Vampire Crab Babies

[redsono93]

Hey they seem to be less aggressive now. I added some plants to the water pool I hope I didn't burry babies under more gravel I put in to anchor the plants. So the crabs some hang in the water and near the shore line and others seem to burrow and like the land part much better. The tank is between 78 and 80 degress and the humidity is at around 70 to 80%. What do you feed your vampire crabs? Mine are fed flaked fish food, hakari crab cusine, live fruit flies, and pin head crickets. Is this a good enough diet for them? They seem to be growing up strong. Any tankmates you can keep with them? I was thinking shrimp in the water pool. Also I bought a new kind of Zoomed aquatic Shrimp and crab and lobster food sinking food sticks. In the ingredients it has copper sulfate in it. I thought copper killed crabs? I wouldn't think it was a lot of copper if it was made for crabs right? Just double checking.
Thanks

Don wory about alle the questions, thats what forums are created for

Please post a foto of the tank, maybe that way we can find out if there are things not as they should be.

They love the water

Can you tell me something about the moisture in the air and also on Land ? If the ground is too dry, they stay moreoften in the water.

How many babies does a mother give birth to?

That depends on the size of the mother. Smaller females have around 20-30 babies, fully grown females up to 80.

Do they give birth in or out of water?

Usually in the water or just at the shoreline.

Will the adults eat babies?

Probably. But in an aqua-terrarium with a lot of hiding places the small ones dont have any problems to grow up. Othe Geosesarma species are hunting their offspring actively. Thats not so intense with the vampire crabs.

Should I add more plants and or moss for them to hide from aggressive tankmates?

That question I can only answer if I see a picture of your tank^^. But moss is always a good thing for the babies to hide. Preferrably you should use living moss - UNFERTILIZED! Fertilizer often contains copper which kills crabs. All new plants have to be watered in a bucket for at least a week, with changing the water every day. If you dont do that you risk to kill your crabs.
These moss-bricks which you can put into water have been reported to cause sudden death with crabs as well.

As far as food I feed them Hikari Crab Cuisine, Various Flake food, Canned Mini-crickets and meal worms, live fruit flies and pin head crickets. I try not to feed them veggies and or other foods because they rot and stink up the tank.

Vampire crabs are feeding mainly on animals, they hardly eat veggies. If at all, then canned sweetcorn is someties taken.
Please dont feed meal worms, as they are very high in fat and may cause problems. Use earth worms instead.

Dead leaves are hardly eaten by Vampire crabs (but by many other crab species), but they can also be used to cover the ground, so the crabs can hide in them. You can use beech or oak leaves, which you can collect yourself (far away from roads und positively unfertilized / not from agricultural surroundings)