It's Molting Time!

[Balance]

Hello All!

I'm an experienced aquarist who just recently got back into the hobby.

I have been reading the board for a few months and I finally decided to take the plunge, register and say hello.

I also wanted to share my recent excitement.

Last night, while my wife and I where out having ice cream, 1 of our fiddler crabs decided to MOLT!
We got the crabs a few months ago because my wife thought they were cute! I was very happy to see that the female has molted and the male looks like he will molt within the week.

I'm happy to see so many friendly aquarists on the message board. I certainly wish I had this good of a resource to rely on when I was a kid with my first aquarium.

Cheers!
*celebrate

 

[depthC]

Sound exciting and interesting, can you get any pictures of them?

- depthC

 

[steve-0]

my blue lobster molted 3 days ago

 

[FroggyFox]

I HAVE MOLDY SHRIMP AND BALANCE HAS MOLDY CRABS! I'm laughing...sorry everyone gives me crap because I spelled molt mold one day in chat.

That is cool

 

[Balance]

are those blue lobsters hard to keep?

I saw them in one of the LFS and they look really cool!

I'll try to get a picture of the molted crab shell, it might be really hard since the female is practically on top of it all the time. Plus she might have eaten it already (though I'd be surprised, it's a big shell!)

 

[Balance]

froggyfox21: the male does look kinda MOLDY!

he's got that gray-green my-skin-is-falling-off look to him!

 

[steve-0]

my lobster is so easy to care for
he is in with a few african cichlids...and he can hold his own mostly they are afraid of each other.....i feed him shrimp pellets and he also likes to munch on cichlid flake

When i bought mine the tank light in the lfs burned out ...and on the tank it said lobsters 9.99 so i bought one not knowing it was blue until i got into my car. I got back the next day to see if they havbe anymore and find that the electric blue lobsters were 50 dollars.......I lucked out

 

[bluegourami2]

i had three fiddler crabs back in the day (and by back in the day i mean six months ago). i only had one of them ever succesfully molt. the others seemed to die in the process.

so, how she molt? did she hide when doing it? did it take awhile?

mine when it molted hid in a decoration and i didn't see it for a week. i pulled out the decoration, saw the shell, and figured it was dead, just to turn around and see the crab crawling out from the deco and taking off full speed across my floor.

 

[Balance]

she only took about 2-3 hours to actually molt.

she definitely hadnt even started the process before I left to go out last night. when we came back she was done.

we have both of the crabs in a medium sized reptile keeper, no real decoration in there just gravel, river rocks and water. she must've just crouched down by one of the river rocks and molted all in one shot. the shell was in pretty good shape too. she exited it from the back leaving a very small exit hole.

did you leave the shells for the crabs to consume after they molted? everything i've read so far has said that they will defintely die if they aren't able to eat their old shell.

Steve-0 : can that lobster be fully immersed in fshwater or does need brackish water or some dry land?

 

[fishysmell]

I had a singapore fan shrimp that molted right after I bought him and he stayed in the rocks for about 2 weeks. I thought I got ripped off since he just hid in the rocks but then one day I found him out fanning and his shell on the gravel and he hasn't hid in the rocks ever since.

And Steve-o, don't those blue lobsters eat any fish they can catch or are you cichlids afraid of it enough not to give it a chance. I have been thinking about getting one. I recently saw a 4 in one at my not so lfs for $25. I had to restrain my wallet hand because I thought he would devour my tank.

 

[crook]

fiddler crabs are cool i used to have some hermit crabs and they are SMART! i had the tank lid off once a few min. later they made a tower of themselfs and where geting out of the tank lol

 

[jaws2]

need pic plez!!!!!!!

 

[steve-0]

first off.......the lobster is fully submerged freshwater doesn't need dry land

I had him in my community tank a couple months ago and he dind't really try to hunt the other fish. when one swam by he would reach out his claws but he was like wayway way too slow.

in the cichlid tank they sut don't bother each other

 

[sailfinmolly]

Hello Balance

Good to meet you!

I had a crab once, we named him Hobs because he was missing is big claw. He had this tunnel he would stay in, and would ocassionally crawl on top and wave at the fish. One day he went into the cave and never came out for about a week. I thought he had died or was only venturing out at night, but one day out pops Hobs, and you know what? He had regrown his claw! I checked the tunnel and found his shell.

Very exciting!

sailfin

 

[sailfinmolly]

Hello Balance

Good to meet you!

I had a crab once, we named him Hobs because he was missing is big claw. He had this tunnel he would stay in, and would ocassionally crawl on top and wave at the fish. One day he went into the cave and never came out for about a week. I thought he had died or was only venturing out at night, but one day out pops Hobs, and you know what? He had regrown his claw! I checked the tunnel and found his shell.

Very exciting!

sailfin

 

[fishboy]

WOW! Would love to see that!

Always wanted a crab but i was afraid they would eat fish lol.
Anyway, great job!!! Welcome aswell!