horseshoe crab

  • Thread starter angelofdeath132
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angelofdeath132

Guest
anyone have a horseshoe crab in their aquarium? tell me the details. do they eat leftover food and "stuff" off the floor? does the salinity level have to be any different than anything else?
any help much appreciated!!:confused:
 

musipilot

Member
We have had two in our reef tank for a long time. My wife especially loves them, "Buster" and the "Big one with the hole in his shell".
They are great little creatures, and very entertaining when they take a swim, swimming upside down and getting knocked all over the place by the powerheads.
They do a good job of keeping the sand clean, and they spend most of the time buried in it. They will come out every few days and spend a few hours running around everywhere.
The down side to them is that if you have sensitive corals, they will retract, and may not like being walked upon (read:stumbled upon) by the crabs. If they wander into an anemone, which they will if you have one, they may become lunch.
Other then that, they don't require anything special, although I would recommend a large sand area, and temperatures not higher then 78 degrees.
Here's a photo of our pair.
 

dirtybilge

Member
when theose H. crabs get bigger they will push over the live rock and make a mess in you tank, I grew up on eastern long island, I've have seen them 20" long. Thats big!
ED
 

ryebread

Active Member
Hi angel,
I have a horseshoe crab in my 29gal reef and he is great. They can get very large but, it takes them many years to do so. I have had mine for about 9 months and I haven't even noticed it getting any bigger. It stays burried during the day and it comes out at night to do its dirty work. Just as mentioned above, they will blow all over the tank and if you have sensitive corals you may want to stay away. I have hammer corals, frogspawn, etc. and he rarely bothers them.
 
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angelofdeath132

Guest
thanks for the info. everyone!! i'm looking for something that will keep turning over my c.c. to keep it clean looking!i've heard that the horseshoe crab does this. am i right?
 

musipilot

Member
They will turn over your sand, and I dont' think they'll fight with anything, never seen them even acknowledge another fish, unless it tries to take a bite out of them. In that case they play dead and float to the bottom, then run away. I wouldn't worry about that.
 
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