digging porcelain crabs?

[mndfreeze]

I recently dripped in a porcelain crab and instead of running into the rockwork (which almost my entire tank is, very little sand bed surface area, just deep) he decided to dig himself into the sand down and partially under my rock?? I can't seem to find anything about this specific behavior in porcelains.

Only reason I sort of worry, is he has not budged one bit. It's been 2 days. The nassarius snails and hermits apparently love to bury him as they meander on by in their clumsy ways.

I did a gently partial dig out and moved some sand away so he would be able to get out (assuming he didn't plan on being buried alive), but im sure the hermits will bury him again pretty quick.

So, should I be concerned at all and is this normal behavior or at least seen often enough to know is OK?

 

[peasofme]

normal for a crab to hide. he could be molting. you could nudge him with a stick to see if he's still alive. although they can seem dead when they're still alive too. or you could find his molt and think it's a dead crab. a crab won't be buried alive. they can dig themselves out or breath under the sand fine.

 

[Arkayology]

+1 to molting or getting used to tank.

 

[mndfreeze]

New hiding was normal, especially in a new tank. It was the digging that I was unsure about. I've seen tons of other specices of crab dig holes to get under rocks, just never heard of porcelains tunneling. Always heard of them being skittish hiders up in the rock work where they can still not be seen, but filter feed in the flow.

Just as an update, today his hole was bigger although I think the pistol just linked his other tunnel networks to that spot. Crab is nowhere to be found but neither is a body so here's to hoping I see him in less then a month

thanks for the info guys!

 

[PalmerC12]

I just bought a blue porcelain crab and when putting him in the tank he immediately went to the base of my rockwork found a crevace between the sand and rock and dissapeared. I didn't see him yesterday so today I moved some of the smaller rocks in the middle of that base rock and saw him in a hole in the rock just fanning away. He's pretty skittish and moves out of sight if I shine light in his direction etc.

Palmer

 

[peasofme]

from what i've seen purple porcelains hide under rock/sand. while white ones are out in the open. emeralds, hermits, and shrimp are out a lot too.