Feeding

They are primarily carnivorous and feed on slow moving, (or stationary), bottom dwelling animals such as bivalves, snails, other crabs, hermit crabs, and worms , as well as small amounts of plants and debris. Mud crabs emerge from their hideouts or burrows at night (nocturnal) and forage for food. They rarely eat fish under natural conditions since they lack the ability to catch them.

In culture systems, crabs should be fed with trash fish or molluscan meat @ 5 to 10% of net stocked mass preferably during evening hours every day. As the crabs grow, the feed ration and feeding intensity should be apportioned based on the size of the crab. This is done following regular and periodical sampling of reared crabs.