Breeding Thai Micro Crabs(Limnopilos naiyanetri)

[DarrylR]

Today while entertaining the two little aunts who are about 10 years old, they were sitting in my room looking at the 4 tanks in my bedroom. Than I saw one of my huger crabs having a brownish looking butt and looked like an egg-sac. And after closer inspection I saw her fan the sac and saw all the individual eggs. I was stoked!

So with the aunts bouncing on my bed, I kicked them out and started taking non-stop pictures of the crabs trying to get a decent picture.

Feeding-
I feed the whole tank:
Tropical Flakes
Frozen bloodworms/brine shrimp
Live Microworms
Shirakura Pellets
Kens Veggie Sticks
Cucumber Slices

My thoughts:

1) I am unsure when the egg sac was made, and only saw the sac today.
2) The female was wandering around the tank, and one male got close and locked claws but than a bigger male scared the smaller crab away, and the female did not scare this one away. Instead this male got on top of the female crab and locked on, without letting go. I even nudged the female with the male on top with a BBQ stick, and both crabs clutched the egg sac at the same time.
3) This bigger male could mean that these micro crabs are monogamous, meaning only have one partner.
4) OR, the bigger male could be the alpha/dominant male who breeds with all the females.
5) CPO's/RCS/CRS/MTS, any of these that cross-passed with the two crabs either the shrimp or crawfish jumped away, or the crabs stood their ground and let the snails pass them by.
6) I myself had to move them into a terra cotta pot and covered the entrance with java moss.
7) Caves such as terra cotta pots, or pvc piping make great hidey holes.
8) Hopefully the eggs hatch and grow into crabs !
9) Haven't seen 100% information about breeding/spawning and actual larvae surviving to adulthood. I have seen videos of supposed thai micro crab larvae, via youtube.

Here comes the pictures , would be best to Save As the photo if you really want to zoom in closely:







Egg sac:





Both sets of claws clutching the egg sac:

[Burks]

Congrats Darryl! You are quite the accomplished breeder from what I've been reading.

Can you briefly describe your Micro Crab setup?

[Ebichua]

I've had my micro crabs hold eggs before but none have ever turned into actual crabs. They have a larvae stage and it doesn't seem to grow past that and into a crab.

It's unfortunate

Good luck with your project though!

[jlo]

do the larvaes need salt? good luck and please keep us update.

[DarrylR]

Originally Posted by Burks

Congrats Darryl! You are quite the accomplished breeder from what I've been reading.

Can you briefly describe your Micro Crab setup?

Sadly I do not have a kit, so I cannot do any specific readings such as alkalinity/hardness-softness. Straight from the tap(treated with prime), and I usually only do top offs and allow the plants to soak up the nutrients. They seem fairly easy and very tolerable to most aquariums, as long as it is very established. People posted so much information about how to carefully create a breeding tank for CPD's, but without a lick of it I got them breeding ^__^.

Lots of plants, and only living with compatible species such as the shrimp,cpos,cpds listed. I have never seen either of these try to attack the crabs before. I really have no clue what they are eating, I believe they are debris eaters. Eating anything left over that happens to fall near them or any small organism that grows within the java moss or dead debris from plant life(also I do feed the tank flakes/frozen bloodworms/brine shrimp etc).

I gave them terra cotta caves, but they really don't stay in them much. There is a hole in the back of the pot and it seems they like using it more as a tunnel than a place to hide.

Now hopefully the CPD's won't get a snack out of the MicroCrab larvae if they do hatch :S.

Originally Posted by Ebichua

I've had my micro crabs hold eggs before but none have ever turned into actual crabs. They have a larvae stage and it doesn't seem to grow past that and into a crab.

It's unfortunate

Good luck with your project though!

I have seen those videos on youtube. Some people think they were daphnia documented. Maybe green water would help feed and grow the larvae, or maybe live microworms :S. Something very super duper tiny for the larvae to feed on.

Originally Posted by jlo

do the larvaes need salt? good luck and please keep us update.

No data has been found online yet, seeing Micros are still fairly new to breeding. Supposedly on German sites that was translated posted that indeed these crabs do breed and grow throughout FW alone.

[DarrylR]

Second berried female Thai Micro Crab, smaller than the first female.

[F22]

Wow. That's awesome! Great job!

[Alpha Pro Breeders]

Those are so cool. I will be adding them to my collection shortly. Keep us updated on the breeding.

Alpha Pro Breeders

[mistergreen]

Try to catch a few of the larvae for a separate tank. I feed my daphnia a mixture of spirulina, gluten free flour, and yeast. I have a feeling the larvae are filter feeders and will starve in a regular tank. Treat them like daphnia basically ie: use old tank water, don't over feed, a little aeration but no filters, and regular water change.

this looks like a micro crab larvae
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWAdJiJjVFk

[limeslide]

Hope they survive!