Petrolisthes is a genus of crabs that is found in all the world's oceans save the Arctic and Antarctic. They are small, easy to care for, and can be beautifully colored. The ones that we all call Porcelain Crabs are generally a pale gray to ivory, often with brilliant pink or red spots and short lines all over their large claws and backs. They are occasionally tinged light blue around the edge of their shells and legs. Interestingly, they are closely related to squat lobsters and hermit crabs and not considered “true” crabs.
It's the smaller appendage (called maxillipeds) behind these clobbering claws that are more important. The crabs use these to filter water and substrate for food, most of which is suspended algae, micro-inverts and detritus. In a densely populated tank, a single Porcelain Crab might not ever need feeding; with enough left-over food and fish waste, they could possibly get along. We don't recommend this. They'll do much better and molt more often when given a regular supply of food. As with any filter feeder, Nutramar's live algae products are the absolute perfect food for them. We recommend starting with CRIT, and you can dose the whole aquarium, or you can target feed them with a baster, which could also be full of the Nutramar Crit, but you could also give them Gamma Rotifers, Gamma Red Plankton, or Gamma Cyclops all this way. You can dose the whole tank with CRIT every day, especially if you have other filter feeding inverts. You won't have to target feed more than once or twice a week. These crabs will also take larger food if they get hungry and will try to steal meaty morsels if they can. Click here to learn more
It's the smaller appendage (called maxillipeds) behind these clobbering claws that are more important. The crabs use these to filter water and substrate for food, most of which is suspended algae, micro-inverts and detritus. In a densely populated tank, a single Porcelain Crab might not ever need feeding; with enough left-over food and fish waste, they could possibly get along. We don't recommend this. They'll do much better and molt more often when given a regular supply of food. As with any filter feeder, Nutramar's live algae products are the absolute perfect food for them. We recommend starting with CRIT, and you can dose the whole aquarium, or you can target feed them with a baster, which could also be full of the Nutramar Crit, but you could also give them Gamma Rotifers, Gamma Red Plankton, or Gamma Cyclops all this way. You can dose the whole tank with CRIT every day, especially if you have other filter feeding inverts. You won't have to target feed more than once or twice a week. These crabs will also take larger food if they get hungry and will try to steal meaty morsels if they can. Click here to learn more
