Geosesarma sp

[joydiv]

Some nice crabs. Anyone keeping them as well?



Geosesarma sp Emerald



Geosesarma sp Vampire

[BEASTIEPENDENT]

Hi there,

the first one is Metasesarma obesum (no Geosesarma). Living on marine shores (should get brackish water).

The second one is Geosesarma sp. "Vampire", sometimes called "Carnaval crab", a Geosesarma common since two or three years but scientifically not yet described so it has no scientific name yet. It's a semiterrestric freshwater crab which means it does not reproduce via larval stages in the sea but big eggs which develop directly to little mini-crabs.

EDIT: And yes, we keep both of these species. We have an english species description with all important facts here: http://www.panzerwelten.de/forum/showthread.php?tid=711 (hope I may link that).

[joydiv]

Thanks for the information, currently both species in fresh water, 2 weeks plus.
According to the LFS Metasesarma obesum lives in forested areas close to rivers and streams.
Thanks for the link.

[BEASTIEPENDENT]

Hiho

That's incorrect. Metasesarma aubryi lives at fresh water streams in forested areas – M. obesum lives mostly at shores on islands around Borneo without fresh water, look here: http://www.mnhn.fr/publication/zoosyst/z03n3a4.pdf

[joydiv]

Thanks for the link.
Too bad most of the information on crabs comes from German forums and are in German. Web translation tools are quite useless.
Perhaps you can share on the care of the Vampire crabs.

[BEASTIEPENDENT]

Hiho again

I think the most basic informations are contained in the english species database I linked above (or did we miss something sepcial?). What questions do You have abut caring for the "Vampire crabs"? If You have specific questions I'll try to answer 'em.

[joydiv]

Any idea how to care for newly hatched crabs?

[BEASTIEPENDENT]

Hiho

Sure. If You want as much as possible to survive separate them from the adults. The more space they have the faster they grow. As aquaterrarium any glass or plastic "dish" is suitable which is big enough – and of course it should be closed at the top (they'll climb the naked glass). As substrate the best is terrarium humus which prevents mold and rot the best, another possibility would be a mixture of sand and soil.

The substrate should be kept very moist. In the best case You have some "living humus", which contains some microorganisms already. You could take a part out of the keeping tank of the "Vampires" and mix it with "new" one.

The container should contain a little water dish – at best with some moss which helps the little crabs to clim in and out and gives them hiding places. You can feed fish flakes, little frozen food (like Cyclops) or something like that and disperse it over places the mini crabs are sighted.

What a coincidence. Just a few days ago I made some pics of our actual "breeding tank" for "Vampire" younglings:







In such a dish (right, above the stereo box) our Geosesarma sp. "blue" are kept. But in a dish just like that the "litle Vampires" were kept also some times before they got their little hexagon. Means, the form or looking isn't important, of course.

The little boxes above – they are used here for keeping live food like grasshoppers – contain particular specimen which have lost too many limbs and are kept there and until they regenerate with the next molting.

[joydiv]

More crab pictures.

Beastie, is your Vampire sp blue the same as this? Can you post a picture?



I got this as Geosesarma bogorensis. Pretty common in Java.

More pictures




Metasesarma obesum, this came with eggs, though I have little hope of getting any babies.

[BEASTIEPENDENT]

Yes, this is Geosesarma sp. "blue" and it is NOT G. bogorensis! That's a wrong information from the importeur (and we know this wrong identification). The "blue Vampire crab" is just like the (purple) "Vampire crab" an unknown or better: an undescribed species. We are in permanent contact with the crab scientists in Germany and Asia and both species are not identified yet – and they can't yet be described because the exact localities are kept hidden from the fishers who catch 'em, so they don't have a scientific name and won't get one for a while.

For both species there are meanwhile some pictures online where they were caught but it is not told where that is. You just can see the habitat what helps by "furnishing" tanks to keep them. It's in both cases a little stoney freshwater stream.

A whole lot of pictures You find on our main site, but here is one of the clearest photos:
.

The Metasesarma obesum is a typical Sesarmidae in that way that it does reproduce with larval stages (some Zoea and one Megalopa stage) and the larvae need brackish or marine water. So indeed You won't have any luck without a special brooding tank, 24h-lights and special food.

[joydiv]

The supplier gave very vague description of where they are from.
Mostly from Sulawesi. Around the forest in lake areas.
Hopefully the species can be described soon.

[silane]

BEASTIEPENDENT,

how big is the tank? How many crab can it hold?

[BEASTIEPENDENT]

Hi Silane,

ahm, it's about 30 cm in diameter. It's just for keeping the mini crabs until they get bigger. Right now it contains 14 "Vampire crabs" from ca. 3 to 6 mm carapax bredth. Adult crabs You could keep at maximum 1,2 in this tank (if You structure it in height).

Joydiv: As far as we know the "Vampires" are not from Sulawesi itself, but from an island close to it. Some habitat pictures (without exact location) are here: http://www.aristocratama.com/main_page/about.html

And here from Geosesarma sp. "blue": http://www.garfishindo.com/news2.html (also without exact location).

[joydiv]

YUp, I know some people who work with aristocratama. They give me very vague locations as well. They do not want other collectors to snatch their buisness. Btw, you have any idea of what the crab species are in my other post?

[BEASTIEPENDENT]

Sure Wrote You there.

[ZANE]

Hey guys, I just got 2 pairs of G. sp. vampire/ carnival crab. Anyways I just noticed something cool/ unique about them I havent read anywhere yet. 2 of mine can change their orange color to beige/ offwhite color and back again. What prompts that reaction? Is that a sign of stress or something else? Ok later.

Z.

[BEASTIEPENDENT]

Hiho

Nearly all crabs can change coloration under stress, before moulting, when getting older… We didn't notice yet great changes in Geosesarma but probably they can either. Our Cardisoma armatum can change parts of their carapax from blue to white in 20 minutes. Fiddler crabs usually change coloration in the night (darkness).

[ZANE]

Hey thats cool! I don't know if it should be of concern, but G. vampire changed carapice color in less than 5 minutes and back again. Are all G. vampire supposed to have normally orange carapieces? Because 2 of mine came orange and the other 2 came beige (but same purple claws, and orange eyes). The ornage colored ones changed colors back and forth, but the beige color ones haven't changed at all. Are they sick? Its been 1 night since they arrived at my place.

[BEASTIEPENDENT]

Hm, I would call the color on the back of their carapax a mixture between beige and orange – so I can't see an anormality here, but I don't "see" it really of course.

[olarasu.marian]

Hello, I recently found out that an online pet shop in my country(Romania) are selling Carnival Crabs (Geosesarma aristocratoensis). I've always been fascinated with inverts with claws since I was very young and I always wanted to have some crabs as pets.
I've tried to do some research about this particular specie this pet shop is selling but without any luck, the more I looked into it seems that only the genus Geosesarma is somewhat described and I hope those caresheets on this genus apply to this specie aswell. Maybe some of you who have raised crabs or have any info about this particular specie can post it in here. I've already read BEASTIEPENDENT's caresheet on Geosesarma sp. and it was all very informative, but I still have a few questions left.

1. Would a 30x30x30 aquarium be ok for 2 crabs?
2. Does the water requier filtration or regular change(how often)?
3. Do they requier any special lighting, like UVB etc.
4. Can you crab owners post pictures with your crab tanks?

Thanks in advance!