Vampire crab

Care at a glance

The vampire crab from Java and neighbouring islands is a small, spectacularly coloured crab with purple or orange legs and bright yellow eyes, from which it takes its name. Remarkably, its young hatch as fully formed crabs, with no larval stage at sea.

Important: it is not an aquarium animal but a bank dweller, and it will drown in an ordinary aquarium with no land area. Keep it in a paludarium with a damp land section, hiding places and a shallow water part, and cover it well because it climbs excellently.

Good to know

• Territorial
• Digger — needs fine sand
• Known jumper — cover the tank

Related species

• Giant freshwater shrimpMacrobrachium rosenbergii
• Red claw crabPerisesarma bidens
• Japanese trapdoor snailViviparus malleatus
• Redclaw crayfishCherax quadricarinatus
• Horned nerite snailClithon corona
• Spixi snail (zebra apple snail)Asolene spixi