Horseshoe Crab

[Lance M.]

The average lifespan of horseshoe crabs is 20 years and have been know to live up to 15 years in aquariums (real big, state aquariums).

I agree with Devilishturtles. There is so reason to buy an animal just for it to look cool in your tank for maybe several months and then it passes away from starving to death. I guess if that makes you happy then go for it.

[DragonForce]

Robert, I think if he is that small you can go ahead and keep him until he starts causing problems/outgrows the dank/is large enough to catch easily. Good luck!

[robertfah]

Originally Posted by lando

Interesting...I have never heard of coralline growing on the sand bed before. I guess it is entirely possible. Are you sure it is not cyno? What happens to it when it is disturbed?

Nothing really, it just gets mixed up in the rest of the sand. As I've said before, I've had Cyano and I know it's not that plus my crabs are eating it, slowly, but they can't comsume it at the rate it's growing mainly because I don't have enough crabs for the tank. I didn't want to overload my tank with crabs and then once my tank is clean, have them all die off from starvation.

[Lance M.]

You can feed crabs with the dried seaweed if there isn't enough algae but it seems like there is so throw some crabs in there. I remember a post from a moderator here saying that inverts don't really add that much to the bioload,I guess compared to fish or just in general. I don't think it will be a problem to add more crabs. I have like 7 scarlet hermit and 3 bluelegs in my 20g. And the scarlets are pretty big.

155gallon tank that would mean a lot of crabs or snails.

Do you have any Nassarius snails (is that spelled right?)? They do a good job at moving around the sand. You could get like 15-20 jumbos, that would do the job.

[roka64]

I agree with Lance, add about 30-40 nassis and about the same of cerith snails, possibly a fighting conch or two.

[robertfah]

I had a bunch of N. snails (I can't spell it either LOL) and they got eaten by my other "large" snails. I don't know what these "Large" snails are, but I posted a pic in the ID area about a year ago and no one could tell me what they are. They are about 2 & 1/2 inches long and once I put those N. snails in my tank, they hunted them out and ate them. So I moved them to my refugium (there is only 3 of them) and haven't thought about getting other snails since.

It's weird, I hear so many different stories about what type of snails to get. One LFS doesn't even sell N. snails b/c he said they don't really do the tank any good. <--???? I don't buy anything from this guy...but another store says I should try zebra snails or margarita snails???

I don't know.....it's tough. I bought an algae attack pack from Drs. F&S and my tank did well, but then they all started to die off from not eating enough. I would try to feed them but my yellow tangs would gobble up the seaweed before they could get it. And my blue legged crabs eat my other crabs when they are hungry.....UGH! So my tank is finally stable as far as inhibitants.....3 yellow tangs, 2 Osc. clowns, 1 dwarf lobster, 1 red serpant starfish, 20+ misc crabs, 1 horseshoe crab (LOL), 1 torch anemone and 1 rose BTA. It's been this way for almost 6 months (minus the anemone, bta, and horseshoe crab) and it seems to be stable, minus the coraline growth. I was concerned about it at first, but after viewing some photos of other tanks online, it seems the purple stuff is ok, so I left it alone. I've got another 30+ pounds of LR at my LFS that's curing as we speak, so it should be ready to go in about a week or so.

[Lance M.]

That is a conch, not a snail. When they are big they can kill other organisms. Big ones in the ocean can spear fish! and people! lol j/k

Sweet someone agrees with me!!

Nassarius snails (I just googled it for spelling) do wonders for the sandbed. They basically spend all their time in the sand and you can usually just see their little tubes sticking out of the sand, but when you put food in the tank, they surface (I remember someone here comparing it to a submarine surfacing, that's exactly what it looks like) and race around the sand to get food. They usually won't go on rocks but sometimes will and they will go on the glass when food is out.

[roka64]

I agree, Lance, that looks like a conch with a hermit thinking about checking it out. My nassis rarely come up out fo my sand bed. I like ceriths as well. I am not a big fan of hermits and keep those to a minimum.

[Lance M.]

I don't see a hermit crab? :/

[roka64]

The dark shell looks like a hermit, to me. I think I can see his little eyes and antennas on the left.