Horse shoe crabs

[boogie]

Does anyone know anything about horse shoe crabs? Mine never seem to eat and I was wondering if they would eat copepods that I found for sale on internet and does anyone know if copepods are really a good thing for a fish tank? Thanks.:)

[ShipOfFools37]

I'm pretty sure you want to feed your horseshoe crab things like smaller invertebrates, maybe some market shrimp or open some clams or oysters and stuff. Horseshoe crabs will also eat dead fish if you put them on the bottom for it. They're notorious for eating any type of annelid worms and other benthic inverts. If you have any type of shrimp in there, they're going to become food at some point.


Copepods are pretty small and they're pelagic, they live in the water column, therefore not being a food that horseshoe crabs eat on a regular basis. The copepods will be a great food for some fish, they're said to be particularly good for marine aquariums, as they eat algae and are good for fish that are finicky eaters.

What size tank do you have?

[metalyx]

I imagine very small they will eat copepods but for the most part they are scavengers and will eat anything. On copepods, every salt tank should be default have them. They come in on the rock and multiply in areas suited for hiding.

Try mysis, small krill, small silversides. Considerably less on shipping and easier to find.

[VLDesign]

They love scallops (Small ones not the larger ones)

[ADEE]

i have a little one in my 125, it started in our 37 and we moved it over because i was worried there wasnt enough "stuff" for it to eat. Ours digs through the sand a good deal of the time but i have also seen it feasting on various scraps in the tank.. tiny pieces of squid, silverside, krill, exc... we have copepods in our tank every so often.. i cant imagine it eating them to be honest, copepods are TINY

[BIGgourami]

mine eats bigger peices of mysis, krill and pieces of bivalve

[Ricko]

I really still don't know what these are,,, anyone have pic's?

[micstarz]

Off topic but does anyone have slipper lobsters?

[BIGgourami]

I really still don't know what these are,,, anyone have pic's?
:eek: seriously?

http://nintharticle.com/horseshoecrab.jpg

[Deano1956]

I bought a little one 1 1/4" because my grandson wanted it, at fist I didnt see it much but now its out a little more, I thought they were scavengers

[jartist15]

They are almost cute, in a little armored baby sort of way, think they could live in freshwater :P

[Ricko]

:eek: seriously?

http://nintharticle.com/horseshoecrab.jpg

:(SERIOUSLY!!!!!

I have a photo in my book of one but it is crap,,,,they should have used your photo!!!!
What's the go with these things? Ok for reef? Not predatory? Max size?

Sorry for all the Q's but i really am interested!

[BIGgourami]

they are scavegers, but if youre doing things right there shouldn't be too much dead stuff in the tank ;)

they are ok for reef that are either large enough to A) house them and B) diffuse the sand they kick up so it doesn't damage coral
so far he hasn't been predatory at all, though my jawfish doesn't think too highly of him
they get REALLY big but grow slow, i've seen some in the atlantic that were easily 2 feet long

[johnny roastbeef]

Here
http://z.about.com/d/gonewengland/1/0/E/x/lobster-slippers.jpg

[FLESHY]

I have had mixed success with horseshoe crabs. The ones that did live longer (a year) were being target fed krill. He never seemed to eat the whole thing, but would sit on top of it for awhile gnawing I suspect. The real root of the problem is that I didnt have a big enough aquarium (it was a 55, with one niger trigger) and so that they ate all the natural detritus food out of the sand that they are accustomed to. Probably not a good idea unless you have a huge tank anyways, based on how big they get in the end. Also wreck havoc on the rockwork. Knock it over every chance they get. :D