Thai Micro Crab – Limnopilos naiyanetri

The Thai Micro Crab (Limnopilos naiyanetri) is a fairly new and rare freshwater invertebrate in the aquarium hobby. They are only found in one river in Thailand so far and are usually found living on floating plants like Water Hyacinth. In the aquarium, however, they can be found clinging to most other surfaces like other live plants and driftwood.

As the name suggests, these crabs are very small! They have small bodies with relatively long legs but will still stay below 0.5 inch across (including the legs). As such, they are best kept in very small aquariums with no predators. They are safe with live plants and other inverts like non-predatory shrimp and snails, and they use special little hairs on their legs to filter small food particles from the water.