New Aussie breeding colony.
Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2020 7:58 am
A crabber not too far from me posted that she needed to rehome her 6 crabs on Saturday. When asked what sex they were she said 5 girls and one boy. I jumped at the chance to get some females. When I got there all the crabs were hairy and had recently moulted. However, the male and 2 females are smaller than my babies were at a year old so it will be a while before they are ready. They are in the juvenile tank along with Monster (until he surfaces from moult camp) and have been exploring and very active as well. It is like having babies again as they are so small. I will have to check the access to the pools again as these little guys have way smaller leg span and reach than Monster and Choco.
That still left me with 3 reasonable size females. I collected them and came home and took some ID photos and then added the larger 3 to my 4ft tank which now holds Caramel my largest male and Choco the small captive bred male.
These new crabs have been so active and out exploring. I have seen 2 of them take extended swims in the 7.5L cycled salt pool and one spent time hanging her shell in the 6L fresh pool by holding onto the edge just like people do when they are too lazy to swim.
There is a number of brown frowns in the salt pool today as well which means crabs were in there last night.
There was a bit of argey bargey between Choco and one of the new females last night but I tapped on the glass and they stopped. Choco has never encountered a female as he and Monster have been in a batchelor pad for the last 3 years.
Either Choco (I think) or Caramel have also changed shells into one of the new ones I collected with the crabs. That means I now have 3 in very similar shells. Lucky I got ID shots before I put them in.
It was great to see that the crabs can get into the new large pools as I wasn't sure they were readily accessible.
Maybe some babies this year but perhaps not until next season. We will see.
That still left me with 3 reasonable size females. I collected them and came home and took some ID photos and then added the larger 3 to my 4ft tank which now holds Caramel my largest male and Choco the small captive bred male.
These new crabs have been so active and out exploring. I have seen 2 of them take extended swims in the 7.5L cycled salt pool and one spent time hanging her shell in the 6L fresh pool by holding onto the edge just like people do when they are too lazy to swim.
There is a number of brown frowns in the salt pool today as well which means crabs were in there last night.
There was a bit of argey bargey between Choco and one of the new females last night but I tapped on the glass and they stopped. Choco has never encountered a female as he and Monster have been in a batchelor pad for the last 3 years.
Either Choco (I think) or Caramel have also changed shells into one of the new ones I collected with the crabs. That means I now have 3 in very similar shells. Lucky I got ID shots before I put them in.
It was great to see that the crabs can get into the new large pools as I wasn't sure they were readily accessible.
Maybe some babies this year but perhaps not until next season. We will see.
Your tank is amazing and I’m so glad they are settling in so well. Such little precious cuties! 
