Hello! I bought these crabs from a local seller that told me they were vampire crabs. So i built a paludarium according to the vampire crab’s needs. But i felt like their behaviour was slightly different. Then i came upon this video and it makes so much sense! I feel so frustrated that the sellers dont really know much and i did so much false research. I even received them mixed have to separate them. I really can’t thank you enough for your video. I hope i can give them a quality life. Thanks alot! Subscribed!
Thanks for the comment 😊 don't feel too bad this happens all the time sellers are really bad at giving good advice they just want the sale asap. I'm sure you'll be able to get some really nice organised for them.
@@IndoorEcosystemthank you! Do you know if the younger ones are able to eat crushed snails and mealworms? Seems like they’re not really eat but maybe it’s because i didnt see them
@@Unknown-if3gv They will eat both. I have some footage in this video of them eating mealworms. You don't need to crush the snails though they are pretty good at picking them out of their shells.
I'm still to get my own. I've set up a tank, just waiting to find some. They are a lot more active than vampire crabs though, especially during the day.
before I start, sorry for my terrible english, i'm korean who is not good at other language so ther might be a bit of miss spell and wrong gramma. I raise crab about 9 years and i raise and breed panda crab once, and it was much harder then vampier crab babies. because they don't take dry foods like fish food, and thet tend to be on water so unlike vampire crab, they don;'t eat spring tail that offen, they eat dead plant and moss da it was hard to give them some protein, in korea 5 types of panda crab was imported, panda crab(cognetti) orenge arm, tricolor(blue and yellow and black ond at the video.) blue panda(or steel blue, similler to cognetti, but with redish brown head and blue body) and blue dart. i raised all of them except blue panda and tricolor one act differently then other, unlike others thry tend to molt on wet land. not like geosesarma notophorum who molt on dry land, 'wet land' and bit less sensitive to water and less social then other panda crab. and in korea are house is then to be smaller so we had to find the minimum space recommend for the crab, so i tested alot, and the conclusion was 1male and 2 female at 30 30 30 (cm) don't get me wrong, it' 'minimum' it's much better to have a bigger tank but if you can't afford it don't be afraid of try a smller tank, just remember, 1 male 2 female at 30 30 30, no more. in the video said at least 5~10 because they are social. but they are not community fish(or i sould say crab) so long as you don't keep them as a solo, it's fin to have a smaller gruop and i'm glad tp find someone who understand the shipping trauma of the crab. if you get a crab by shipping keep on eye on them for 4 week. if it dies in 4 week it could have been a shipping trauma. crab don't show it's sickness untill it's almost dead. so only thing we can do is avoid most of the bad things for the crab, so i also recommend getting you crab localy
@@biskuat They don't seem to be all that fussy from what ive seen as long as it is moist and chemical free. The females aren't are burrow fanatic as vampire crabs either. Female vamps basically live underground the entire time. Also curious to see if @san-ahong6449 has a secret formula 🤔
@@biskuat well i don't use something speceal for them, i just use aquasoil for plants, because if they have other things to hide like driftwood or pile of stone, they don't burrow, just use them, so i just give them some place to hide. and when i try to breed them, i just keep on eyes on the females, because you must keep the female solo to hatch the egg successfully, so i just separate the one with the egg to another tank. which have some hiding place for the female. if the hiding place i gave it to her was appropriate then she will use it th hatch her egg, so i don't consider burrow and breed when i choes substrate. if im getting a land crab then i will consider burrow, but when i get a semiterrastrial crab i don't consider it. i just use coconut shell or claypot(made for shrimp) depending on it size. thers a lot of reason for this 1st the reason why they have a burrow. vampire crab make there burrow to hide so if you give them a nice place to hide, then they won't make there burrow panda crab is similar to vampire crab but they would like some water in there burrow, so i place clay poy in the water and out of water kuhli crab(terathelphusa kuhli) is the one who make there burrow for water and hiding place so they want there hiding place(which i use coconut shell becaus of there size) to be