Should I become a crustacean grandparent?

[TrashTank]

My female emerald crab (BMO) is very pregnant. I'm debating moving her to a pico tank til she releases her larvae. Then potentially sell or trade the babies. What do you guys think?

[jservedio]

All I see is fish and coral food!

[Tired]

Baby emerald crabs are very, very difficult to raise. If you think you can do it, you could always try, but you should look up what's involved. They may also not be fertile eggs.

[TrashTank]

19 minutes ago, Tired said:

Baby emerald crabs are very, very difficult to raise. If you think you can do it, you could always try, but you should look up what's involved. They may also not be fertile eggs.

I have experience with raising shrimp fry, but I've never tried with crabs. Would mostly be done as an experiment if I try. I'm still pretty undecided. 

 

I have a safe bet these guys are fertile though. The only other emerald in the tank is a male, and they spend a lot of time together. 

[TrashTank]

32 minutes ago, jservedio said:

All I see is fish and coral food!

Lol free enrichment for the tank is why I'm on the fence. Plus I have a few peppermint shrimp larvae that have been free swimming for a while now without dying so who knows. 

[Tired]

Ah, if you've raised shrimp, you might be able to raise crabs. I say give it a try- if it succeeds, you'll probably be one of the first to manage it. Either way, useful information for anyone else doing it. 

 

If you do decide to try it, put lots of search engine bait in the thread. "Raising emerald crabs" and that sort of thing. That way, anyone searching online will hopefully trip over the thread, so they can learn from whatever you wind up doing.

[TrashTank]

I was planning to set up a larvae tank yesterday, but BMO made me the April Fool. She released absolutely thousands of zoea into the tank. I mean an obscene amount. Every inch of the glass is now home to future baby crabs. 😬

 

I'm beyond excited but I wish she would have waited a day or 2. I'm just going to let them stay in this tank and see what happens. Haha

[Tired]

Huh, they look like copepods. So do a lot of larvae, really. I guess copepods are a basic crustacean shape. 

[kimberbee]

BMO!!

 

Congrats on all the babies!!

[TrashTank]

31 minutes ago, Tired said:

Huh, they look like copepods. So do a lot of larvae, really. I guess copepods are a basic crustacean shape. 

I actually have a pretty decent pod population in this tank but these guys...my god there are thousands upon thousands and they're definitely crab zoea. 🥰

[TrashTank]

6 minutes ago, kimberbee said:

BMO!!

 

Congrats on all the babies!!

Prismo is a very proud father as well. Lol...here they are hanging out together like always. 

[Tired]

Oh, yeah, I know they're baby crabs. They just look like copepods. Congrats on the... coral food, probably? 

 

Is that Captain Jerks palys in the right on that last photo? Watch out for those. I have 'em, and I like the long tentacles they get in higher flow, but they grow pretty fast and slime like heck if you try to remove them. 

[TrashTank]

14 minutes ago, Tired said:

Oh, yeah, I know they're baby crabs. They just look like copepods. Congrats on the... coral food, probably? 

 

Is that Captain Jerks palys in the right on that last photo? Watch out for those. I have 'em, and I like the long tentacles they get in higher flow, but they grow pretty fast and slime like heck if you try to remove them. 

Nice eye. I haven't had any issues with them so far, and I'm hoping it'll stay that way. They have plenty of room to spread. I'll keep an eye on them though.

 

So far these little zoea are mostly clinging to the glass and stuff. But the corals got a big meal the first night. Haha

[Tired]

If at any point you see the Jerks starting to touch any rock they aren't supposed to be on, separate them, quick. They latch on fast. I'm about to have to chisel mine off of some rockwork, they latched on in something under a week. Think I'm gonna isolate them on the sandbed. They are neat, though, I like the subtle colors and the shape. Strong feeding response, too, which is fun.