Blue Porcelian Crab

[ginger7286]

I think one of my Porcelian's had some young 'uns. I see several small (tiny tiny) crabs which look like clones. I have never had a problem with them and I have several large ones. My question is I have had two of my sea cucumbers recently die because it looks like something was eating them. I felt so bad...but I do not think my porcelian's are the culprits...I suspect the dreaded Mantuis Shrimp. I hear snapping at night. Could my crabs be eating the cukes? I am setting a mantis trap tonight.

 

[LeslieH]

porcellain crabs are filter feeders or deposit feeders and are among the few truly safe crabs you can have in your tank. If something is eating your cukes it's not them.

The larger crustaceans usually don't successfully reproduce in tanks. They produce pelagic larvae that undergo several different stages of metamorphosis until they finally become miniatures of the adults. Each stage needs different size food. Even in nature only a few out of the thousands of eggs produced by a female will survive to adulthood. In tanks with filters and no food the odds are even worse.