half-submerged. if you gave them a nice hiding palce that fits there need, semiterrastrial crab don;t make there burrow the 2nd reason is it's hard to keep your water parameter appropriate for the crab when you consider there burrow i said i use aquasoil but i use them only for the land and i use coral sand( big ones) for the base to keep the pH high and lots of calcium carbonate for there exoskeleton but if i chose good substrate mix for them to burrow i will use some sphagnum moss and cocofiver and some clay with a bit of apuasoil, but sphagnum moss and cocofiver will slowly disintegrate and will make you water condition bad for the crab ( i have really bad memory with sphagnum moss, i used alot of coral sand to rise the pH but it didn't rise when i used sphagnum moss, ended of killing my panda crab, but i think it's ok to use it for the vampire crab, just avoid useing them at the water section or near the water) and 3rd reason is if the substrate mix is good for burrowing it' tend to lack of ventilation. and make hydrogen sulfide and other bad things for thr crab well i have alot of other things to say but my lack of english skill is makeing this to hard. so l rote the impotent ones
These are neat little crabs! This was really informative and extremely well presented, I really enjoyed it and learned a lot. How they are shipped, just tossed in boxes like that 😢, I can definitely see why you endorse locally bred. You have a beautiful set up for them! 🙂👍
Thanks as always Tara! They are quirky alright! The shipping side of things is brutal because most of them are destined to die which is really depressing. The animal trade and hobbies is such mixed space! The more info we can get out the better I say!
You're welcome! This took me a very long time to put together actually there is so little information and footage around. I had a lot of help from the community from people keeping them and breeding them. They are quite different to vampire crabs so really needed their own guide. I'm really glad you found it helpful!
@@IndoorEcosystem another question, I live in Penisular Malaysia, other side of the country where the crab is native. Do you think I could keep them in an outdoor setting? You mentioned they needed cooler temps and my area is a bit hotter than sarawak. Is it safe to keep them with milipedes or will they prey on them? The paludarium I’m building is 4ft x 2ft x 2ft. 50:50 land water. Water depth will be around 1.5ft. It will be a community of local creatures (except for a few CPOs because I love them lol)
@@biskuat I was talking with someone else about keeping them in a very similar situation when i was researching this species. They didn't have much luck they kept dying from the heat. It was a smaller tank though. The biggest factor will be keeping the water temps cool enough for them. They come from the rainforests and cool flowing waters if you can keep the water flowing really well and so that it doesn't get too hot you should be ok. As for the millipedes I think they might eat them but i do know milliepeds have a mild toxin that makes animals avoid them so that might also happen.
Sadly not yet! I have a tank set up for them I just need to track some down. I had a lot of help with footage from around the world on this one. Some very knowledgeable and helpful people.
My friend on the arachnoboards just got the panda ones of these and they were so gorgeous it has prompted me to come looking for info on them, i dont think i have ever seen a cuter crab 🥰 thank you for the vid and the info . Your crabs are so cute and your vivs are beautiful.
Thank you very much for the comment! They are very cool crabs! Geosesarma crabs a fair bit easier to care for though if you're still looking at different crab species :D
@IndoorEcosystem I am busy working my way through your care guides play list now 😆 I can't resist I have always loved crabs but never occurred to me I could keep them too 😊
@@charliemum They are pretty fun little creatures to keep and fairly low mainenance compared to most other pets. The are very self suficient if you set up their tanks properly. 🙂 If you have any questions pop up, just drop a comment and I'll see if i can answer it 😀
@IndoorEcosystem Thank you I definitely will be asking questions I am one for alot of research before I get a pet , and low maintenance is np for me I am currently a tarantula mummy of 95 tarantulas so I am used to low maintenance pets, they definitely taught me patience lol. I must say I do love the Geosesarma sp white leg. My friend put a picture of his up and I instantly fell in love would they be as easy to keep? (If you type the sp into Google his little fellow comes up in the pictures under the arachnoboards, busy eating a cricket lol.)
