Vampire crabs and moon crabs

[Jimbob]

@DR zuum thank you so much for all of that! It really is appreciated. So I think my first go with crab keeping will be with the hardier ones you mentioned. I like that they are larger as well. Are any of these more day active? I have heard many just stay in their burrows throughout the day and come out at night, which is fine too, not a dealbreaker.

I would really like to keep some with purple coloration. I always found that to be an amazing color to see on a living thing!

 

[SonsofArachne]

Cool. Hopefully he will not force them to do fencing on each other, like his beetles ...

Can't say I've seen that video, but if he's breeding them it's natural for males to fight over females. If I have 1 female and a couple of males with my beetles, I'm probably going let the males fight to see which is the fittest. The only reason I wouldn't is if one male had a particular trait I liked.

 

[DR zuum]

@DR zuum thank you so much for all of that! It really is appreciated. So I think my first go with crab keeping will be with the hardier ones you mentioned. I like that they are larger as well. Are any of these more day active? I have heard many just stay in their burrows throughout the day and come out at night, which is fine too, not a dealbreaker.

I would really like to keep some with purple coloration. I always found that to be an amazing color to see on a living thing!

Patriot crab Cardisoma Armatum very active, if you put some minnows in the water side or goldfish they will hunt 2 or 3 times a day depending on size of course. Now if you watch their mouthparts/pedipalps? these crabs use spitbubbles and their pedipalps to communicate to each other, they have excellent eyesight. And will come stare at you if you stare at them once they are comfortable with you they also come to you after a while. They are tameable. 1 male 1 female ratio. Not a group keeper long term just one male one female they get fairly big, feed a good fish food to the minnows and goldfish no calcium supplements needed. Adult size I wouldn't go under a 55 gallon , but that's me they like to roam. A 20 long tank not show would work for juveniles size, length of the tank is more important than height .

 

[Jimbob]

Patriot crab Cardisoma Armatum very active, if you put some minnows in the water side or goldfish they will hunt 2 or 3 times a day depending on size of course. Now if you watch their mouthparts/pedipalps? these crabs use spitbubbles and their pedipalps to communicate to each other, they have excellent eyesight. And will come stare at you if you stare at them once they are comfortable with you they also come to you after a while. They are tameable. 1 male 1 female ratio. Not a group keeper long term just one male one female they get fairly big, feed a good fish food to the minnows and goldfish no calcium supplements needed. Adult size I wouldn't go under a 55 gallon , but that's me they like to roam. A 20 long tank not show would work for juveniles size, length of the tank is more important than height .

These patriot crabs are sounding like the way to go then?? Thank you!

Hope you don't mind a few questions lol...

1)What's their water situation? Fresh and salt? Just salt? Brackish? And do they mostly stay on land?
2)Do they burrow deep(do I need a lot of substrate?)
3) should they be separated during melting?
4) do they come in different colors or are they all the same?
5) do they require UVB lighting?
6) would these crabs do well in a plant paludarium set up?

Anything else stick out about their care that I may miss with googling info? Like with the vamp crabs you mentioned ozone, water PH, certain temperature ranges?

Sorry to blow you up, there's just so much contradictory crab info!

 

[aznone]

I have three Halloween moon crabs atm

 

[Jimbob]

I have three Halloween moon crabs atm

As far as colors go, halloweens and vampires are my favorite. I've heard if doing everything right, the moons basically stay burrowed the whole time though. So I'm leaning towards the Patriots for their outgoing attitudes.

 

[DR zuum]

These patriot crabs are sounding like the way to go then?? Thank you!

Hope you don't mind a few questions lol...

1)What's their water situation? Fresh and salt? Just salt? Brackish? And do they mostly stay on land?
2)Do they burrow deep(do I need a lot of substrate?)
3) should they be separated during melting?
4) do they come in different colors or are they all the same?
5) do they require UVB lighting?
6) would these crabs do well in a plant paludarium set up?

Anything else stick out about their care that I may miss with googling info? Like with the vamp crabs you mentioned ozone, water PH, certain temperature ranges?

Sorry to blow you up, there's just so much contradictory crab info!

