Hitchhiker ID help please..

[sspark]

hi guys.. i just got back into the hobby, picked up a few things and these guys came along. I was wondering if they are safe to keep in a reef tank.

Thanks in advance for your help.. :wavehand:


http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d166/x521spark521x/crab.jpg
Here is 3 shots of it at different views..

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d166/x521spark521x/worm.jpg
This guy can expand from an inch to approx 5"

[bigdog0598]

bristle worm....only harmful in large amounts and you'll need something to eat them, keep in mind if you rip in half you now have 2 worms! not sure about the crab, but as my LFS says if you didn't buy and don't know what it is....probably not something you want in the tank....

[aleonn]

Hope you wore gloves when you handled the bristleworm. Their stings can hurt a lot! I'd get rid of bristleworms that size, but when they're small they're good scavengers and generally don't harm anything. Not sure about the crab, though. Did it come on an acropora coral?

[JPMagyar]

Bristle worms are a fact of reef keeping life and definitely reef safe though annoying as heck when you grab one by accident. They have a way of hiding in the smallest of crevices and I've never seen a mature reef that didn't have a few lurking somewhere so I'd say "live and let live" for the wormy.

The crabs are slightly more controversial as there are so many varieties that come in on LR and acropora that honest identification is often difficult. The opinions on how to deal with crabs like the one you found can be quite opposite. I, for one, believe small crabs like that are great at picking away at parasites and bugs so I leave them alone especially when they arrive inside an acropora. If you ever get a chance to visit Jason Edward's spectacular tank at the Greenwich Aquaria shop you'll see plenty of small crabs in his colonies as he too believes in "live and let live" when it comes to tiny crabs.

Truth be told, though, I do NOT know what kind of crab that is so there may be a small chance it will grow up to be an 8 inch fish eating monster, but really I doubt it. In the end, I would suggest the crab also is reef safe until proven otherwise and I advocate letting it live :strange:, with the caveat that many folks here on RC and elsewhere would disagree.

Anyways, just one more opinion to "chew on" . . . :spin2:

[KeysKid]

The crab could be a little juvenile stone crab. Just my guess.

[SwampyBill]

Bristleworms=good thing for cleaning detritus from tank. That crab looks kinda hairy to me, & if that's the case, it's a gorilla crab & NOT reef or fish safe...Maybe others can chime in on the 'furriness' I'm seeing to make sure.

[gp2]

Thanks guys! Just saw a worm like that in my tank yesterday and I had no clue what it was....good to know.

[rickb]

The worm is good.

As for the crab, the claws look like pinchers vs "safe" crabs which have claws that have grinders on the end. I'd throw it in the sump, at least thats what I go by.

[Rich1427]

i was told that crabs with pointy claws are not reef safe and the ones with blunt like pliers are but thats what i was told take it with a grain of salt

[sspark]

Great! Thanks everyone for your helpful info.. I found this worm in my 3g picotope while I was feeding, it extended almost halfway across the bottom sand. The crab actually was hiding in a snail shell that I picked up for my hermit crabs. It looks like it has pointy claws, so I'll throw him into my little refuge along with the worm. Thanks again everyone.