# Thai micro crabs



## Paul27 (17 Nov 2019)

Just wondering if anybody has experience with these?.


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## castle (17 Nov 2019)

A little, pretty easy to keep - lots of floating plants, bigger tank is better as water quality is more impactful than with cherry shrimp. Not known any babies to make it past a day or so though. Kept them with badis badis for about 2 years, larger ones survived without much issue. 

 However as with all these things, aren't the becoming endangered in wild due to over fishing?


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## Paul27 (17 Nov 2019)

Just looking at possibly in future of getting some. Did you actually ever get to really see them because of being so small?

Not sure about them being endangered


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## alto (18 Nov 2019)

Paul27 said:


> Not sure about them being endangered


definitely an issue that received a good bit of media attention a couple years back - they were extremely popular for awhile (and mortality rates were high re shipping inexperience and shop keeping inexperience) 
I don’t know how things stand nowadays (certainly shippers are better at transporting them)

There were a few articles in Amazonas Magazine

https://www.reef2rainforest.com/201...-limnopilos-naiyanetri-new-breeding-progress/


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## MJQMJQ (18 Nov 2019)

Even in tank shops they can be so hard to see.I would recommend a nano tank with little plants but be careful of fluctuations.


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## ollyUK (18 Nov 2019)

Personally, until we see successful captive breeding we should stand strong and not purchase these. They will be driven to extinction, and for what?


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## Paul27 (18 Nov 2019)

ollyUK said:


> Personally, until we see successful captive breeding we should stand strong and not purchase these. They will be driven to extinction, and for what?



That's a fair point mate. Dont fancy being part of the reason they completely disappear.


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## castle (19 Nov 2019)

Paul27 said:


> Just looking at possibly in future of getting some. Did you actually ever get to really see them because of being so small?
> 
> Not sure about them being endangered



Yeah, they're pretty obvious. I can't say for certain some fry didn't make it, they were in with relatively voracious fish that ate anything that moved. In 2 years of having them in one tank, I had the same 12 I put in there, _I think_. I suspect the issue with these is that they're not suited to nano aquariums at all and require absolutely perfect water for younglings to survive but adults can tolerate a lot, maybe.


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## Andrew Butler (19 Nov 2019)

castle said:


> Yeah, they're pretty obvious. I can't say for certain some fry didn't make it, they were in with relatively voracious fish that ate anything that moved. In 2 years of having them in one tank, I had the same 12 I put in there, _I think_. I suspect the issue with these is that they're not suited to nano aquariums at all and require absolutely perfect water for younglings to survive but adults can tolerate a lot, maybe.


Assuming we're talking about limnopilos naiyanetri I only stumbled on these this morning on the bay and they got me curious so I've sent the seller a question asking if they are wild or captive bred. I'll update when I find out.
PFK did an article on them around 10 years ago if anyone is interested.


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## LondonDragon (19 Nov 2019)

Tried them about 10 years ago or so, they did not last very long, I would not try them again! There are more common aquatic crabs you can try that are easier to keep! Maidenhead Aquatics usually keep them!


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## MJQMJQ (19 Nov 2019)

I would recommend vampire crabs a paludarium would work great.They are easier to keep and pretty.I agree cos i saw a lot of the crabs in the shop display tank were dead and was like omg.Wild caught stuff is sure not sustainable and Im guessing theres also massive deaths during transport that we dont see.


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## Paul27 (19 Nov 2019)

LondonDragon said:


> Tried them about 10 years ago or so, they did not last very long, I would not try them again! There are more common aquatic crabs you can try that are easier to keep! Maidenhead Aquatics usually keep them!



So they have been around for a while then. Surprising how after so long there not commonly bred but by the sounds of it there must be a lot of difficulty breeding them.


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## ollyUK (20 Nov 2019)

Paul27 said:


> So they have been around for a while then. Surprising how after so long there not commonly bred but by the sounds of it there must be a lot of difficulty breeding them.



And of course, the breeders would love to solve this so will have thrown quite a lot of resources at attempting to breed I would have thought!


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