Red vampire crab

Care at a glance

Overview

Keep them as a species setup only, since they will hunt small fish and other crab species. Give a group of 38 liters or larger, with more females than males, because males are territorial and can kill each other. They are aggressive bottom dwellers that climb and forage across the land area, spending little time in the water. Keep the water warm at 22 to 28 C, hard and mineral-rich, with a pH around 7.5 to 8. Feed a mix of dried foods, blanched vegetables, and protein like bloodworms or bits of fish, and add a calcium source such as cuttlebone for molting.

In the wild

Red vampire crabs come from Indonesia, across Java, Sulawesi, and the Riau Islands, where they live along damp forest floors and stream banks rather than in open water. They spend most of their time on land, so build a paludarium that is mostly land over a shallow water area, with high humidity and a tight lid to hold it in. Keep the air warm at 22 to 28 C and use mineral-rich water, not plain RO, since they need the hardness. Aim for a pH of 7.5 to 8 in the water section.

Good to know

This is Geosesarma hagen, a small land crab in the family Sesarmidae. Adults reach about 5 cm across including the legs. Unlike many crabs, it breeds in fresh water and releases fully formed young rather than free-swimming larvae. Most crabs in the trade are wild collected.

Did you know

They breed right in the tank without a brackish phase, which is unusual for a crab. A female carries her eggs until they hatch as tiny, fully formed crabs that can walk straight away. The catch is that the adults will eat the young, so move any babies you want to raise into their own container.

Related species

• Blue-leg vampire crab

  Geosesarma bicolor

  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)72–82°F (22–28°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)