@@charliemum I would love to get some spiders but my girlfiend is not a fan! So crabs it is! They still have 8 legs so close enough! 😅I'll check out the white leg one!
my 60L tanks are 60x30x30, this type of set up seems a lot more interesting. I was a little disheartened when I found out Vampire Crabs set ups preferred 80 Land to 20% water. and loved the idea of a water fall too. SO I think I would like to learn more about these crabs, take them on and not let them down. Tanks space I have available only meets there minimum requirements. I have lots of low grade shrimp, Bladder snails, ramshorn snails and Malaysian Trumpet snails on hand across all of the tanks. I have lots of Assassin snails also, I imagine those would make a good snack but compete for food. loving your content bud.
Thanks 🙂A lot of people prefer more water so these crabs are perfect for that. But! They do need a bigger tank so there is a bit of a trade off. You've pretty much go things sorted from the food side of things already. The only thing I didn't mention in this video (found out later) is that a nice gental shallow areas in the water section would be good addition as well. They like to chill half in and half out of the water sometimes. But again! Space is key!
thank you, your guidance is greatly appreciated. I am looking for more of a challenge and rewarding, and i think this could be that. and could be an excuse to get abit bigger tank somewhere lol! keep it up@@IndoorEcosystem
Having a tough time deciding on either getting these or vampire crabs. I'm totally new to keeping any sort of crab but I'm more than willing go above and beyond for their care. These seem more difficult to get ahold of and based on the pinned comment are difficult to care for in some ways compared to geosesarma, but the greater aquatic section is so appealing.
If you're new I'd start with Geosesarma. They will teach you a lot about care then you can progress to these. With a big tank you can have quite a big aquatic section as well.
These are on my list as well the black and white ones are really hard to come by. Probably because they are the most delicate and sensitive. The others seem to be a little more durable and less sensitive to care for.
Great vid! Was waiting for you to cover this species. Although when it comes to breeding/mating I don't think it's only limited to land as I've noticed mine mating on several occasions while they were underwater. Unfortunately, no babies yet as on all occasions the female ended up dropping the eggs...
@@PsilOsophy-t9j Not really, I just bought a few KGs from a local terrarium store that sells a few different colours. I've used it in a few builds recently, but those videos are quite far off. Just search for terrarium clay and you should be able to find some stuff. It's quite common. Otherwise you can dig some up if you live near a natural source.
@@givetanks Not a bad idea, my best peice of advice is to take it steady and test each step well. Especially if you are adding a water feature. With a water feature always keep pump vibration in mind. There's nothing more annoying than it vibrating against the glass or leca. 🤣
@@givetanks The last time I cleaned my canister filter on one of my aquariums it had quite a big shrimp colony in it. They do surprising well in there... It must be an extreme existence with the amount of flow.
very nice video thank you. i am planning on getting vampire, but i do want a crab with more of an aquatic side, so these will definitely be on the radar, they are just rather expensive arent they :D
Prices is really weird for these from what I've seen. Usually they are the same price as vamps but you need a bigger group so that's where cost gets you.
@@IndoorEcosystem Just got three vamps today :D. I still really want to try out pandas. Shipping a bigger group like that to the midwest US seems silly, especially in the winter. I am going to probe locally, but I could only find one person who lived a few hours away who was breeding vampire crabs, so I doubt there would be any lepidothelphusa available hahaha.
@@chickensyndrome1465Winter makes it super tough! I don't even ship plants in winter because they almost always melt and die once I put them in my tanks! Going for a little road trip is the best idea though! I do the same! Half the time the fuel cost ends up being cheaper than shipping anyway 😂 Lepidothelphusa are a little more tricky to deal with vamps are super easy as long as you don't get any murderous ones!