Low brackish brother 1009 -1012, if the female carries eggs wait until they are almost ready you will see movement in the eggs eyes etc. Raise salinity to 1021 use only real ocean salt mixes not the freshwater salt , instant ocean brand is fine. But if no eggs keep it low brackish. Temp 75-80 , color is like the crab in the pic below, molting separate place in Tupperware bowl filled with water from the tank, ph alkaline 7.5-8.2, substrate look at the tank pic below that is perfect for any landcrab , palldarium plants are fine .use a good fluorescent reef bulb they will be fine. Mine never burrowed as I gave them lava rock slate caves. Once comfortable they stay out in the open and are fairly bold especially full size adults.Keeping any of these landcrabs for long term you will have to have filtered flowing water.I use canister filters you can put more than just carbon in them for filtration and adjust the water flow to whatever level is needed or desired. Cascade 1000s are all I use cheap easy to clean, well made reliable.

I have three Halloween moon crabs atm

Let me know how long they last like that. They alternate between fresh and ocean water,low brackish works best for these and patriot crabs.

 

[aznone]

Let me know how long they last like that. They alternate between fresh and ocean water,low brackish works best for these and patriot crabs.

I have a pool of both that I change out daily. I'm hoping they do alright

As far as colors go, halloweens and vampires are my favorite. I've heard if doing everything right, the moons basically stay burrowed the whole time though. So I'm leaning towards the Patriots for their outgoing attitudes.

They come out quite frequently in the evening. They just hide if you're scaring them. One of mine is real skiddish and is very ninja like. I catch him all the time peaking out from behind a log to see if the coast is clear. But yeah, they're definitely active at night.

 

[Jimbob]

Does anyone keep these and does anyone happen to be breeding them?

 

[Jimbob]

@DR zuum hey, old thread... just seeing if you are still around. Still have a big interest in these crustaceans, but haven't kept any yet. Was wondering if you knew <edit> if anyone is breeding these?

 

[paumotu]

Was wondering if you knew <edit> if anyone is breeding these?

Patriot Crabs are strictly wild caught imports, namely due to the extreme difficulty of raising their miniscule planktonic larvae. The only crabs you will typically see offered as CB in this hobby will be those that undergo direct development from egg to crab, skipping the larval stage entirely: Geosesarma, lepidothelphusa, siamthelphusa, etc. While Cardisoma are still brought into the US, I believe imports have been somewhat decreasing in regularity. One site worth checking out would be PetZoneSD, I know they occasionally stock them and have a whole host of other crabs on hand most of the time.

Nobody (to my knowledge) has been successful in breeding Cardisoma Armatum. The minute planktonic larvae they release require equally tiny food and a very limited salinity range in order to survive. Currently, only wild caught individuals are offered in the hobby. Hope this helps, let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[Jimbob]

Patriot Crabs are strictly wild caught imports, namely due to the extreme difficulty of raising their miniscule planktonic larvae. The only crabs you will typically see offered as CB in this hobby will be those that undergo direct development from egg to crab, skipping the larval stage entirely: Geosesarma, lepidothelphusa, siamthelphusa, etc. While Cardisoma are still brought into the US, I believe imports have been somewhat decreasing in regularity. One site worth checking out would be PetZoneSD, I know they occasionally stock them and have a whole host of other crabs on hand most of the time.

Nobody (to my knowledge) has been successful in breeding Cardisoma Armatum. The minute planktonic larvae they release require equally tiny food and a very limited salinity range in order to survive. Currently, only wild caught individuals are offered in the hobby. Hope this helps, let me know if you have any other questions.

Thank you for that info! I was reading into their breeding, heard rumors of someone in the UK doing it, but have no idea if that's true. May be a fun project some day, I have a background with reef aquariums so that might help a bit. Even with everything, I'm sure it'd be hard/near impossible.

 

[paumotu]

Thank you for that info! I was reading into their breeding, heard rumors of someone in the UK doing it, but have no idea if that's true. May be a fun project some day, I have a background with reef aquariums so that might help a bit. Even with everything, I'm sure it'd be hard/near impossible.

Yeah, the European scene is much further ahead of the US in terms of crustacean breeding. I do remember reading a paper on breeding Red Clawed Crabs (perisesarma bidens) in captivity. I suppose since perisesarma both release larvae and require a degree of salinity to successfully breed, this could be used as framework for a potential Cardisoma breeding attempt. I’ll try and see if I can find it. If you’re truly determined, I’m sure it can be done. Not too many years back it was considered impossible to breed Coenobita hermits in captivity, but through trial and error a few species have been successfully raised through the larval stage into a terrestrial form.