horseshoe crab

[taznut]

i have a 10gal w/ 10lbs of lr and ls, a 20gal with 20lbs of lr and ls... the 20gal has a protein skimmer and 130w compact 50/50 lighting and the 10gal has 60w of NO... can i have a horse shoe crab in either of these tanks??? will they kill anything??? i really like them and want one so please let me know... THANKS

 

[scubaguy]

This is from Lion Crazz fish to avoid
-Horseshoe Crab - Though these animals are sold small, they grow to be overwhelmingly large. Definitely not something for the home aquarium.
The only reason I know this I was just looking at it.

 

[taznut]

does any one know how fast it grows??? how long could i keep it?? thanks for pointing that out though i knew it seemed to 'workable' in my head

 

[sign guy]

1 they dont grow very fast
2 they will knock over any thing they can
3 you never see them............ever....................like 6 months and you walk by the tank inthe middle of the night and see a rock fall down never.
4 they are super cool though
5 I cant keep one past a year and probably wont try agin

 

[oceanblue1]

Originally Posted by taznut
i have a 10gal w/ 10lbs of lr and ls, a 20gal with 20lbs of lr and ls... the 20gal has a protein skimmer and 130w compact 50/50 lighting and the 10gal has 60w of NO... can i have a horse shoe crab in either of these tanks??? will they kill anything??? i really like them and want one so please let me know... THANKS

Hi I had a friend that had 1 in a 55gal aqrm, for about 2 years I never noticed it get much bigger then it was it was about 2,3/4inch rounded in size 1 thing they do need about 3, to 4 inch deep sand to crawl under this is what they do all the time and becareful they will knock over rocks buy crawling under them. You would prob be fine to have one I would have a back up plan to get rid of it just in cause U get tierd of him like a friend to give him to or something... :happyfish
They R fun to watch!!!

 

[taznut]

awesome i think i will try it i know some one i can give it to with a 125gal that wants one if it get too big or becomes to big of a pain in the a**... thanks guys...

 

[pallan]

IMO there will not be enough food source in a 10-20 gallon aquarium. they will rapidly deplete your sand bed of food and starve also the food they will eat will be your benificial things that you wanted in your sand bed. They also need very low flow other wise when they come out of the sand they will get blown around and end up stuck to a powerhead or filter inlet.
Ive experienced these issues myself and killed one of these. JMO these are best left in the ocean or at the least a large species and like spieces tank.
PS above poster is right. unless he is stuck to a powerhead you will not even see him in the tank.

 

[ophiura]

IMO, it would be a bad purchase. It will likely NOT grow large enough to outgrow the system, because most die in our systems.
They are easy to keep in SPECIES SPECIFIC tanks with little rock, low flow, lower temperatures and deep sand (where you will tend to not see them). In our tanks, however, the are blown around and sucked on to our filters (people often think this is "cute" but it is not). They often bulldoze into things.
And most will die without ever growing very much at all. They should not be kept at all, IMO. Outgrowing a tank is the last concern.

 

[1journeyman]

Originally Posted by taznut
awesome i think i will try it i know some one i can give it to with a 125gal that wants one if it get too big or becomes to big of a pain in the a**... thanks guys...
If it were to survive in captivity (which in the typical tank it will not) a 125 is not nearly big enough either...
Imho as responsible aquarists we shouldn't buy things that we can't keep. That just encourages pet stores to keep stocking them, which in turn encourages wholesalers, etc. down the line to the collectors.

 

[taznut]

k thanks for all the info... sorry it took so long to respond i had to take lap top in to get fixed....

 

[dmjordan]

i agree it would be a bad purchase. your money should be spent on something you will enjoy for years to come not something that will die in your tank or something you are already planning on getting rid of in the future.