crab ID

[Prometheus]

good? bad? ugly? :)

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c313/Prometheus2/100_1516.jpg

[Bebo77]

good.. you want to keep an eye out for blue eyed hairy crabs...

[jbrunken]

What type of crab is it? It looks very much like the type of crab that I was trying to identify in this post.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=894428

-JB

[chrisstie]

Stone crab

Reminds me of where I used to live. These things would hide in oysters and the barnacles all over the dock.. they can get kind of big and their pinch hurts BAD.. but if they're tiny.. i dont know.. consider him part of your crew? hehe


http://images.google.com/images?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-19,GGLD:en&q=stone%20crab&sa=N&tab=wi

[inlandreef]

I had one of those in my tank that was about 3" It killed all my snails and my brittle star. Needless to say it went into my FOWLR tanks as trigger fish food.

[Dubbin1]

Pointy claws = bad news

[jbrunken]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7831374#post7831374 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Dubbin1
Pointy claws = bad news


Bad news in what way? What would be the downside of relocating mine to the refugium?

And, perhaps more importantly, how in the heck do I catch it (I've only seen the one in my tank once).

-JB

[Dubbin1]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7831442#post7831442 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jbrunken
Bad news in what way?

Killing fish, snails and whatever else it can get a hold of. You can try the bottle trap to catch it and then let it live its life in the sump.

[dime079]

how did you even see that bugger? im pretty sure ive got a crab of sorts (not a hermit) that is killing my gobies. have tried to glass bottle trap the last 4 nights and still nothing :/ i guess we'll see

[jezzeaepi]

OMG REMOVE RIGHT NOW.

Take a look here:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=844422

That is all.

[jezzeaepi]

SEriously though I had one of those and didnt kill him when he was real small. Within a week he quadrupled in size, started eating my large inverts, and got reallll adept at hiding. I eventually had to take apart my rock structure, pull out the rock he was on, blast him out of his hiding spot... then threw him out my 3rd story window =P

Get him out now while he doesnt know your trying to kill him. They seem to figure that one out real fast.

[jbrunken]

He shall be banished to crab-catraz (my sump) for all time.

[thor32766]

yes definetly a bad crab, get him out.

[Prometheus]

Thanks for the ID! They do seem a tad bit aggressive... I watched one run up and throw one of my hermit crabs off the top of the rock structure! That one was actually pretty funny! :D But I also saw one beat up the brittle star and steal the piece of shrimp I had fed him and think they might be responsible for one of my anemone's disappearing. Not sure about the anemone culprit, but they're the only things in the tank that seem capable.

There's two 3" guys in there and at least one small one. Looks like I've got my work cut out!

[reefnetworth]

20 oz. or 2 litre bottle with the bottom cut out. fishing line through small hole in the bottom at the edge. food inside the bottle superglued towards the top. when it enters, pull fast and the water funnels out, the crab stays in. REEF-ON!!!

[jbrunken]

I tried the bottle trap thing last night... I managed to catch my emerald crab in about 10 minutes, but there was no sign of the stone crab, even after leaving the trap in all night.

[Prometheus]

Well, the big guy made the mistake of hanging out on the wrong rock! I picked the rock up and easily shook him off into my net. One down! :) He's about 3" across, so he's a bit big for my sump. Think I'll take him down to the LFS today and see if I can get a credit for him.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c313/Prometheus2/Pic034.jpg

[jbrunken]

Got mine too! I saw him sitting in a rock so I removed the rock and extracted him (he was determined to stay in!).

He's only about 3/4" across right now.

Anyway, I put him in my refugium for now... No good place for him to hide in there.

If he starts go grow or cause problems, I'll move him to my sump.

-JB