My Experience with Hawaiian Strawberry Crab

[albinosage]

Thanks for sharing bro, 1 up for you.

Actually, 1 of my idea is to try to keep them as in a species pico tank with tonga branch and weak lighting. I hope this will not spook them too much and provide better opportunity to observe them further.

My strawberry crab is in my sump now with a "all you can eat" chaeto buffet lol. It doesn't get spooked as easily now cos it gets to hide in the shade of the macro algae.

[Gouldian]

The Mating Dance

For most crabs, mating season occurs during warmer weather, and if the crab makes its home in the ocean, the waters need to be a warm temperature as well. Other times during the year, crabs remain dormant or spend their time harboring eggs and releasing young that were created during mating season. When this time arrives, male crabs must find a female crab that has matured sexually and attract her. They do this by performing what equates to an elaborate mating dance. Usually, the male crab will rise onto the tips of his legs and move from side to side in front of the female. At the same time he will wave his claws in the air to attract her. This dance is not only done to grab the female's attention, it is also the time when the male sends out pheromones from glands under his claws into the air. These chemicals sexually attract females and get them ready for the mating ritual. The male will continue to do this until he finds a female who is ready and willing to mate.

Copulation

A female will respond and let a male know that she is ready to mate by following suit and waving her claws in the air as well. A female is ready to mate when she is in the molting stage, which is the only time when her shell will be soft enough for mating. The interested female will turn around and back in towards the male, who then cradles the female underneath him with his legs. They will remain in this position, which goes by different names, depending on the crab, but is often called a doubler. The crabs remain this way until the female's shell is soft enough for mating to begin. In some species of crabs, this can last up to 1 week.

After Conception

When she is ready to mate, the female will expose two triangle-shaped holes in her abdomen called gonopores. The male will then insert slender gonopods, which look like antennae, into the gonopores and transfer sperm this way. Once again, the time it takes for this stage of the mating process to complete depends on the crab, but averages around 5 hours. The female stores the sperm in special areas of her abdomen. They can be stored here indefinitely to create multiple egg sacs throughout the crab's life. When eggs are produced, they are carried underneath the female until they are ready to hatch, and when they do they are released in large groups whose numbers depend on the species of crab.

Source: http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4565603_crabs-mate.html

I am not sure whether I have experienced it but I will report my observations as and when I gather more information.

[yikai]

interesting and cute story!

bro bino, ray and gouldian, only crabs with "paddles" are able to swim. these are called swimming crabs. these paddles are found in flower crabs and mud crabs. our strawberry crab have no paddle feet so they can't swim, only crawl.

bro gouldian, to check if they are male or female, look underside. males have a smaller triangular flap while females have a bigger rounded one.

good luck!

[poomoon]

Bro, I am thinking of selling mine, you want? But it is one single crab la, not a pair.

thanks bro. got mandarin pair now, and that one might end up competing with them for bottom food sources

[Gouldian]

interesting and cute story!

bro bino, ray and gouldian, only crabs with "paddles" are able to swim. these are called swimming crabs. these paddles are found in flower crabs and mud crabs. our strawberry crab have no paddle feet so they can't swim, only crawl.

bro gouldian, to check if they are male or female, look underside. males have a smaller triangular flap while females have a bigger rounded one.

good luck!

Hi Lemon,

Thanks for the info, I agree that looking at the underside is 1 way of telling the sex of crabs but not sure whether it is the case with Neoliomera pubescens as I was not able to see as significant difference to their underside (maybe due to its small size).

Anyway, I found another link with some detailed images of the blue crabs copulating. http://www.bluecrab.info/mating.html

Going through the above link, I realized that my strawberry crabs have been going into copulatory embrace several times. Initially I thought that it is the larger one bullying the smaller crab so I use a tong to break them up.

However, last night it happens again and this time instead of breaking them up, I observe that both crab have initiated the acts. The larger (presumed male) will start by waving its claws and moving towards the smaller (presumed female) crab. The female will responds by have similar movement and upon claws contact the female will roll over to its back with the abdomen facing upwards. The male will climb on top of the female with both abdomen meeting each other.

