New to Forum - Is she dead? / New Tank

[jschultz]

Okay, so I woke up this morning at 7 and I found my horseshoe crab (my wife calls it Epona) sitting under a tentacle of my condi anemone. Now I don't know how long it had been there, but I moved it as fast as I could. It seems a little groggy, but my main question is is there any hope for it's survival or am I going to have to buy another one and sneak it into the tank when she's not around?
Any advice for a new guy would be great. Right now we've got a 20 gallon mini-reef and are starting a 75 gallon salt water tank as well... it was one of her Christmas presents. If any of you have any advice on filters, pumps, or any other equipment as well it'd be great especially if it is affordably priced.
Thanks in advance!

 

[puffy_fish]

From what I have read Horseshoe Crabs do not live that long in captivity. Could be that he had sifted all the food from the sand and is starving. Just an idea.

 

[jschultz]

I guess I never thought of that. I know that we feed them on a regular basis and there's always leftovers for it to eat. I don't know if there's a better way of feeding them than just making sure there is food that gets down to the bottom of the tank for it to eat. I guess we'll see what happens with it.

 

[ophiura]

Since this is a new tank, and these are sensitive animals, please provide SPECIFIC water parameters, tank set up, etc. How long have you had that crab? If less than a month, how did you acclimate it?
Horseshoe crabs, IMO, are one of the things that we should not keep in our tanks. Most do not survive long term, and they get large. They tend to be blown around by our pumps and filters, which many find "amusing" but is often what kills them.

 

[alix2.0]

to everything already said, and welcome to the boards

 

[jschultz]

I do routine checks of levels for Ammonia, Nitrates, Nitrites, and pH and everything is very stable. We'd had the crab for a couple of months when the tank cycled. We acclimated it by mixing the water slowly after getting the temp leveled out... whole thing took about 2 hours or so.

 

[jschultz]

Originally Posted by alix2.0

to everything already said, and welcome to the boards

Thank you, it's greatly appreciated.

 

[ophiura]

Originally Posted by jschultz
I do routine checks of levels for Ammonia, Nitrates, Nitrites, and pH and everything is very stable. We'd had the crab for a couple of months when the tank cycled. We acclimated it by mixing the water slowly after getting the temp leveled out... whole thing took about 2 hours or so.

It is important to understand that what is "perfect" for a fish only can be fatal to invertebrates. It would really be a help to have the levels

just to be sure we can eliminate it as a problem.

 

[1journeyman]

Welcome to the boards.
Particularly provide your salinity readings and how you are testing for salinity. Swing arm hydrometers are notoriously inaccurate at times.

 

[jschultz]

My poor self only has a swing arm hydrometer (Deep 6 Brand) for now until I can talk my wife into being able to afford a better one. The specific gravity normally stays around 1.024 and my tank temp stays around 80^F +/- 1 degree but normally when I look at it it's at 80.