What is Multiple Tank Syndrome? Absolutely no idea, clearly I don't have it, that's for sure. So no reason to talk about.....
Anyway..... Who wants to read about Vampire Crabs??
For those that do not know, this is a vampire crab:
![Image]()
They are small (1 to 1.5 inch) freshwater crabs. There are many color morphs and several different species that get lumped together as 'vampire crabs'. But I will almost certainly be buying some species of geosesarma.
So for a while now I have been peripherally interested in Vampire Crabs. They seem pretty cool and I like the idea that 1) you can keep them as moist as you want, 2) they really do well with moss, and 3) they really need a paludarium type setup.
I love the idea of keeping terrestrial moss but mostly struggled with it in my dart frog tanks because the frogs don't really do well with the moisture levels needed to keep the moss alive and looking good. But vampire crabs thrive with both high humidity and moss. They are pretty small with starting tank sizes at 5 to 10 gallons being entirely possibly (some would say preferred with the 10 gallon size).
The crabs themselves do not live particularly long, only 2 to 2.5 years. BUT they breed quite readily and with proper tank setup, its possible to raise the babies in the same tank as the adults (the adults will totally eat them if they find them, so hiding spaces are needed etc. Alternatively the babies can be collected and raised in a grow-out tank where they are slightly less murdery until they get bigger.
So what tank will I be using?
This one:
![Image]()
Those with absurdly sharp memories might remember this tank as the one belonging to my gargoyle gecko. Unfortunately we had to say goodbye to our gecko due in no small part to the cat sitting there all smug like in this picture. The gecko is fine, but slightly terrorized by this cat who discovered his existence a few months ago and would not leave him alone, including sitting on top of the tank, and batting the glass at night whenever the gecko came out of hiding.
Already the gecko was entirely nocturnal and I hardly ever saw him (let alone saw him moving) before the cat became obsessed. But the cat certainly did not help the situation. After trying a few things and failing to deter the cat I decided it was time for the gecko to find a different less cat infested place and sold him to a local enthusiast.
Sooo enter the tank overhaul. Because the tank as it is will definitely not work for the crabs.
My plan is to create a water portion along 2 of the walls with the other 2 walls having land. The plan is a roughly 80:20 land to water ratio.
In order to make this happen I decided to drill the tank. So after taking out all the substrate and fixing the cork bark (it got damaged in part by the gecko prying it off, and in part from the demolition), I turned the tank over and set to drilling it:
I will be using 1/2 inch bulkheads for this. I first made a little dam out of plumbers putty:
![Image]()
Then I filled the area with water and used a diamond drill bit to cut the hole:
![Image]()
The process went perfect and both holes got drilled and bulkheads attached:
![Image]()
And that brings me to current.
Things to do... 1) I need to attach the canister filter (oase 120 thermo), 2) I need to scape the tank, 3) I need to plant the tank, 4) I need to cycle the tank, which might go super quick or agonizingly slowly (I'm betting on the latter....
) then finally 5) add the crabs.
Which crabs??? Not entirely sure. My local fish store actually carries these but they just call them 'vampire crabs'. So not entirely sure on the morph yet. If I don't like what they have then I will need to look into a breeder. I will probably start with 7 to 10 crabs though, 2 to 3 males and the rest females.
More to come
Anyway..... Who wants to read about Vampire Crabs??
For those that do not know, this is a vampire crab:
They are small (1 to 1.5 inch) freshwater crabs. There are many color morphs and several different species that get lumped together as 'vampire crabs'. But I will almost certainly be buying some species of geosesarma.
So for a while now I have been peripherally interested in Vampire Crabs. They seem pretty cool and I like the idea that 1) you can keep them as moist as you want, 2) they really do well with moss, and 3) they really need a paludarium type setup.
I love the idea of keeping terrestrial moss but mostly struggled with it in my dart frog tanks because the frogs don't really do well with the moisture levels needed to keep the moss alive and looking good. But vampire crabs thrive with both high humidity and moss. They are pretty small with starting tank sizes at 5 to 10 gallons being entirely possibly (some would say preferred with the 10 gallon size).
The crabs themselves do not live particularly long, only 2 to 2.5 years. BUT they breed quite readily and with proper tank setup, its possible to raise the babies in the same tank as the adults (the adults will totally eat them if they find them, so hiding spaces are needed etc. Alternatively the babies can be collected and raised in a grow-out tank where they are slightly less murdery until they get bigger.
So what tank will I be using?
This one:
Those with absurdly sharp memories might remember this tank as the one belonging to my gargoyle gecko. Unfortunately we had to say goodbye to our gecko due in no small part to the cat sitting there all smug like in this picture. The gecko is fine, but slightly terrorized by this cat who discovered his existence a few months ago and would not leave him alone, including sitting on top of the tank, and batting the glass at night whenever the gecko came out of hiding.
Already the gecko was entirely nocturnal and I hardly ever saw him (let alone saw him moving) before the cat became obsessed. But the cat certainly did not help the situation. After trying a few things and failing to deter the cat I decided it was time for the gecko to find a different less cat infested place and sold him to a local enthusiast.
Sooo enter the tank overhaul. Because the tank as it is will definitely not work for the crabs.
My plan is to create a water portion along 2 of the walls with the other 2 walls having land. The plan is a roughly 80:20 land to water ratio.
In order to make this happen I decided to drill the tank. So after taking out all the substrate and fixing the cork bark (it got damaged in part by the gecko prying it off, and in part from the demolition), I turned the tank over and set to drilling it:
I will be using 1/2 inch bulkheads for this. I first made a little dam out of plumbers putty:
Then I filled the area with water and used a diamond drill bit to cut the hole:
The process went perfect and both holes got drilled and bulkheads attached:
And that brings me to current.
Things to do... 1) I need to attach the canister filter (oase 120 thermo), 2) I need to scape the tank, 3) I need to plant the tank, 4) I need to cycle the tank, which might go super quick or agonizingly slowly (I'm betting on the latter....
) then finally 5) add the crabs.Which crabs??? Not entirely sure. My local fish store actually carries these but they just call them 'vampire crabs'. So not entirely sure on the morph yet. If I don't like what they have then I will need to look into a breeder. I will probably start with 7 to 10 crabs though, 2 to 3 males and the rest females.
More to come
