horsh shoe crab

[tdragon]

does ne 1 have one of these ? m asking cause i have 1 and he keeps fliping over ono his back and staying there can nw 1 tell me y?

 

[bang guy]

It has probably run out of food in the substrate and is desperately trying to find food on the rocks. They are built to find food in sand, not rocks.

 

[tdragon]

i have sand in the bottom of my tak and ne doesnt go near the rocks he filps himself over in the middle of the tank in the sand

 

[sandman12]

like how long does he do it for? mine does that buts thats how they swim. They flip over and use there little legs to swim, very poor swimmers

 

[tdragon]

so far hes been like that for about 1 1/2 hours

 

[tdragon]

i filped him back over and he stayed tht way till and 1 1/2 hr agohe fliped then and has been that way since

 

[ophiura]

This is obviously not normal and is not how they swim. What are your water parameters? How long have you had it? How much current is in your tank? They need to have very little water movement (another reason they are not good in our tanks).

 

[killafins]

As if I need to say this...
Ophiura is absolutely correct. Horse shoe crabs don't swim that way but people mistake it like normal. Like myself at one point. But it's actually very stressful for them and a large part of it, jmo, is that there is too much water movement. I'm not sure if this is true or not but i HEARD that they are very unpredictable when ur tank has high nitrates or nitrites

 

[cgr]

I have tried keeping horse shoe crabs a number of times but they all end up the same, DEAD. I realize they are not very expensive and a good conversation piece but I recommed you stay away from them.

 

[smokinstarfish]

They should stop selling any species that don't fare well in our tanks, including horseshoe crabs. We should all discontinue buying such animals, too. Do your absolute best to care for your horseshoes.

 

[larrylwill]

I got a small horseshoe a couple weeks ago and he burried himself in the sand and I havent seen him since, only ridges in the sand where he has traveled. Since its my first I thought that was normal. I have 3-4" of LS and crushed coral.

 

[bang guy]

That is normal Larry. Once it has sterilized the substrate it will begin to forage among the rocks for a few weeks before it starves to death.

 

[moopiespoo]

It's too bad we can't, well shouldn't have these amazing creatures in our tanks. Does anyone know of a way we can get them to thrive after they deplete the food in our sand.

 

[nicky1.8t]

does any one have problems with them knocking your lr over?

 

[bang guy]

Originally posted by moopiespoo
It's too bad we can't, well shouldn't have these amazing creatures in our tanks. Does anyone know of a way we can get them to thrive after they deplete the food in our sand.
If you have the space they are actually quite easy to keep. The do need a LOT of food though. Cocktail Shrimp, Scallops, Squid... all good foods.
They do get large though and need more space than a 55 (or 155) can supply.

 

[moopiespoo]

So they will eat freash seafood? I was under the impression they only ate what a dsb could provide. Do they need to be trained to eat? What is their average growth rate say in a 90g?

 

[bang guy]

Growth rate of a healthy Horseshoe is about an inch a month for a lifespan of about 2 years.

 

[ophiura]

They are quite easy to keep, but they get HUGE. They don't need any special training, but they need wide open tanks with little or no live rock, and very little current. And they bury themselves..they are natural bulldozers and do not due well with lots of rocks...and certainly not in a reef tank. Hard to really understand what the attraction is with them. The overwhelming majority in the trade will, however, die, so I strongly discourage people from buying them.