r/VampireCrabs

I started out with converting an Ikea cabinet into a greenhouse. Then I found out that I could turned it into a terrarium. Then it turned into a rabbit hole where I learned about Vivarium and Paludarium. I saw so many beautiful builds. One day I learned about vampire crabs and decided to build one myself.

This is a 36x18x18 tank. I wanted a 36x24x18 but I couldn't find anywhere and had to settle. It was such a fun experience. Maybe I will build more mini ones in the future.

Rearranged and optimised my crab-breeding setup. Now holding my rarer species like phricotelphusa limula and siamthelphusa sp. aswell as the growout and pregnancy boxes for geosesarma hagen and yellow eyes.
I have another 12 breeding tanks for Geosesarma and 2 large paludariums for Lepidothelpusa :)

Also have a lot of crabs to give away atm - im in Switzerland.

No crabs yet - need to make sure everything cycles properly and stabilizes at the right ranges, but I'm looking forward to seeing how it progresses for the next month or so. I've built bioactive vivariums before, but this is my first time trying a paludarium and it was a lot of fun to put together! Been wanting to try this for a while and finally got the opportunity. I'd love to hear any tips or thoughts you guys might have!

Just wanna show my newly established 60x30x30cm tank (2 weeks old)! Have added some ramshorn snails and blue jellies in the water section (pardon me for the 1 dead shrimp), and Jupiter isopods and orange springtails in the land section. There's also white springtails and dwaft white isopods, though I've not seen them again since day 1.

I'll be waiting for the tank to fully mature and have the CUC population up and running before introducing vampire crabs!

Is there anything I should potentially look out for or any actionables for me to do/ not to do at this point? Please let me know. Thanks in advance! 🙏

eventually i want to make them a paludarium. but for now we have this. 2 vampire crabs in here(it has a custom lid i just took it off for the pictures)

eventually i want to make them a paludarium. but for now we have this. 2 vampire crabs in here(it has a custom lid i just took it off for the pictures)

A couple have made burrows and such in the dirt, but others are hiding out in the rock wall crevices and gaps. Is that normal for them to hang out there?

I STILL WANT TO SEE THEM

Hopefully some of the others make it to safety 🤞🏼

Or would the crabs destroy/knock it down. I like the idea of a mini beach paludarium

Lately they have been quite active, perhaps with the current heatwave in EU ? All in all, its been fun and work from home just brought another benefit, no clue if im productive…

For the curious ones there are springtails, neocaridina shrimps (mix of blue and red), 15x Paracheirodon simulans, a few snails and some isopods ( they are big so they aren’t getting huntef by the crabs which is great, its some Porcellio laevis orange).

Paludarium is 120x50x50cm with a custom DIY (approximatively done) lid.

...now to wait for everything to grow in

So one of my 4 vampire crabs passed away unexpectedly. This morning i found him not moving next to the food bowl. And yes i am sure this isn’t just a molt. I’d love to preserve him, put him in a cloche and place him on a rock with fake plants around him. I have taxidermied butterflies before so I am somewhat familiar with the process of pining. My question is more how do clean out his shell so he doesn’t just rot? Right now I have him placed in 70% isopropyl alcohol in a small glass jar with a cork lid. Have i done the right thing?

This is my first paludarium and I was wondering how it was looking! Other than the lid, which I’ll be fixing, are there any issues with my tank? I’ll be adding more dirt behind the stump in the corner as well as adding more plants to both the land and water sections (will be adding more sand just got lazy). The dirt is a mix of top soil and sand to help hold shape and aid in drainage when needed and I’ll be buying more botanicals for the isopods/springtails.

My only concern is I have the pump exposed where the crabs can access it. Not sure if it’ll pose problems to adult crabs, but the juveniles may be able to crawl in? The water pressure may stop that but it’s a concern of mine nonetheless. I can’t really put it anywhere else but if it’s an actual reason for concern I’ll find another way to keep the water moving.

Building my first ever paludarium currently and was wondering if having the cord to my pump, and pump in general, exposed would pose any issues. I’m concerned about the crabs climbing up it (as they love to do) and potentially falling, causing injury. Due to the way I set up this tank there’s nowhere else I can put the pump. Any advice as to where I could move the pump, other products I could use, or if it’s fine is greatly appreciated!!

Obviously the tank is not finished and I will be adding decor and hides and stuff please don’t be mean

Water section ended up a little bigger than I was planning, so I’ll end up extending the rock wall out a bit at some point.