger? 

[Mikie]

thanx for your help that is really helpfull um mikie. what is the difference between your live box and my sheeding tank. from what you described the both sound the same just yours is bigger? 

Shedding tanks normally are solid and sit on shore and have water pumped into them, or have the water sitting in them being recirculated through a filtering system, are about 10" deep and usually are used for peelers getting ready to slough into soft crabs. Live boxes float in the water (or in some cases sit on the bottom, evidently) and depend on the normal circulation of the water from the tides, and normally just hold mature crabs until you're ready to use them (eat, sell, whatever). As was stated before - hard crabs in too small a space tend to eat each other. Mature peelers getting ready to slough don't eat - therefore can be kept in a more shallow, smaller space. Go ahead and try your setup for your purpose - nothing beats personal experience.

[ramblin man]

i like tat idea. though i understand what you are saying thank you for your insight

[jack1747]

Here are my floats (shedding tanks).  They are still called floats.  A hold over from back in the day.

[R D]

You can put 3 or 4 doz in a vat but don't hold the water,just let it spray and go right back out BUT you will still lose some of them.

[ramblin man]

ya that is what i normally do.. i think closed systems are a little complicated. and i just like it easy thank you though