My Horseshoe Crab is pshYcho!

[oo bubbagump oo]

Check this out! I rarely see they guy, all of a sudden I look and he's doing this! Hahah, he then calmed down and buried himself...
Justin

 

[nerdy]

I am surprised you got to see it all. Mine hid itself 24/7

 

[killafins]

alot of the time currents lift them up from the ground and they just, well i guess they just don't feel like comming down. Mine used to do that all the time. In fact, that's how i picked him out from the LFS... good luck...

 

[ophiura]

I assure you they more than feel like coming down!! Most of the power heads and currents in our tanks are too strong, and they are very weak swimmers (and not really intended to swim at all). So this guy is not psycho at all, it is struggling and stressed. It is good to know it made it back into the sand...eventually though, this sort of thing may kill it.
Power heads, filters, overflows, etc result in the death of many, many horseshoe crabs and is one of the main reasons they do not belong in our tanks (apart from growing large, bulldozing, and eating lots of things you don't want them to eat).

 

[saltyj]

ophiura,
should I get rid of mine? What do that eat that I don't want them to? Will he grow to large for my 75gal?

 

[pufferfan]

i tried to keep several Horseshoe crabs a few years back, they would always die after a couple of weeks though. I kept my tank pretty clean so i dont think that they ever had enough to eat...

 

[ophiura]

Originally posted by ameliadnkoche
(Mandarins eat all your good stuff too...but I highly doubt that we will see a swarm of people returning them to their LFS because they eat "the good stuff.")
No, however, an alarming number of mandarins die because people love them and they starve to death, which is why most people here encourage others not to get them unless they have ideal conditions for them. It is an interesting comparison to make. Also, manadarins do not eat most of the 'good stuff' like worms and microbrittlestars that stir the sand. And, finally, mandarins will not outgrow or bulldoze things in a tank or be tossed around by strong currents and need to be saved. IMO, which anyone can take or dismiss , they do not belong in home tanks, cool or not. But JMO.
SaltyJ,
It will never outgrow your 75g tank because it will not survive long enough to grow up. In the wild, absolutely it would outgrow the tank...they get very large. In addition to eating a variety of meaty foods, they will hunt for worms, crustaceans and other sand stirrers that are needed to keep a sand bed healthy (this is what they are doing while buried).