Anyone have one of these?

[BanZI29]

Got this little guy at my LFS last week. kind of a cool dude to have. He's about 2.5" tip to tail, so not too big.
Anyone have guidence on care for them?

 

[bushdoc]

Not a big fan of keeping horseshoe crabs in home aquarium. They apparently do better in lower salinity and deep sand bed, besides can grow up very large.

 

[BanZI29]

Horseshoe crab :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

 

[BanZI29]

Not a big fan of keeping horseshoe crabs in home aquarium. They apparently do better in lower salinity and deep sand bed, besides can grow up very large.

My sand bed is about 2". from what I read, that is deep enough but, yea him growing too big is a bit of a concern.

 

[WestMI-Reefer]

Only ever saw them in public aquariums, pretty cool to have one at home

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Lots of really high quality, high protein & moderate fat content feed.

 

[exnisstech]

Wonder how fast they grow? The only ones I have seen are very large and would not fit into most home aquariums.
Reminds me of freshwater arrowana. Cute when young but grow so large they shouldn't be sold to the public.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Wonder how fast they grow? The only ones I have seen are very large and would not fit into most home aquariums.
Reminds me of freshwater arrowana. Cute when young but grow so large they shouldn't be sold to the public.

Yeah, they tend to die in our systems.

Fair question- looking at it, they are slow growers (the PDF with a graph detailing average growth per year in mm won’t let me select the graph, but I’ll link it below). They take ~9-11 years to reach maturity, and they molt ~16-17 times over that timeframe (molting less frequently the larger they get). They hit ~2 inches wide at 4 years old, ~6 inches wide by 9 years, ~9” by 15 years, and - for the females, which grow larger - ~12” by 18 years (though their growth does vary depending on their location), so, OP, you may have a lot more time I would have guessed.

https://www.int-res.com/articles/meps2003/246/m246p225.pdf

 

[pledosophy]

Wonder how fast they grow? The only ones I have seen are very large and would not fit into most home aquariums.
Reminds me of freshwater arrowana. Cute when young but grow so large they shouldn't be sold to the public.

The one I tried 20 years ago grew from the size of a quarter to about 5" across in 6 months.

Guy kept overturning rocks. Had to rehome him. Awesome animals, but not sure they belong in the hobby.

 

[kevgib67]

My hotel had a half a dozen in the aquarium when I was in Florida. About the size of a quarter. I thought there may be some that stay small and would be cool to have. My research revealed there aren’t any that stay small. To bad.

 

[vtecintegra]

Irresponsible for the LFS to sell them. Doomed animal that could grow over two feet long, but will starve before it gets there. Should have researched before buying.

 

[BanZI29]

Irresponsible for the LFS to sell them. Doomed animal that could grow over two feet long, but will starve before it gets there. Should have researched before buying.

I am making sure that I feed him as directly as possible. I find him and put mysis shrimp my him. Its partially frozen so he gets on it and eats.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

I am making sure that I feed him as directly as possible. I find him and put mysis shrimp my him. Its partially frozen so he gets on it and eats.

Mysis shrimp is good on protein, but it's quite low on healthy fats - I'd either supplement the mysis with some good fatty food, or switch to a food that's a bit more balanced.

 

[BanZI29]

Mysis shrimp is good on protein, but it's quite low on healthy fats - I'd either supplement the mysis with some good fatty food, or switch to a food that's a bit more balanced.

He also goes after the fish food too, I bought The reef nutrition TDO food.