New Exotics! (better pictures coming soon)

[Fangs]

Today was a big day. I just received 16 hermit crabs that are going to be part of a breeding project. I have 3 groups and hope that I have both males and females. The groups consist of 5 lila, 5 cavipes, and 5 indos, and 1 pseudorugosus. They are currently very small and are in large tote crabitats until I can get them a large fish tank setup. I am thinking of going a wooden aquarium route but I'm not fully sure yet. The goal is to apply my aquaculture experience from when I worked at an aquarium to breed as many species of hermit crabs as possible. I have a few new ideas in mind that could make raising zoea easier but I will need to get zoea first . I will be posting a log on my attempts once they start breeding (if I have a pair) and explain everything I do and try. I will take pictures of the crabs within the next couple of days and post them here unless they are molting. I don't want to stress them out for the rest of today. It is very exciting to be able to work with these guys!

[Pumpkincrab]

WOOO!!!! SO EXCITED!

[HermieBingo]

Yay!!! I LOVE extotics! Good Luck!!

[Fangs]

They all look great so far. I fed hard boiled eggs cut up into smaller pieces with the eggshell, shrimp, and some Indian almond leaves. They ate a lot of the food and I gave each bin a filled plate. Some are drinking a lot of saltwater while others are exploring their new home. The pseudorugosus is the only crab buried in the sand right now. I was able to take a couple of pictures because the crabs currently out do not seem to care. The lighting is just bad currently so I only took 1 of a cavipes and 1 of a lila. I will get better pictures tomorrow if they are still out.

[Fangs]

Yay!!! I LOVE extotics! Good Luck!!

Thanks! Fingers crossed for a pair!

[JoeHermits]

There are many reports of hermits laying eggs in captivity but so far no one knows how to induce breeding behaviors reliably, not to mention how difficult it is to keep the zoea alive.

I wish you luck.


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[Fangs]

There are many reports of hermits laying eggs in captivity but so far no one knows how to induce breeding behaviors reliably, not to mention how difficult it is to keep the zoea alive.

I wish you luck.


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Thanks! Yeah I understand how difficult it is. I used to help with marine fish aquaculture at an aquarium. The best foods that worked for the small marine organisms were copepods (specifically parvocalanus crassirostris). You also need to keep the larval tank pristine with daily water changes. If I ever get eggs from the crabs I will try apocyclops panamensis copepods due to them being easier to culture than parvo. I have a few other foods in mind but those will be my go to. Copepods are harder to do compared to brine shrimp but have a lot better nutritional value. This in turn might help with the survivability of the zoea. The other problem will be food density. I will need to be able to provide enough copepods to feed the zoea. But first things first I will see if I get eggs eventually.

[HermieBingo]

Looks like your well reasearched! But, here is a link to a website of someone who actually tried 4 different years (3 successful!! ) She kept it very well documented! It is really interesting to read, and it may help you!

http://maryakers.com/inthecrabitat/

[Fangs]

Looks like your well reasearched! But, here is a link to a website of someone who actually tried 4 different years (3 successful!! ) She kept it very well documented! It is really interesting to read, and it may help you!

http://maryakers.com/inthecrabitat/

Thanks! I always do a ton of research before I try caring for any animal. I have worked with tons of different animals. Anything from marine fish, to frogs, to freshwater fish, to mantids . I have read a lot of Mary's work and it is very impressive. I will definitely use her information to help me try to succeed in breeding them!

I have a few more pictures. They are mostly huddling in the coconut huts together when I went to change their food but a few were out. The pseudorugosus is molting and no where to be seen. But here are a few more pictures of the ones that are out:

Purple Indo:


Cavipes:


Lila:


Indo:

[HermieBingo]

Ooo! Beautiful crabs!

Its great that you have done a lot of reasearch. I have high hopes for you! Keep us posted

[Fangs]

Ooo! Beautiful crabs!

Its great that you have done a lot of reasearch. I have high hopes for you! Keep us posted

Thanks! I will keep you posted. I checked the genders of the lila and I have 4 males 1 female. I did not check the others yet but I will once they get larger. The indos and cavipes are still pretty small.

[crabbycasey]

How exciting...can’t wait for updates! Good luck! Beautiful little crabbies


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[HermieBingo]

It’s been awhile.. how are they doin?

[Fangs]

Sorry for the extremely late reply. It’s been very busy on my end. Been working on a breeding project for an endangered species of frog (the black-eared Mantella and they have been taking up a lot of time when I’m not working haha. Have lots of those babies I have to care for. The crabs are doing great. I gave my friend a lot of them because he’s becoming a huge hermit crab guy haha. I have some violas, indos and pseudorugosus that are still doing very well. I haven’t seen any mating behavior between any of the crabs. Hopefully one day I will, the plan is to currently upgrade their 55 gallon to two 75s and split them up or into a 125. I want to use 5 gallon aquariums for the pools and run sponge filters in them. It will be a bit until they would be ready since I would need to set them up well and cycle the aquariums, but that’s the plan. I’ll post some pics of how everyone is doing.

[Fangs]

Sorry for the bad photos I’ll try to charge my camera and get better lighting next time. I was just working in the tank spot cleaning so I took those three out for a quick photo. A few are molting and the other one was a little camera shy haha. The first one is one of the violas, the second is my darker colored indo, and the third is the pseudorugosus.