Aegla sp. argentina .:. Freshwater Aquarium Aegla Species Information Page

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Aegla | Aegla sp. argentina

Aegla

Aegla

Aegla sp. argentina

Overview

"Neither Crab nor Crayfish". Apart from shrimp, crabs, and crayfish, another member of the crustaceans has once began to invade the freshwater invertebrate hobby. Aegla are part of a family of mainly marine crustaceans, of which hermit crabs probably are the most well known. I like the little imps very much because of their unusual looks and the fact that they do breed readily in the aquarium. Lets hope that they can reach a wider distribution in the hobby and that other species do get available in the future.

Origin and Background

There are more than 100 Aegla species of many colors and many different in shapes throughout South and Central America . For example there are some in blue and orange, while others have huge pincers, almost as big as the body. However, of this diversity only one species is available to the hobby as no others have been commercially imported and/or established. It is a species of average looks, with a brown-golden to blueish-grey body. Its origin is said to be Argentina, but the exact species is not known.

Appearance

Only 4 of 5 pairs of legs that make up a decapod are visible. 3 pairs of walking legs and one pair of pincers. The 5th pair of legs is reduced and is situated under the tail, which is turned around, like that of a crab. It is used for caring for and cleaning the brood only. Aegla sp. Argentina gets about 4 cm in diameter of the body, males can get slightly larger. One can tell apart males from females by the stronger pincers, males have and by the location of the gonopores. Only females do have gonopores, that look like little holes, on the third pair of walking legs. Sometimes one can see the eggs being produced currently in the ovaria shining through the translucent body, under the tail. Photo below showing adult specimen.

Aegla

Tank Requirements

I keep my Aegla like any other invertebrates I keep at tap water, pH 7,8 GH 12 and temperature around 20-22°C (68F-72F). Due to the fact that I keep my tanks in the basement, it does not get very warm there in summer and therefore I do not use heaters. Other people reported that Aegla do not like very hot temperature, roughly anything above 25°C (77F). If it does get hot in your Aegla tank in summer, make sure that at least enough oxygen is dissolved in the water. A lack of oxygen seems to be the main problem for any aquatic animal which are exposed to higher temperature than usual. Aegla seem to like hiding during the day and wandering around and looking for food at night. You can make them more visible by placing their hiding spots at a place you can easily observe. Bricks do make excellent caves for them.

Breeding

I have never witnessed Aegla mating so I cannot tell anything about courtship rituals. However, the females do get berried. They can only have young 2-3 times a year in captivity due to the long time the eggs take to develop. Estimated egg number is about 50 to 100 depending on the size of the female. It takes about 6 weeks until the eggs, which are orange colored in the Aegla sp. Argentina species, turn into little Aegla that do look exactly like their parents and are only 1mm in size at first. Aegla do not seem to feed on their young, so you can leave them with their parents. The young do molt very often at first and you can see them grow with every molt. It takes about half a year until they reach maturity. I am currently raising the second generation. Photos below of various breeding stages.

Newer Eggs Aegla New Eggs

Older Eggs Aegla Old Eggs

Youngsters Young Aeglas

Feeding

Aegla do feed on anything a crayfish would eat, too. Normal fish food, leaf litter, detrius etc. They do like eating small snails, like ramshorn snails. Keeping them with adult apple snails does seem safe. I would not recommend mixing with crayfish of any kind, as I have no information whether that works or what doesn't. Mixing with shrimp is safe, as they do not seem to be interested in catching shrimp and are way too slow to catch them anyway. The same is true for peaceful fish, like guppys or tetras. Be cautious however with bottom dwelling fish, I do know that they can be kept with Ancistrus, but I did not try others.

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All information and photos by Andy from Germany