Cobalt Blue Lobster

[TheArk]

Is anyone here familiar with the blue lobster? We have one and love to watch his/her antics. He has shed once and I mistakenly took it out because we keep stuff like that. I did not know at the time that he would eat part of it to replenish his calcium. Well now he is not bright blue anymore and it has been over 2 weeks since the shed. He is still doing all his normal stuff, excavating , moving other stuff around, comes out to eat, and goes on his nightly walk.
Am I not feeding him correctly? I give him sinking pellets and dried algea and of course he comes out for the fish food. The tank temp is pretty consistant at 77 degrees. He has a bubbler in his corner and attends to his cave all the time. He is in a 55 gal. tank with other fish.
Any suggestions and or comments on how to get him bright blue again would be appreciated.

 

[fijiwigi]

I had a blue lobster that shed its outer shell it was pale for about 2 weeks. after that it started looking blue again. Mine hid for about 4 days and did not eat for about a week after it shed its shell. Yet he lived for a long time after that. So I would say if he is active and eating on a regular basis the color should return. HTH

 

[TheArk]

I will keep watching and hoping. Thanks for the support. BTW I love the pic of the puppy!!!

 

[tropicfishman]

I love the blue lobsters and other crayfish, talk about intresting and funny little critters!! I sadly have not had the chance to own a cobalt blue lobster yet but I have had plenty of crayfish from local creeks. I love going to my LFS and watching the lobster in there display tank

 

[fijiwigi]

I will keep watching and hoping. Thanks for the support. BTW I love the pic of the puppy!!!

Thanks Its too bad she is not a puppy anymore she is only 9 months and weighs over 100 pounds full grown she will likely weigh 180+ she is like a giant lap dog.

 

[Polads]

I had one of those! I loved him he was so cool. Always scuttling around, the best part was i had sand in the tank so in the morning you could see everywhere he went at night.
I was finishing cycling his own 20 gallon tank when my bichir ate him the night before i was moving him. my fault I should have known he wasn't safe even though my bichir was only an inch or so longer than him.
I would for sure get another...

anyway i'm pretty sure you can get little calcium tabs for your tank, but that might be a little drastic...but maybe good for the long run.

also i would consider giving him his own tank they can be aggressive with other fish and even eat smaller ones!

 

[Phoenixphire55]

I had three crayfish and a fiddler crab in a 10 gallon tank. Yeah, I thought they'd be ok because there were tons of places to hide, but after 4 months of peaceful co-habitation my largest crayfish (Triton) ate the crab and the smaller crayfish. Woops...

Now the 10 gallon tank houses him and the remaining crayfish who seem to get along together very well. They often share the same hides together without fighting. Anyway, I think that feeding them earthworms or chopped night-crawlers once a week is a great source of calcium. Also, they totally love them.

Weirdly, my smaller surviving crayfish turned blue after her second molt since I got her and has been blue ever since. She's a really cool intense sky blue.

Anyway: Try feeding him worms, and some fresh vegetables like carrots and adamame. Sinking pellets are probably ok but I think they prefer fresh to slightly old veggies and meat.

 

[TheArk]

Thank you very much I will give it a try. They are really good at that excavation stuff. After I clean the tank and fix my plants he goes right at it redoing HIS corner. It is really fun to watch.

I think he did get my baby angel, but mostly everyone gets along. He is also very talented, he knows how to play dead. About 1 week after his shed I found him lying on his side not moving, panic set in I moved my finger past his face which usually makes him move and he didn't so I reluctantly got the net to scoop him out and he flopped back over.
We had a talk and I told him he can't do that anymore cause he scared his mom. lol

Thanks again and Merry Christmas.

 

[Subic76]

Newby to the site.
I have had him/her for about 8 months.
He has never killed anything. When he got to about four inches long the Corys started sleeping on top of the rocks. I then moved him to a twenty all by his self.
This picture was taken while he was still in the 55 gal.
He has shed five or six times, and always the same color.

 

[TheArk]

WOW!!! What a Beauty! Ours was like that when I got him. Then he shed and he's got blue in him its just now it is dark with red mixed in. Don't ya love watching move things around. I'll try and get a pic in here some how.