Orange vampire crab

Care at a glance

Overview

This is one of the larger and more aggressive vampire crabs, so keep it as a species-only setup and give it extra floor space. They are social but the males are territorial, so stock more females than males to spread out the aggression. Keep the water warm at 22 to 28 C and hard and alkaline, with a pH of 7.5 to 8, in a paludarium of 40 liters or more. They spend their time on the land and along the bottom, foraging through leaf litter and moss. They will eat shrimp and small fish, so do not house them with anything small enough to catch, and feed a mix of pellets, dried leaves, frozen foods, and the occasional bit of protein.

In the wild

Orange vampire crabs come from Pulau Tioman, an island off the east coast of Malaysia, where they live semi-terrestrial lives along shaded, humid forest streams. They are not fully aquatic, so set them up in a paludarium of at least 40 liters with roughly 80 percent land over a shallow water area. Build the land out with bark, leaf litter, moss, and plenty of hides, and keep a tight lid on top to hold in high humidity. Run the water warm at 22 to 28 C and hard and alkaline, with a pH of 7.5 to 8.

Good to know

This is a crab in the family Sesarmidae, reaching about 5 cm across. It breeds in fresh water and releases fully formed young rather than free-swimming larvae, which is unusual and makes captive breeding more practical than for most crabs. Breeding difficulty is moderate, and with good care these crabs live a few years.

Did you know

Most crabs send their young out to sea as tiny floating larvae, but vampire crabs skip that stage entirely. The female holds the eggs until they hatch as fully formed miniature crabs in fresh water, which is why these forest-stream crabs can complete their whole life cycle far from the ocean.

Related species

• 

  Red vampire crab

  Geosesarma hagen

  2 in (5 cm)10 gal (38 L)72–82°F (22–28°C)
• Blue-leg vampire crab

  Geosesarma bicolor

  2 in (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)75–82°F (24–28°C)
• Pom Pom Crab

  Ptychognathus barbatus

  1.6 in (4 cm)5 gal (20 L)72–82°F (22–28°C)

• 

  Thai Micro Crab

  Limnopilos naiyanetri

  1 in (2.5 cm)5 gal (20 L)72–82°F (22–28°C)
• Tanganyika Crab

  Platythelphusa sp.

  3.9 in (10 cm)16 gal (60 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)