An arthropod display for each class in arthropoda

[catboyeuthanasia]

Fun thing I've been thinking about; how difficult would it be to keep one arthropod pet from each class in arthropoda and construct sort of a "living phylogenetic tree?" I'm definitely not including any obligate parasites though.

Pycnogonida: sea spiders

• marine predators of anemones and other soft bodies prey
• some eat commonly kept corals, but those are tiny
• Cold water ones are much bigger, but they need cold water anemones
• Has been shown to produce eggs in captivity

Xiphosura: horseshoe crabs

• Avaliable in pet stores sometimes
• Need huge tanks
• Maybe impossible to captive breed

Arachnida: arachnids

Symphyla and Pauropoda pseudocentipedes

• Tiny soil dwellers
• Put some dirt and plants in a jar

Diplopoda: millipedes
Chilopoda: centipedes

Everything in Oligostraca:

• Some are tiny sand dwellers. A jar of pond water and some sand in a saltwater tank would get you some
• Others, like Tongue worms and fish lice are nasty parasites. No point trying to keep

Thecostraca: barnacles

• Hard to keep alive, especially the larger species
• Filter feeders, need lots of tiny food

Copepoda: copepods

• Found in any fish tank and bromeliad

Malacostraca: isopods, crabs, shrimp, and others

Cephalocarida: horseshoe shrimp

• Microscopic shrimp that live in sand. Just have a saltwater tank and that should cover it

Branchiopoda: fairy shrimp

• Sea monkeys

Remipedia: remipedes

• Probably the hardest thing in this list, other than the parasites
• Lives exclusively in underwater caves

Hexapoda: insects

It's fairly easy to extend to all panarthropods instead. Phylum Onychophora has only 1 family, and captive bred barbados velvet worms are good pets. Phylum Tardigrada are tiny and live in pond water or moss.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Fun thing I've been thinking about; how difficult would it be to keep one arthropod pet from each class in arthropoda and construct sort of a "living phylogenetic tree?" I'm definitely not including any obligate parasites though.

Pycnogonida: sea spiders

• marine predators of anemones and other soft bodies prey
• some eat commonly kept corals, but those are tiny
• Cold water ones are much bigger, but they need cold water anemones
• Has been shown to produce eggs in captivity

Xiphosura: horseshoe crabs

• Avaliable in pet stores sometimes
• Need huge tanks
• Maybe impossible to captive breed

Arachnida: arachnids

Symphyla and Pauropoda pseudocentipedes

• Tiny soil dwellers
• Put some dirt and plants in a jar

Diplopoda: millipedes
Chilopoda: centipedes

Everything in Oligostraca:

• Some are tiny sand dwellers. A jar of pond water and some sand in a saltwater tank would get you some
• Others, like Tongue worms and fish lice are nasty parasites. No point trying to keep

Thecostraca: barnacles

• Hard to keep alive, especially the larger species
• Filter feeders, need lots of tiny food

Copepoda: copepods

• Found in any fish tank and bromeliad

Malacostraca: isopods, crabs, shrimp, and others

Cephalocarida: horseshoe shrimp

• Microscopic shrimp that live in sand. Just have a saltwater tank and that should cover it

Branchiopoda: fairy shrimp

• Sea monkeys

Remipedia: remipedes

• Probably the hardest thing in this list, other than the parasites
• Lives exclusively in underwater caves

Hexapoda: insects

It's fairly easy to extend to all panarthropods instead. Phylum Onychophora has only 1 family, and captive bred barbados velvet worms are good pets. Phylum Tardigrada are tiny and live in pond water or moss.

excellent plans!!!
Wow show us some pics when you get some of these display tanks up and running. Also stick insects and roaches are another’s learning experience, although considered as feeders. There are pet only species too.

 

[Smotzer]

I think this would be a really fun project to help with!

 

[catboyeuthanasia]

I think this would be a really fun project to help with!

I wonder if we can compile an album with people on this forum... for the more charismatic classes like insects and arachnids, we can even do representatives from each order!

 

[Ponerinecat]

Note on Pauropods in particular; they can be surprisingly finicky, some of the more "specialized" species in particular (eg. Brachypauropodidae, Polypauropodidae.) I've had trouble getting them to last in both simple jars of substrate as well as more finely monitored enclosures with plaster bottoms. Historically, scientists studying these have tried to create breeding populations for one reason or another but very rarely create long term cultures beyond just keeping the mature animals alive and rasing eggs resulting from mating in the wild. I have, however, had Pauropus huxleyi pop up unexpectedly in decent numbers in an isopod container, despite failures in getting other species of Pauropus to breed in dedicated cultures. They have a much more complicated lifecyle than may be apparent (indirect mating using spermatophores placed on silken nets, females can store spermatophores in a specialized organ after picking them up, eggs develop into a "pupa" like phase before hatching.)