# Micro Crabs with a shrimp colony???



## dhgyello04 (Jul 11, 2008)

Hello group,
I was on my way to the LFS and I got a text from the fish room manager. I quote “We just got in some creepy little things in come and see”. Sure enough, I was curious. It was a shipment of Micro Crabs. My question to all the people that have been posting on all the threads that have to do with these crabs are the following:

Has anyone keep them with a shrimp colony?
If yes, have the shrimp been reproducing?
Has anyone successfully had them breed? 

If you can’t tell yet I am very interested in getting them, but I don’t want to put them in my shrimp tanks if they are going to inflict harm on my shrimpletts and or adult shrimp. I have until Monday after work to come up with yes, or no. They are holding them for me. Can anyone give me some info on these little guys?

Don


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## Ebichua (May 13, 2008)

Kept them with CRS, they are fine and harmless. Even young shrimp are safe.
I don't think anyone has recorded breeding them. Larvae form seems to be a mystery in how to keep alive. They do carry eggs if you can get a pair. 

They're very cryptic. So unless you have a bare tank or with minimal hiding spots, you'll probably only see them 10% of the time and only at night. Not really worth the $$ most places are asking for.


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## dhgyello04 (Jul 11, 2008)

I have read a lot that they like to hide. The LFS is going to give them to me for $1.99 each. I figured that was a good price.

What do they eat?


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

They eat anything. They are shrimp safe. That is a STEAL for microcrabs.


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

Fantastic price. Depending on the cover in your tank you may see them very little or quite often. I've got 20 or so in a 20L right now and I often see them climbing around, hanging out in plants, that sort of thing. I love my microcrabs. They are totally shrimp safe and breed readily. Getting the offspring to survive has proven next to impossible, though msjinkzd has had some teeny weeny crabs appear in her tanks that could be due to them surviving. I've got some more on the way, actually, and intend to continue trying to get them to breed and to rear the zoeas.


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## RandomMan (May 31, 2011)

Nice and safe. I keep them in with CRS. I know someone who keeps them in high PH tap water and they seem to do ok for him. 

I fed a shrimp tablet the other day and one of my crabs came over to try and grab some, but was scared off my the CRS ball that formed on it.


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## dhgyello04 (Jul 11, 2008)

Cool.. I know that $1.99 is a steel. Thanks for all the info. I will pick some up. They will be going into a 46 gallon and an 8 gallon with lots of plants.


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## Alyssa (Sep 16, 2011)

ohhhh I might have to visit your town soon! LOL!


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## dhgyello04 (Jul 11, 2008)

Alyssa said:


> ohhhh I might have to visit your town soon! LOL!


You should.... I picked up and there acclimating as I type. When the lady was grabbing them out of the tank with her own hands, she was freaking out. She said that they scare her because they look like spiders. She almost slapped me.... I waited until she had a larger one in her hand and I struk... I placed my fingers at the bottom of her neck and to the top of her neck. Lol she flipped out. It was great.


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## calebkraft (Jan 3, 2012)

planetinverts.com just got some recently... unless I had just never noticed them till today. I was actually coming here to find out this exact question.


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## DesmondTheMoonBear (Dec 19, 2011)

I'm really interested in these guys aswell...kinda dissapointed they don't seem to breed well though, how long do they live?


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

DesmondTheMoonBear said:


> I'm really interested in these guys aswell...kinda dissapointed they don't seem to breed well though, how long do they live?


I've had them for about 6 months. 25 with 4 deaths, 2 or 3 of those were within days of getting them. It looks like they should have lifespans comparable to those of dwarf shrimp at least, 2 years or so.


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