Wounded Emerald Crab

Question
I have a small emerald crab that was originally wounded when the two other emerald crabs I purchased at the same time fought with him and he lost 2 legs and 1 claw. That was about 3 months ago and nothing has ever grown back as I had hoped. I have been feeding him sinking pellets and brine shrimp about 3 times a week to make sure he is getting enough nutrition. Today I noticed that he has a significant hole in his shell on his back. He is in a 75 gallon saltwater tank with soft and stony corals, live rock, live sand, assorted fishes, 3 other emerald crabs, and a red crab. I'm not sure what has happened to him but will he survive with this injury? Are there things I can do to patch the hole? Any advice would be welcome, thank you for your assistance!

Answer
Hey Desiree,

Typically crabs shed thier skeleton/shell as they grow larger... so, if your crab is still eating and doing well, he will grow and he will grow a new shell over time


BUT, it should be noted that you might have too many crabs in your tank..

crabs are omnivores which means they will eat anything they can...

And they usually eat dead fish and critters and fish waste and leftover food stuff.

If you have too many crabs they will become more agressive and start killing snails and other critters instead of waiting for them to die naturally


Also, it might have been that the two crabs yo ubout were a 'pair' and they attacked and were kiling what they thought was a threat to thier 'family'/offspring/mating cycle


again, that comes back to how many crabs you should have in an aquarium


And my answer will always be... the least amount of crabs as possible to keep your tank healthy


and since you probably dont NEED any crab for a healthy tank, then you can get by with zero, or maybe ONE...

after that, Im guessing you will have ongoing 'mysterys' and other events that may not be in your plans...


good luck and please keep me posted.

If you would like to join my new forum at www.thelittleocean.com and discuss this further with me, or others, (who probably dont agree with me), then please log in and post something in the introductions section...

I look forward to hearing from you soon


bill