# They say its impossible (crab breeding)



## DoubleD1996! (Dec 12, 2021)

After plenty of research of how to breed crabs in captivity, the most common answer I see is, "it's impossible." I wanted to try to breed a small species of freshwater crab I could feed to my turtles. I narrowed it down to a species I may be able to breed, regardless of opinions and research, I may be the first to do it. Everyone that knows me knows I like to do things naturally as possible. Enclosures, diet, etc. So I decided to try to build and replicate their natural enclosure outside and not interfere. Hopefully all goes well. I know I'll only be able to do this during the warmer parts of the year. I still have tons of research to do before then.


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## Toddrickfl1 (Dec 12, 2021)

Good luck man


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## DoubleD1996! (Dec 12, 2021)

Toddrickfl1 said:


> Good luck man


I'm gonna need it.


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## ZenHerper (Dec 12, 2021)

A handful of people have been successfully breeding terrestrial hermit crabs over the past ~10 years. The eggs are laid in marine, temperature-controlled water, and then things get complicated. ROFL



Breeding - HCA: Hermit Crab Association



It can be done.

Keep us posted!


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## DoubleD1996! (Dec 12, 2021)

ZenHerper said:


> A handful of people have been successfully breeding terrestrial hermit crabs over the past ~10 years. The eggs are laid in marine, temperature-controlled water, and then things get complicated. ROFL
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks for the info


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## wellington (Dec 12, 2021)

Good luck and don't forget to keep us posted.


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## DoubleD1996! (Dec 12, 2021)

wellington said:


> Good luck and don't forget to keep us posted.


Will do


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## ZEROPILOT (Dec 12, 2021)

Very interesting 
Good luck


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## Tom (Dec 13, 2021)

The reason it is "impossible", at least with most crab species is because there is a planktonic larval stage that is exceedingly difficult to duplicate in captivity.

The same is true for a lot of marine fish and some inverts too.

Good luck in your quest. Maybe you will be the one to figure it all out.


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## turtlesteve (Dec 13, 2021)

So a lot of “impossible” species with a larval stage have been bred by folks that are dedicated enough. Some fish are like this (surgeonfish / tangs) but are now being cultured to meet demand after fishing was banned in Hawaii. Also, an aquarist in Australia managed to spawn and raise giant clams (tridacna sp.) through the larval stage.

These situations require self-sustaining live cultures of multiple types of zooplankton, rotifers, etc. with different sizes to be able to feed the larvae.

Good luck!!!


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## DoubleD1996! (Dec 13, 2021)

turtlesteve said:


> So a lot of “impossible” species with a larval stage have been bred by folks that are dedicated enough. Some fish are like this (surgeonfish / tangs) but are now being cultured to meet demand after fishing was banned in Hawaii. Also, an aquarist in Australia managed to spawn and raise giant clams (tridacna sp.) through the larval stage.
> 
> These situations require self-sustaining live cultures of multiple types of zooplankton, rotifers, etc. with different sizes to be able to feed the larvae.
> 
> Good luck!!!


Thanks for the info


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