Violet92
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2012
- Messages
- 35
Please can someone give me information on a red clawed crab that's pregnant? What does a pregnant crab look like?
Pregnant crab?
- Thread starter Violet92
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Andy Sager
Aquarium Advice Addict
Pregnant crab.....
A pregnant crab is actually very easy to spot because they carry their eggs outside the body.
If your crab has mated, or has been mated, you will see a cluster of eggs
underneath her in the triangular flap of the carapace.( they are usually a brownish color but some crabs have colored eggs.)
When she is ready to release them, in the wild they would become part of the Plankton until they metamorphised. In the tank, they will either become food for your other fish or caught in the filter I'm afraid.
If you are serious about trying to raise the babies, you may want to put her into a tank that has just an airstone for circulation with no other filtering other than maybe live rock. It's a process!
Hope this helps...
A pregnant crab is actually very easy to spot because they carry their eggs outside the body.
If your crab has mated, or has been mated, you will see a cluster of eggs
underneath her in the triangular flap of the carapace.( they are usually a brownish color but some crabs have colored eggs.)
When she is ready to release them, in the wild they would become part of the Plankton until they metamorphised. In the tank, they will either become food for your other fish or caught in the filter I'm afraid.
If you are serious about trying to raise the babies, you may want to put her into a tank that has just an airstone for circulation with no other filtering other than maybe live rock. It's a process!
Hope this helps...
OP
OP
Violet92
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2012
- Messages
- 35
Andy Sager said:A pregnant crab is actually very easy to spot because they carry their eggs outside the body.
If your crab has mated, or has been mated, you will see a cluster of eggs
underneath her in the triangular flap of the carapace.( they are usually a brownish color but some crabs have colored eggs.)
When she is ready to release them, in the wild they would become part of the Plankton until they metamorphised. In the tank, they will either become food for your other fish or caught in the filter I'm afraid.
If you are serious about trying to raise the babies, you may want to put her into a tank that has just an airstone for circulation with no other filtering other than maybe live rock. It's a process!
Hope this helps...
Mine looks like its shell is off the front and there's a bunch of brownish stuff :/ so it's pregnant... Ahh how long does it take for a crab to have the babies? What does it look like and how does this process work? I can't bare to see my other fish eat the babys..
Shark_Bait
Aquarium Advice Freak
Are you sure it's not molting??
OP
OP
Violet92
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2012
- Messages
- 35
Shark_Bait said:
I'll post a picture for you
OP
OP
Violet92
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2012
- Messages
- 35
pregers crab
im from fl and have seen many wild crabs carring eggs and it really looks like she is carrying eggs but what too do to save them i dont know the wild crabs just releases them when time is right and the float until they develop and they will molt after a few days then keep molting as they grow but i dont know how to keep them from being fish food which almost all do in the wild
im from fl and have seen many wild crabs carring eggs and it really looks like she is carrying eggs but what too do to save them i dont know the wild crabs just releases them when time is right and the float until they develop and they will molt after a few days then keep molting as they grow but i dont know how to keep them from being fish food which almost all do in the wild
OP
OP
Violet92
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2012
- Messages
- 35
sheilak said:
What do they look like when the crab releases them?
OP
OP
Violet92
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2012
- Messages
- 35
sheilak said:
oh man maybe I should put the crab in a new tank
Shark_Bait
Aquarium Advice Freak
I would if you want them to live
Andy Sager
Aquarium Advice Addict
It looks like eggs to me. You will probably not know when the eggs are released othen than seeing them not being on the mother anymore. If you are trying to grow them out, you'll need to not have anything in the tank that can suck them up. That's why you'll need to have a separate tank with just an airstone for water movement and the mother. When she releases the eggs, get her out of there. Get yourself a high magnification magnifying glass and prepare for the ride. Having live rock in the tank will supply some algae for the little ones until they are able to eat larger foods. Once again, I suggest you google rearing shrimps and crabs for the exact foods necessary and expectations.
If it looks like this, it's eggs.
The babies will not survive. They develop in the open ocean as phytoplankton. You would need a special set up for them in a full salt tank. When the eggs hatch you may see the larvae swimming around for a couple days but then they'll be gone.
Do you have the crab in a brackish tank with access to air? They should not be kept in a regular aquarium, or in freshwater.
The babies will not survive. They develop in the open ocean as phytoplankton. You would need a special set up for them in a full salt tank. When the eggs hatch you may see the larvae swimming around for a couple days but then they'll be gone.
Do you have the crab in a brackish tank with access to air? They should not be kept in a regular aquarium, or in freshwater.
Last edited:
That's what I've had to do brand new tank with no filter as they will get sucked up and then waiting for her to now release the eggs soo excited
Similar threads
