Tiny Crab Care

[bridgettbiologist]

Hi y'all!

I'm planning on adding 2 new purple pinchers to my 10 gal soon (for a total of 3 crabs). I saw a super cute crab at a good pet store that was only about the size of a thumbnail. Do crabs that small require special accommodations, especially when mixed with bigger crabs?

[Motörcrab]

Yes and no. With a super tiny crab they can actually climb the silicone at the corners of the tank. Also be sure that if you have a glass lid the gap isn't large enough for them to crawl out.

With tiny crabs you should be sure you always offer them additional calciums. A small crab may molt monthly so having lots of calciums will be beneficial.

Aside from crab proofing against escapees and additional calciums everything else is the same.

We didn't have any issues with bigger and smaller crabs together. The babies follow the big ones around. The babies will even climb into the when and run, or at least loop de loop around the wheel. The babies don't have enough shell behind them to run on their own.

This is one of Mary Akers 2018 born captive bred babies. We took this picture in July this year. He probably tripled in size since July of 2019 of when we adopted them. They grow very fast!

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[bridgettbiologist]

Thanks for the info! I think tiny crabs are so cute!

I'm debating with myself about getting new crabs. Right now I have 1 medium PP in a 10 gal. I want to get 2 more small ones, but since I'll be taking them to college soon, I won't be able to upgrade the size of the tank for at least 4 years and I don't know how big they'll be by then.

[Motörcrab]

Everyone that adopted captive bred babies last year are part of a research group. Every quarter we measure their leg spans, check their sex, note color shell preferences along with general observations and tank conditions.

So far in a year we have done this we noticed a lot of size difference between all the babies of that year. Even with Mary's which all have had the same conditions greatly vary in size. Mary's thoughts are that it may be a species survival adaptation. If they all grow at the same speed, there could potentially be millions of tiny crabs searching for resources like shells and food. If there was a shell shortage of one size a lot of crabs could die because of it. With growing at different speeds there wouldn't be such a demand for a few sizes.

It's all speculation but sounds like a solid theory.

As for your crabs it is hard to say how much they will grow in 4 years. I would say to be safe stick to two medium golf ball size, or smaller to be safe.

If you check our care sheet section we have a crabs per gallon based on crab size and species.