Trapezia crabs spawning.

[ThRoewer]

I have a pair of spotted Trapezia crabs that live in a small Pocillopora coral above the gigantea in my 100 gallon tank. Last night when I checked the tank after the lights went out I noticed that one of them (the female as it turned out) had left the coral to climb on a rock "finger" which is fairly exposed and in rather strong flow.
Initially it looked like she was praying to some crab god with her pinchers stretched out to the sides and up. But then she started flapping her abdomen and I instantly knew that she was releasing larva into the flow.
The larva are quite small and shaped like a comma.

I guess it's time to stop spending money on new fish and and rather invest in some larva tanks. I definitely plan on giving these guys a try as they are rather hard to find.

I guess it's also time to start reading up on crab and shrimp larva development - almost every other night I see larva from one of my crab and shrimp pairs (that system has much more crab and shrimp in it than fish).

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[DeepSeaReefer94]

How many crabs and shrimp do u have? I've been trying to figure out what is enough in my 125 gallon tank and 60 gallon sump. I don't want to add to many but I want more than what I have (1 skunk cleaner 1 coral band ( which are plan on getting rid of soon) 2 emeralds 1 anemone crab and 3 peppermint shrimp)

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[ThRoewer]

How many crabs and shrimp do u have? ...


In my 100 gallon tank I have:

1 Neopetrolisthes maculatus (Anemone Porcelain Crab) - leftover of a pair

2 Stenopus cyanoscelis, pair (Yellow Coral Banded Shrimp)

2 Periclimenes brevicarpalis, pair (White Spot Anemone Shrimp)

2 Lysmata ambionensis , pair (Skunk Cleaner Shrimp)

2 Lysmata debelius , pair (Fire Shrimp)

4 Lysmata wurdemanni (Pepermint Shrimp)

~9 Petrolisthes spp. (Blue Porcelain Crab)

Trapezia Pocilopora, Acropora or Seritopora crabs
- a pair of spotted in a Pocilopora (Trapezia septata?)
- 2 red brown that are MIA

Tetralia Acropora crabs:
- 2 Tetralia nigrolineata (bandit crab) females that individually occupy Acroporas
- 2 Tetralia nigrolineata (bandit crab) a male and a female that are MIA for a good while.

+ an uncounted number of hermits

So in total somewhere between 30 and 40.

[gogo7]

excellent throewer..bbs and rotifers work good as a first food for petrolishes and lybia sp....prolly good for the others too...i used low bubble count for circulation...im interested in what you do with it.

[Wilrok_1]

My past experience trying to raise skunk shrimp , it's hard to keep them alive

[Dkuhlmann]

The bandit crabs are amazing looking. Good luck in raising the shrimp and crabs.

[Dkuhlmann]

My past experience trying to raise skunk shrimp , it's hard to keep them alive

Yeah they sell for $30 a pop :bounce3:

[ThRoewer]

My past experience trying to raise skunk shrimp , it's hard to keep them alive

Skunk cleaner shrimp (Lysmata ambionensis) are even more difficult than their next relatives Peppermint (Lysmata wurdemanni) and Fire shrimps (Lysmata debelius ).

Trapezia crabs are real crabs, so not directly comparable to those as they have quite different larval stages.