Geosesarma crabs

[rozdaboff]

Here are some images of my Geosesarma crabs. These are terrestrial crabs that I have set up in vivaria. These guys really are a lot of fun and very low maintenance.

Geosesarma sp. "Red Devil" - My adults are CB F1 crabs. Although their colors were pretty drab initially, I found that supplementing their food with astaxanthin really made their colors pop after a few months.

Male



Female


Crablets - When they first leave the female, they are TINY (carapace length 1mm or less). They grow a little slowly - reaching adult size at 8-10 months or so. They molt frequently when growing, and the first few times you see the molts you will worry that you have lost a crab




Geosesarma notophorum - "Mandarin" Adults are CB. These also seem to have benefited from Naturose supplementation.

Male


Female


Crablets

[Aquatic Delight]

those look fantastic! i'll try to get photos of my guys tonight.

can you share more about their care? the resouces out there are very limited

[rozdaboff]

Thanks.

I just posted most of this in a thread over in the Reptiles and Amphibians section where someone had started a thread: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/sh....php?p=2082613

The crabs are very easy to care for and breed well once old enough and established.

I keep both of my groups (2.2) in Fluval Ebi tanks. I use the fluval stratum substrate, and I layer several small pieces of ghostwood on the bottom to set up little nooks and crannies for the crabs to hide. The substrate stays wet - and I have cleared substrate away towards the front and set up a little pool area. Then in the rest of the tank, I have ghostwood branches covered in moss and miniature orchids (Pleurothallids primarily). While the branches are more the benefit of increased space for planting - the crabs will climb all over them (and sometimes knock the orchids over if not yet well rooted).

Room temps - no additional heating. I did find that in my office viv - before the heat in the building was turned on - the crabs were much less active when temps got in the mid-low 60s. They are most active in the evenings, but also in the morning.

For feeding, I offer a mix of HBH hermit crab food and Tetra hermit crab pellets (crushed) to which I add additional calcium carbonate and also some astaxanthin to help with color (and I find it makes a big difference). Many of the hermit crab foods out there have low calcium if you look at the ingredients, so make sure to add a little more (I added a couple of tsp to a 2.25 oz container). I crush the pellets between my fingers - as the crabs seem less likely to eat them when they are whole - even if soft - and they tend to mold quickly. I don't feed live food currently. When I had a ready supply of FFs, I would also feed dusted FFs - but they seem to do fine without them.

As for breeding, they do it all on their own. One day you will see little tiny crabs running around. They are tiny when they leave the female, with carapace lengths of 1-2mm. I let them grow in the tank until they get about 4-6mm carapace length - and then pull them. There have been some reports of adults feeding on babies. The babies tend to hide in the water and under wood and rocks at the waters edge - so I think with enough hiding space, they can safely coexist. But when they start getting bigger - I worry about stress on the babies and adultes.

With my two female Red Devils, I pull about 40 baby crabs or so out every 6 months. My mandarin crabs seem to be slower breeders, but I haven't had them as long.

Here is a poor pic of one of my tanks.

[intermediate_noob]

Do you ever offer up your babies for sale? I have been trying to find these around but have not had a lot of luck. Your tank and crabs look great by the way!

[rozdaboff]

I don't have much time for shipping - but I will most likely be providing these to friends of mine who run a vivarium store in MA who do do shipping - I can PM you the info once the details of that are figured out.

[intermediate_noob]

That would be awesome, thank you.

[evilhorde]

http://www.brianstropicals.com/categ...m-for-info%29/

You can buy a couple different geosesarma species from this website.

[rozdaboff]

Brian has very nice crabs. My Mandarins came from him and they were near adult size.

[intermediate_noob]

Thanks for the link.

[Jedi_Pizza]

Great set up and collection you have rozdaboff, they look like real characters. Thanks for sharing