The Perlatus Deaths
Less than a week ago Julia Crab posted the following message on the HCA. I didn’t think much of it at first, but yesterday I lost two straws, so it made me think about this issue.
I have purchased 11 perlatus since November when they became available here. I have three of them left. I did not purchase them all at the same time, but over time as some of the others died of PPS.I know that people think they are “delicate” but I’m not sure that’s what’s going on with them.
First of all, I think that they may very well require a certain minimum amount of room per crab. Four appears to be the upper limit in my 120; if I go above that number one will die off for some reason or another.
Secondly, they are much more territorial and aggressive than other crabs. Adding a new crab or crabs can shift the balance of power in a tank, and then the largest male perlatus will tussle for alpha status. I also have it on good authority that if a male is deposed from position of alpha, he will often die of depression, believe it or not.
I had four perlatus in my tank two weeks ago, 3 males and 1 female. I added another female, and within four days, my alpha male and one of the other males fought and died. They didn’t rip each other up, but died within a day of each other at opposite ends of the tank. Now I’m down to one male and 2 females and I’m going to do everything I can to fight the urge to rescue any more of them when I see them (unless they are tiny ones like Robin’s).
So what I’d like to ask here is for some information. Based on what I’ve just said about my theory of perlatus deaths, I’d like any owners of perlatus to respond to these questions, if they are of a mind to:
Here are my answers to the questions:
1) How many perlatus have you acquired in total, and since what date?
10 - January 13, 2005
2) How many are left? How did each one seem to die?
5
Three have been premolt. One was post molt and didn’t have the greatest of molts; he came up discolored and had two deformed walking legs. He has been weak and going naked quite a bit since his molt. One was unexplained.
3) Have any deaths occurred immediately following the introduction of new perlatus to your tank?
Yes - I post this because approximately two weeks ago I introduced two new straws to the tank. Yesterday I found two straws had passed. The two that passed had been in the tank since I originally setup the tank.
4) What size is your tank?
29 gallon for straws only.
5) Did you actually see any dominance struggles that could have been mistaken for cannibalism attacks or shell fights?
I didn’t see any between the crabs that passed, but I did between a newbie to the tank and my largest straw, Monster. The “dance” was brief and no crab was hurt. About a month ago I lost another straw and the death was unexplained (I was out of town). My crab sitter said that another crab (who was premolt and one that just passed) was eating the dead crab.
