remove crab?

[steve r]

i just saw a small red crab with brown algae on his back legs like an emerald might have. he also has pointy pinchers with black tips. should i try to remove him? if so, what do you do with them? i am setting up a refugium this week. i thought about putting him in there

steve r

 

[Gatorfreak]

My personal experience is that all of the hitchhiker crabs (with the exception of porcelain crabs) devour corals and anything else good.

 

[RocketSeason]

I have that kind in my tank. No luck so far in removing him though.

 

[EL Diablo]

I'd yank him. My crabs cant be trusted and will soon be gone.

 

[quarryshark]

I agree, to the fuge with him.
I have one I am tying to catch now after finally catching the mantis. 8O

 

[sevise]

You could always get some type of stick and smash the crab with it. The rest of your cleanup crew will make short work of the remains.

Or if you have a larger mantis, put the crab in with him. My mantis made short work of the hermit crabs I added to the tank, he doesn't care for snails though. Can't say I blaim him I don't like es-car-go myself, but crabs cakes mmm.

 

[austinsdad]

I was told that crabs with pointy pinchers are most likely bad news. Sounds like the hitchicker I just got of mine. He was tan, hairy, and had black pinchers. I was about to resort to stabbing until I caught him on a small piece of tonga rock at the top of my tank one day. Yanked the whole rock and got lucky.

When down low, catching him outright may be just about impossible. Traps may work with repeated efforts. Stabbing is hit or miss (get it? hit or miss? ), but with some effort, you'll get him sooner or later. But get him.

 

[revhtree]

I've got one to get myself! Just found him after 9 months of the tank being set up. I wondered why poylps would go missing, and my xenia was chopped off.....now I know!

 

[itzafugasi]

take it out! i actually got 3 crabs out that were like this. one of them actually killed my firefish when he was in his bolt hole. i put them in a jar for now...dont know what to do w/ them

 

[austinsdad]

Donated mine to the LFS to keep me from flushing it. Didn't have a fuge then. That made me feel a lot better.

 

[lando]

If it has black-tippd ponchers it is most likely a stone crab. Take it out. Bring it to the LFS and give ti tto them or trade them for a few reef hermits. Sevise, smash it with a stick...are you crazy? We are in the hobby of keeping life, not taking it.

 

[quarryshark]

Sevise, smash it with a stick...are you crazy? We are in the hobby of keeping life, not taking it.

Ya, and good luck with this if you have any amount of rock. Those suckers don't come all the way in the open much and when they do, they are lightning fast.

 

[sevise]

I saw him in one of my caves with his claw-o-death sticking out waiting for something to pass by. I lured him out with some shrimp then got him. Its a quicker death than if I had thrown him in with my Mantis. I'm planning on stocking my tank with smaller fish and by the looks of him he could of easily made lunch out of some of them.

http://cs3.sunyocc.edu/~rassenhe/Images/HPIM0300.JPG

 

[RocketSeason]

wow. good job.

do you hire your crab hunting skills out? I have about 40 you could take care of for me!

 

[austinsdad]

Wow! 8O

RocketSeason - you got that many in only a 37g? They came in on your 40lbs of rock???

 

[RocketSeason]

It was a joke. I had a TON when the rock arrived. I think I am down to about 6 after removing probibly a dozen of them.

 

[revhtree]

I tried the bottle trap method last night! I caught 3 snails, and a pepp. shrimp.....No crab yet!!!

 

[sevise]

The only large hitchhiker I have left is a crab. Coloring is a sandish tan with a very rough texture. His claws are the same as the carapice. I've only seem him pick at the LR so I'll leave him for now.

 

[indy]

I found 1 crab after being set up for over a year. Never saw him until I swapped tanks. I have no idea where he came from as I started with 3 small pieces of LR that I inspected several times. I see him fairly often now, but so far he's always picking at bare rock so he gets to stay.

 

[RocketSeason]

I tried the bottle trap last night. caught one crab.

not to shabby!!!

revhtree, did you burry the opening in the sand a bit to give the crab a little place to walk up to the opening?