Decorator crab, yay or nay... Help

[Tgreen182]

I've had this decorator crab for a few months in my reef. It's always a joy to see him going through different styles. He try's on shell hats, rock shoes, various wardrobes. Last night he decided to mow down a colony of zoanthids for a new head piece. Came out of nowhere, very upset. But to my surprise all the Zoas are open and seem to be enjoying the ride. What would you guys do???

[R33FM4N_RC]

I would take him out, but I am very particular about how my corals are arranged. Also, I have experienced and been given mixed reviews on crabs getting along with other tank mates. I would keep him in a sump or another small tank. Decorators are really cool.

[Betta132]

They can be dangerous to fish and inverts once they start getting larger. My suggestion would be to keep him in a refugium or clearly visible sump and give him a bunch of stuff to wear.

[Tgreen182]

He's to big for my sump, and I really don't want him in my frag tank. Maybe my LFS will give me a little extra credit for his added bling lol. Hopefully he feels fancy enough for the night.

[Calappidae]

They can be dangerous to fish and inverts once they start getting larger.


They are very oppertunistic crabs. They're cool for a crab only reef tank where they won't really hurt much and will decorate themselves, but in a general fish tank, they require one eye open.

[Bent]

I say keep it. Zoas are a weed.

[Tgreen182]

I woke up this morning to my pulsating xenia walking across the floor. The decorator won't stop decorating lol. It really does look cool, I'm truely stuck on the decision. All of my corals are hardy enough to withstand the uprooting. The Xenia is open and pulsating. Might keep him, the only thing left to surprise me would be a Kenya tree top hat haha

[R33FM4N_RC]

That's awesome. I love those guys.

[Calappidae]

One thing to keep in mind, is that corals don't like to touch each other, and the decorator crab seems to not care about that fact.

If you have corals that are aggressive in anyway, you might want to be careful with what the crab can bump into while wearing decorations. Xenia is peaceful, although in the case of aiptasia anemones, shrooms, zoas, etc there may be some chemical warfare.

[Shawn O]

They are very oppertunistic crabs. They're cool for a crab only reef tank where they won't really hurt much and will decorate themselves, but in a general fish tank, they require one eye open.

Was talking to Mrs. O the other day and we both agreed it would be interesting to have an invert-only tank, made up of mostly crustaceans that don't play well with others. I got love for the crabs and would love to set up a tank for them.