Mandarin vampire crab

Care at a glance

Overview

This is one of the more aggressive vampire crabs, especially between males, and it needs about twice the floor space of a Geosesarma dennerle colony; keep one male with several females in a species setup of 60 liters or more and give every crab its own hide. It hunts shrimp, snails, isopods and small fish, so no tank mates. Water 22 to 27 C, pH 7.5 to 8, no copper. Feed live and frozen foods such as crickets, isopods, fruit flies, bloodworm and bits of fish, plus pellets and cuttlebone. Wild imports travel badly and losses in the first weeks are common, so buy settled or captive-bred animals.

In the wild

The mandarin vampire crab was described from montane forest between about 1000 and 1300 m on Gunung Lingga on Pulau Lingga, an island off the east coast of Sumatra, so it comes from cooler, wetter ground than most vampire crabs. It lives almost entirely on land and molts there, so give it a paludarium or humid vivarium of 60 liters or more with 80 percent land, deep damp substrate, bark and leaf litter, and small shallow pools so its gills stay wet. Keep the water at 22 to 27 C with a pH of 7.5 to 8, and the air humid under a tight lid.

Good to know

Geosesarma notophorum was described by Ng and Tan in 1995 in Crustaceana from a male of only 9.0 by 8.6 mm; trade adults are bigger, and the carapace probably tops out near 1.5 cm. The shell is dusky blue on top and red underneath, with red legs, white to pale orange claws and light green or yellowish eyes. The name means back-carrier: after the eggs hatch the female carries the fully formed young around on top of her carapace for two or three days, a habit first recorded in this species. Much of what is sold as mandarin crab comes from Borneo and is Geosesarma pontianak, described in 2015, so the two are constantly confused.

Common questions

Related species

• 

  White mandarin vampire crab

  Geosesarma pontianak

  0.6 in (1.5 cm) · 10 gal (38 L)

  0.6 in (1.5 cm)10 gal (38 L)72–82°F (22–28°C)
• Purple arm vampire crab

  Geosesarma noduliferum

  0.6 in (1.5 cm) · 10 gal (38 L)

  0.6 in (1.5 cm)10 gal (38 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)

• 

  Purple vampire crab

  Geosesarma dennerle

  1 in (2.5 cm) · 10 gal (38 L)

  1 in (2.5 cm)10 gal (38 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)

• 

  Blue-leg vampire crab

  Geosesarma bicolor

  2 in (5 cm) · 10 gal (38 L)

  2 in (5 cm)10 gal (38 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)

• 

  Orange vampire crab

  Geosesarma tiomanicum

  2 in (5 cm) · 11 gal (40 L)

  2 in (5 cm)11 gal (40 L)72–82°F (22–28°C)

• 

  Red vampire crab

  Geosesarma hagen

  2 in (5 cm) · 10 gal (38 L)

  2 in (5 cm)10 gal (38 L)72–82°F (22–28°C)