We have eggs!

[mlakers]

I'm so grateful for all of the posts on previous attempts. I've been poring over them for days. I have set up a kreisel tank and am now working to get conditions right. I know this first attempt will likely yield no results, but I am finally taking the plunge and offering them at least a fighting chance. My crabs are all PPs and I believe I have two gravid females, one is confirmed (and she is only a medium at most!). I don't know for certain that they are fertilized eggs but I did see a ton of guarding behavior from the males a few weeks ago, so I am going to proceed as if they are viable.

(Just FYI, you haven't seen me post much because I was having awful troubles logging in, especially from any device other than my desktop, so I mostly have been lurking in 2016. I just spent 45 minutes finally resetting and getting back in. This site is SO wonderful, but if I have one complaint, it's with the difficulty of creating, maintaining, and/or transferring my login info. Or maybe I'm just a dolt. :roll: )

Since this is only a first attempt, and I don't even know if she'll drop them in the salt water, I'm proceeding with a sense of "very calm urgency." Ha! And as a first attempt, I'm going to assume a few weird additional things based solely on all the reading I've been doing. I'm going to make my kreisel closer to a tide pool (with aeration, substrate, and some circulation) and less like the open ocean. This will be easier for me and it's all an experiment anyway, right? So I'm going to feed less and rely a bit more on sibling predation. (Which sounds awful, but it's totally a strategy in the animal/insect world: lay tons of eggs, knowing that the stronger/faster developing fry will eat the slower ones. It still benefits the species in the long run and if siblings don't eat them in the open ocean, other larval creatures do.) That will require fewer stressful water changes (since the water won't become fouled as quickly) and I will keep the tank a bit warmer since at least one previous attempt said they had fewer deaths at around 83 degrees. That says "tide pool" to me, much more than "open ocean" and the one video I saw of a crab dispersing her eggs by "plunging" the shell with her body, was in very calm water.

So...I know this goes against what many others have done in the past, but as I said, it's all experimental at this stage and the various species are so different in terms of how they develop. So I'm doing it in an "easier way" and we'll just see what happens.

Also, wodesorel said in one post (based on her research) that the most common time for females to disperse eggs was within four days after the New Moon, and that would begin this Sunday, so I'm getting prepared and we'll just see. The two females I suspect of carrying eggs are hanging out together (never did before) and in the same area, near the salt water pool. I'll keep everyone posted as I can. Again, so grateful for this forum. <3

[mlakers]

Oh! And I just realized that the gravid female I've been talking about is the little one climbing in the ferns in my avatar picture (in the spiral green shell). That was about a year ago...back when her name was Hiram. She has since become known as Miriam.

[Just Jay]

This is all so exciting! I wish you and your little fry well!

[mlakers]

Thank you! Trying to be sanguine about the whole thing and not have too high of expectations, but I find that requires me to continually tamp down my enthusiasm.

[LadyJinglyJones]

This is so cool! I will be following this for sure!

[PinchersAndShells]

Hope for the best, and of course! We want pictures!

[Rawrgeous]

Keep us updated on your observations/ experience! Definitely would love to say we had another member successful!! Good luck!

[GotButterflies]

I will be praying this works out! I like the tide pool theory! Great thinking! Best wishes!


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[mlakers]

Thank you, gotbutterflies. I'm in the hurry up and wait mode now. Just moved my saltwater pool closer so I can more easily see if/when she spawns.

[Just Jay]

Waiting is the hardest part with these little crabbies

[mlakers]

So it's now within the four-day window (either side) of the new moon. I'm watching very closely, checking the saltwater pool, checking the sand, hoping I have everything in the correct range. Fingers crossed!

[KrabbyKris]

So it's now within the four-day window (either side) of the new moon. I'm watching very closely, checking the saltwater pool, checking the sand, hoping I have everything in the correct range. Fingers crossed!

I'm so excited for you! AHHH! lol rooting for you!

[mlakers]

Thank you!! So nervous. Trying not to obsess.

[Just Jay]

Positive crabbie thoughts and well wishes for you!

[Kermie16]

Very cool!! Congrats!!! Looking forward to updates:)


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