Made the classic mistake

[Adamw327]

I figured, eh its only part of the CUC.

Impulse bought horseshoe crab.. and i get home and find out what you all probably already know


Should i just return it?

My thought is, its going to starve at the store, its going to starve in a different home... at least i would put in the effort to prolong his life.. however miserable it may be :facepalm:

Its not even 1" long.. doing a great job at stirring up the sand bed atm

 

[OKDOHK]

You need a very specialized tank for this crab. I would suggest returning it so you can get your money back. This crab shouldn't be sold as far as i'm concerned. It's rather cruel to the crab. Much like keeping a hippo tang in a 5 gallon tank.

 

[djp2313]

If you keep it the LFS got a sale from you, indicating to them they can sell horseshoe crabs to people, which in turn makes them want to purchase more horseshoe crabs for resale.

If you return it and it dies in their store they think twice before ordering more product that will cause them a loss.

All of this is of course going off the notion it's a small lfs that keeps track of what inventory it sells and what it doesn't.

 

[ChadRaay86]

If you were closer to the coast I'd say just let him go in some murky saltwater. I find them all the time down here in tampa, I just mind my own business around them

 

[Savant]

Out of curiosity why are they not good?

 

[jerpa]

They starve to death much like sand-sifting starfish. It's a slow process that can take months to a year but eventually they die. Pleasant yes?

 

[Guygettnby]

return it and get your money back. if nobody buys them they will stop selling them, but thats never going to happen.

 

[ChadRaay86]

return it and get your money back. if nobody buys them they will stop selling them, but thats never going to happen.

Destroy the shop on here if you're really not happy. You'd be surprised how fast they shape up after getting called out on this website

 

[Meanmike]

Don't they also get rather large like 12 or more inches?

There is a small aquarium up here that has a touch tank with one or two of these guys in it they are very neat to watch

 

[Adamw327]

They also prefer cold water... now its a matter of finding him. I have a 4' by 13" 4" Deep sand bed, and i dont see him anyware

 

[Adamw327]

I called my LFS who has never sold me something not fit for my tank

He told me i could return it today, but wanted to know my reasoning

My first reason was his size, and he said thats why he gets ones that are 1/2" or less, and it will be 10-20 years before he is a decent size, hundred before hes dinner plate size.

My second was the temperature. I keep my tank around 80-81, and told him i read they prefer <78. He said they were collected off the Florida coast in 84 degree water, and should be a great addition for many years and keep my sand bed stirred up well, and he would still take him years down the road when hes getting to big.

My third was that he is a "ticking time bomb" of sorts, because he could die under the sand and i will never know until my levels spike. He said there is less meat on his underside than whats in a cube of brineshrimp or other food i feed my fish, and he is right...

Should i still send him back?

 

[Guygettnby]

sounds to me like he just doesnt really want to refund you.

some of what he said is right. it does take years for them to get huge and they are collected in 80+ degree weather in florida. i have collected them myself on the inlets of the gulf.

but regardless it will starve in your tank and will die. might take a few weeks to months, but it will end up happening.

 

[RabbitKC99]

I called my LFS who has never sold me something not fit for my tank

He told me i could return it today, but wanted to know my reasoning

My first reason was his size, and he said thats why he gets ones that are 1/2" or less, and it will be 10-20 years before he is a decent size, hundred before hes dinner plate size.

My second was the temperature. I keep my tank around 80-81, and told him i read they prefer <78. He said they were collected off the Florida coast in 84 degree water, and should be a great addition for many years and keep my sand bed stirred up well, and he would still take him years down the road when hes getting to big.

My third was that he is a "ticking time bomb" of sorts, because he could die under the sand and i will never know until my levels spike. He said there is less meat on his underside than whats in a cube of brineshrimp or other food i feed my fish, and he is right...

Should i still send him back?

If you know it isn't right to keep him, and you know that it will encourage the store to continue to source and sell them, you have all the answers you need, I think.

PS - Anyone else hear Dolph Lundgren's voice... "If he dies... he dies..."

 

[Breadman03]

From reading a few studies off of a Google search, it appears that many studies experience a mass die-off of crabs after the 6 month mark.

Here's a little reading from the Maryland DNR. Lifespan is estimated at up to 20 years. For what it is worth, I was just at Rehoboth Beach, DE, and in about 2 hours, I saw around 25 crabs, including 3 pairs that appeared to be spawning. They were mostly about 8 or so inches across, with one that was much larger, maybe about 14-16 inches.

The one I'm holding is typical of the ones we saw. Don't worry, it was only out of the water for about 8-10 seconds.


NSFW :clown: This behavior is what I think was spawning. After the mount and ride, the larger one would begin to shovel about halfway under the sand, then they would move back out to deeper water.

 

[SteelMastiff]

I have a 2" HSC in my basement sump that I target feed mysis with a turkey baster. When it comes out I feed it, and then it tends to disappear for a day or two. It was also an impulse buy for me, and a poor one; it wouldn't survive long in my DT, hence why it's in my sump.

 

[Adamw327]

sounds to me like he just doesnt really want to refund you.

some of what he said is right. it does take years for them to get huge and they are collected in 80+ degree weather in florida. i have collected them myself on the inlets of the gulf.

but regardless it will starve in your tank and will die. might take a few weeks to months, but it will end up happening.

So target feeding, which i have no problem with, is the only real problem? He said many times he would be more than happy to take him back but that he really enjoys them. It was 8.99, and he knows that i wouldn't be able to get out of the store without using the refund towards some coral, hermits to feed my mantis, food, or anything else. Not a bad guy by far, he is well known in the area as the place to go, and i have seen many amazing tanks and things kept by him.. Im not trying to say you guys are wrong about keeping them, i wouldn't buy one again.. but other than "teaching the LFS a lesson" i dont see any reason to take him back if he wont be suffering... Although the post above states they die off around the 6 month mark? Would like to know more about the cause, if one was determined

 

[Fretfreak13]

I worked at a public aquarium hands on with many horseshoe crabs and the statement where they only eat micro-organisms they find in the sand is absolutely false. Ours are hand fed large pellets, chunks of mackerel, and shrimp and they absolutely eat them. I'm not saying they should be kept in aquariums, but the feeding statement is false.

We have various sizes, but most of them are dinner plate size. Females get much larger than males. We have a small female that was donated to us at around four inches in diameter and 6 months later she is easily twice that size, so they also grow quickly.

Also, they do NOT die at around the 6 month mark! O_O I'm not 100%, but they MAY die after breeding, but we have some that are easily 10 years old.

 

[SteelMastiff]

Mine also eats small formula one pellets, and raw table shrimp. The only reason why it would have issues in my DT is because my tangs allow no scraps to reach the bottom, and being horrible swimmer's, there is just too much flow in my tank.

I do enjoy watching it eat the mysis, the first couple it will eat the whole shrimp, and then it gets picky and clips the heads off the mysis before eating them; I find this humorous for some reason .

 

[r6justin]

We had one and he was awesome. Was in the tank for 4-6 months, we kept thinking he was dead but occasionally wed see him floating around and getting stuck between random rocks, was a great addition as he stirred up the sand bed. We moved and an accident caused just about everything to die. He was eating pellet food that was left over from the fish in the sand. Never had a problem and bought from phishy business retail store. it only came out at night really so was nice to see activity when all else was dorment

Sent from my RM-820_nam_att_100 using Board Express

 

[Adamw327]

He is going to stay, mostly because i dont want to dig him out, and i have a history of caring for freshwater(brakish) fish that didn't belong in the tank in the first place, but I or a family member bought without researching first