• red claw crab

    From S.Leggetter@1:278/230 to All on Tue Jun 3 08:41:00 2003
    My partner has just gone away and left me in sole charge of his very newly
    set up aquarium. We have 2 red clawed crabs(the female for two weeks & the
    male for only a week). I was very sad yesterday to find that the male had
    died. We removed its remains and my daughter ceremoniously buried it in the garden (it's a girlie thing!!). What a shock I got tonight when I found 2
    crabs sitting on the log staring at me! It would appear that one he had not died at all but moulted!! I have done a quick net search and gather that
    crabs will often eat their moulted shells as they are a good source of
    calcium. It was also recommended that crabs be given calcium supplements at this time. This leads me to ask if anyone knows a) how do you know that a
    crab is going to moult (he didn't seem to hide away at all), b) in what form
    do you give the calcium? c) will the other one do the same and d) will we
    have done any damage by removing the shell.
    Ta muchness Sandra
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  • From Victor M. Martinez@1:278/230 to All on Tue Jun 3 16:37:00 2003
    s.leggetter <s.leggetter@ntlworld.com> wrote:
    this time. This leads me to ask if anyone knows a) how do you know that a >crab is going to moult (he didn't seem to hide away at all),

    In shrimp (sorry, don't have any crab experience, but they are also crustaceans, right?), there is a slight coloration change right before moulting.

    b) in what form
    do you give the calcium?

    Your fish store probably sells specialized crab food. Ask them for advise. Don't know if they'll eat it, but egg shells are a great source of calcium.

    c) will the other one do the same and

    Probably.

    d) will we
    have done any damage by removing the shell.

    Probably not.

    Cheers.


    --
    Victor M. Martinez
    martiv@FAKE.che.utexas.edu
    http://www.che.utexas.edu/~martiv
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