Horseshoe Crab questions

[shrimpy1589]

I recently bought a 1 inch horseshoe crab from my local store, and I don't know much about them. Is there a special food for them, or do they just scavange? Also, is it normal for them to swim around upside down? Every now and then it will come out of the sand and swim around the top of the tank, is this normal???
BTW... Do they molt?

 

[angelofdeath132]

from what i know about horseshoe crabs, they are scavengers, and yes, they do swim upside down(kinda comical to watch) sounds like you have a pretty normal horseshoe crab to me.
not sure about the molting part though.

 

[ophiura]

IMO, horseshoe crabs do not belong in home aquaria. In the wild, they would get very large, but sadly they do not live long enough in home tanks. It is not normal at all for them to swim upside down, and is most likely due to the number one cause of death, IMO, in home tanks: too much flow. They are not strong swimmers, and get caught up in the flow in our tanks, causing them to lose control and get slammed around or sucked on to the intake.
They will eat a variety of foods, but larger pieces are probably better (as opposed to brine or flake). They will also eat good worms and things in your sand bed....therefor they are not good for tanks using a deep sand bed as a primary filter. They should spend a good deal of time burrowing into the sand, and so it is important to have relatively fine sand and not crushed coral. Watch for them bulldozing things (best not to have a lot of rock so they have room to wander).
They do molt from time to time, as they grow.
How old is your tank?
Oh, and...
WELCOME TO THE BOARD!!!

 

[irenicus]

Be careful it doesn't die under the sand and cause a nice spike in your a/n/n levels.

 

[shrimpy1589]

Well, it's 2 months old and 2 damsels, a clown fish and a coral banded shrimp have been alive in it for a month without problems. I don't have lots of rock work, and there is plenty of sand for it. Will any other creature in the tank be bothered by it? (I kno the fish won't bother it) And how do I make sure it's eating? It's a 75 gallon tank by the way.
I do plan on getting rid of it when get's too large.

 

[pufferfan]

I tried to keep several of them a few years ago, but they wouldnt ever last longer than a couple of weeks.

 

[harley387]

I have three of them that I have had for three months now. They do swim upside down, but they also tend to get sucked into power heads and stuff occasionaly. Mine seem to be doing well, but I would not ever buy another one. They just don't really seem fit for aquariums IMO.

 

[firefishspike]

very rarely is a horse shoe kept succefully in an aquarium, it is not normal for them to swim around, if you put them in a tank with very little flow, you will never see them do it........I keep them in all kinds of things....I've notice that the ones that swims around a lot dies all time...................it's best not to keep one unless you have something like a 600 gal touch tank

 

[shrimpy1589]

You said to feed them bigger peices of food... would large krill work?