Horse shoe crab

TNTCanada · #1 01-31-2005, 06:44 PM

Has anyone ever had one? Can you have them in a reef tank? I have always wanted one sense I was a kid and have never seen one in a LFS. Yesturday I finaly saw one about 3" long. They look like they would tare the tank apart with all those clawed legs. Any thoughts

Cheers
Tyler

Rikko · #2 01-31-2005, 07:42 PM

They get around 2 feet long and need a lot of open space to troll around. Not sure about their capacity for eating fish and inverts, but I wouldn't trust anything that big. I think bigger ones also tend to knock over rockwork.

Might be fun to set up a large, shallow species tank, but not really for me.

Reef_kid · #3 01-31-2005, 07:54 PM

i had one and i loved it it was awsome they dig a lot so if you have rock there not the best! mine died because it dug out some rock that fell and crushed him ... i was soooooo upset
really fun they just eat leftovers in the tank.
need a large tank thought because they do get big over time.
dave

phreezee · #4 01-31-2005, 10:01 PM

Yeah, I've caught some in the wild on the atlantic coast and they are huge ugly looking things. I have seen the small ones at an LFS and thought they were cute when they're that small.

Quinn · #5 01-31-2005, 10:12 PM

Dear God, please no.

Willow · #6 01-31-2005, 10:35 PM

i hear they are good with clarified butter and a decent white wine.

G1GY · #7 01-31-2005, 11:13 PM

They hide under the sand most of the time and get realy big.

When they die, you won't know it until you notice your water quality go south on you.(Since your already used to not seeing them anyhow.)

I wouldn't get one unless I had system large enough to get rid of it on it's own when it dies.

Just my opinion though.

1628 · #8 01-31-2005, 11:20 PM

I have one in my big tank (150 gallon) since May 04 and just two weeks ago i transferred it to a 54 cube tank. It is a small white one and it changed shell only once. It digs a lot and hide under sand but fortunately it didn't grow that much. I got it at 1.25" and it is close to 1.5" right now. Grows pretty slow. It is a pretty good survivor, been thru a lot. Doesn't harm anything.

Quinn · #9 02-01-2005, 03:26 AM

Anyone considering purchasing a horseshoe crab should read http://www.wetwebmedia.com/horseshoecrabfaqs.htm first.

Corey · #10 02-01-2005, 06:23 AM

As far as I have read and been told they do the same thing as a sand sifting star fish, they kill every living thing in the sand bed. I personally dont want dead substrate and a creature I never see.