There were not abrupt motion from but crab and the female did not display any form of struggles. In fact, both crabs were gentle with each other with their claws moving periodically.

During this time, I can see a something small coming out of the male's abdomen which I presumed is it gonopods.

The embrace last for several hours, as I checked on them during commercial breaks while watching TV. They were in their embrace even when I retire for the night.

This morning when I checked, I saw the male sitting in one corner of the bed smoking his cigarette while the female is making breakfast. GOT YOU!

This morning when I checked, both crab have broken from embrace and were at both corner of the tiny tank. Both fed when I sprinkle food into their tank.

I added some iodine in case the female need it for its moult which I have never witness in both strawberry crabs. I have seen empty shells in sally light foot crab indicating that they do moult but I have never seen strawberry crab's shell. I hope that with this set up, I will be able to witness more information about its moults rituals.

Edited June 15, 2010 by Gouldian

[raydiative]

This morning when I checked, I saw the male sitting in one corner of the bed smoking his cigarette while the female is making breakfast. GOT YOU!

Lol... hahah... Gouldian, what kind of "hiding space" did you create in the small tank within the tank??

btw where do you stay? think we need some pics.. hahaha

[Gouldian]

Lol... hahah... Gouldian, what kind of "hiding space" did you create in the small tank within the tank??

btw where do you stay? think we need some pics.. hahaha

Hey Ray, I stay in Punggol. YES, I desperately need pics. I have taken several shots using my mobile phone camera but could not get anything good. I really hope some good samaritans will be able to pop by before World Cup starts to take some decent shots. Btw, I did not subscribe thus cannot offer World Cup party.

[raydiative]

Hey Ray, I stay in Punggol. YES, I desperately need pics. I have taken several shots using my mobile phone camera but could not get anything good. I really hope some good samaritans will be able to pop by before World Cup starts to take some decent shots. Btw, I did not subscribe thus cannot offer World Cup party.

okok.. see if i can drop by tomorrow night? World cup can watch streaming online la.. no need to pay that kind of $$ to those 2 blood sucking telcos..

[Gouldian]

okok.. see if i can drop by tomorrow night? World cup can watch streaming online la.. no need to pay that kind of $$ to those 2 blood sucking telcos..

Sorry bro, will be away till the weekends.

Yup. But streaming cannot compare the broadcast leh....

[Milch_Tan]

hey bro Gouldian & Bino!

Hmm your encounter is truly worthy of a Nat. Geo Wild mini-documentary, my limited experience was the 1 which Bino is having, and I agree that they are extremely timid, despite passing by it at 3am with the lights all off, this crab will still be able to see me and it'll just shuttle away hurriedly.

The last time when I got this, was told that they fought when 2 or more is being placed in the same tank (1 of the s/c's claw was broken, and i think 2 other's with broken legs). Nevertheless it's a truly beautiful species, however like bro bino said, it's really a ninja

I’ve had some success feeding it with “rolled-up” hair algae with tweezers though.

[raydiative]

any updates bro?? found baby strawberries yet?

[Gouldian]

Dear all,

Herewith are the pictures we have been waiting for:

Getting into position

[Gouldian]

Engaging 1st gear.... Wrestling time

[Gouldian]

In-position... pant... pant... pant...

[Gouldian]

Job done, time to rest....

[yikai]

woah pornography is allowed in forums now?

hehe

[bugattilambo]

WOW Nice!!

Crabs I mean!

[Gouldian]

woah pornography is allowed in forums now?

hehe

These images are self-rated NC16 (contains partial nudity and little violence) so no cause of alarm. As there are no closed up shots on the performing body parts.

Anyway, the gonopods were out but I could not get a good pic of it using my mobile cam.

Source: http://www.mda.gov.sg/Public/MediaClassification/FilmsAndVideos/Pages/RatingsFilmsandVideos.aspx

[Guest]

Wow seem so fun to keeping these strawberry crab , make me want to keep some too