horseshoe crab q's

[Dustin P.]

thinking about adding a few small horseshoe crabs...any comments or suggestions on this? Ive heard they do a pretty good job rearranging the tank but is there anything else I should be aware of? are the very difficult to keep or moderate?

 

[Safir]

they get verey big and need a lot of open sand area to crawl around in - i have no personal experience but have seen them suggested gainst even in tanks in the 90G range.

can;t offer much more help, sorry.

 

[dc]

I've heard the same thing as Safir and that they usually get stuck in the rocks and die.

 

[Msby12]

well, you need alot of open space, and apparently they grow pretty slowly and live about 40 years! i think they can reach about 3 feet long, so they're big when they're older. I have two that are an inch long in a 50 gal that i plan to put into a 300 gal when they get to about 5 inches. If you're looking for alot of activity, sadly i think you're not gonna get it. I went for a month without seeing the guys, but i guess they were living off food scraps.

Also, don't add too many rocks, so a reef tank is outta the question unless you have at least 1 square foot of free space. And that's kind pushin it! And be careful with the current flow of the tank, i've found my crabs floating around in the jets of water, and some stuck to the filter intake! they were still alive but i can imagine the experience does some damage! hope this has helped you!

 

[ophiuroid]

The experience above is really common. They should not go, IMO, in a reef system. They do quite well in systems designed for them - good sand bed, wide open area (circular tank especially), limited rocks, low flow, slightly cooler temperatures. They will eat creatures in your sand bed - beneficial one's included.

I do not recommend them at all. Definitely not for a functional sand bed, but also because their lives in captivity in our reef tanks are nearly always cut dramatically short.