Made the classic mistake

[OKDOHK]

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.

How large are the tanks that housed the horseshoe crabs? How many crabs per tank?

 

[Breadman03]

The studies I was referencing were attempting to breed the crabs.

LMGTFY-Growth Rate of Horseshoe Crabs
^^^That was just easier than linking all of the results.

Apparently, the main (humal) stressors on their population are catching them for bait and for use in pharmaceuticals.

 

[FTDelta]

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

Heh - classic case of buyer's remorse. Horseshoe crab are cool looking but sadly they do need specialized care. Return it to your LFS.