What's the pad you're using underneath the rocks? Do you recommending using a canister filter in the setup or would a water pump be sufficent? BTW your videos are very helpful and informative. Thank you for making them.
Thank you 🙂 The pad is just a ittle bit of aquarium leveling mat. The ones you put under your tank to keep it level and safe from cracking. As for a filter you can use anything you like a canister would probably be over kill but fi you have one that you're not using go for it! You'll get good flow that way as well. But any average aquarium filter that will make a little flow will be fine.
While it is really interesting and inspring to watch, can you make a video to specify how you manage to keep the correct values in your tanks? Like how much work it is to maintain the landscape and in which intervalls do you check the watervalues and have to do a waterchange? Is a filter active when you are not filming? Its never shown how your tank-lid setup is made to contain airhumid (and the crabs stay inside, are your glaswalls mistfree?)? I feel like this crucial information is always missing and make it look too easy to get this animals, while it seems to have a really technical knowledge how to keep this little buggers in their best condition. I´m sure many would love to see a maintenance cycle on one tank, which is not meant to be just a eyecandy video. Nonetheless thanks for any great infos you prvide trhoughout your vids!
I can certainly put something like this together. I have a maintance video or two from my previous big tank set up (nothing really detailed) but they generally do quite poorly on RU-vid. However! You have mentioned quite a few specific aspects that some people might find very useful so I will put a some content together about each of the things you mentioned. It will probably take a little while though as I recently moved apartments so all of my builds are very new. Though that will be a good base to show how things progress over time etc. Cheers for the ideas! I do appreciate the feedback
Aquasoil isn't a good option unfortunately. Clay balls (leca) is super common you can find it on Amazon or at just about any garden store around the world.
Haven't got my own just yet. I have a tank set up for them just waiting to get some from a safe source. I had a lot of help with footage from the community for this one!
I have been binge watching all your videos in Vampire Crabs. In my city I have only found 2 stores who have them but they don't seem to know much about them. I have a 10g tank I will be using, still trying to figure out how I want it to look lol. I do have one question, if I don't want babies would it be okay to keep just females? I just don't have enough tanks for all the babies LOL
You can keep all females without any problems but there's a chance they may all come pregnant anyway. They are highly cannibalistic so if you don't want to deal with bucket loads of babies you can just leave them in the tank the crabs will eat them pretty fast and only a couple will grow to adults and replace their parents in time. You can probably take any extras to the stores as well and get store credit or something too.
It depends. Shops give wrong names all the time. I've seen Tricolour Vampire and Tricolour Panda. You can tell by the claw differences and the eye differences. Sometimes the Tricolour Pandas get mixed up with certain vampire mandarins etc.
Thanks very much buddy. I have some of the recently described species Lepidothelphusa menneri (tricolor), I am feeding them with grindal worm and they recently began to mate, I thought that the females would be ovate the day after common mating in the case of shrimp, but it goes more than once week and still nothing. A question, what else can I feed them? I think mine don't eat live snails, because I put some in them and they are alive and happy because of the water. Do you think if I crush the snails they will eat them? And if this is the case, where would it be better to give them in water or on land? The same question in the case of the harima worm. Thank you very much in advance
@@jorgegabrielzunigadelgado6082The live snails are something they will pick at randomly. You might not spot them getting eaten all the time try crushing them first, that will usually get them to come along and eat them. Have you tried blood worms and the love eating shrimp as well but that might get expensive quickly. When you feed them I would experiment with putting the food right on the water line just sitting on the land. If that doesn't work try the water. It will be a bit of experimenting with them because they are a bit odd at times. You can try to get them on dry foods slowly as well to give them a bit more dietary options. But it's not something they always come around to fast.
@@jorgegabrielzunigadelgado6082 they don't mind it a little cooler compared to vampire crabs especially the water as they come from the mountain areas where things aren't as hot. A fluctuating climate would be best one that goes up and down on a night/day cycle. Using a timer on your light and heater is a good way to do it.