My Crab Lost His Legs

[divemasterjim]

When I received my live rock from Live rocks.com I couldnt be happier with it, although I had some losses with the tag alongs. There was a crab about 3 inchs wide under one of the pieces of rock and he looked fine but I have noticed he is losing his legs and was wondering why, I have seen 2 legs and one front claw lying on the bottom of the tank. Now he is not being attacked so i think either he is pulling them off or they are falling off can anyone tell me why?

 

[divemasterjim]

Anybody?

 

[powderbluetang]

hopefully it is not a mantis shrimp they are bad news they can break you aquriam

 

[divemasterjim]

what does a mantis look like?

 

[MT79]

Have you seen the crab? Maybe he is molting slowly b/c of the stress. Are your ammonia/nitrite levels high? The lr curing process is pretty rough on inverts. The mantis being able to break aquariums is mostly an urban legend. Maybe if the mantis was 10" long but I think you'd have spotted him by now .

 

[divemasterjim]

ack i just saw a picture of a mantis and i think i saw one on the rock when i put it in,
it was white not colorful like the picture i saw.
i will keep an eye out. The thing i saw had the same type of tale

 

[divemasterjim]

the crab is hiding under a rock i can just see his claw

 

[darb2]

I'd set up a crab trap. When you catch them you can id them and then decide if they are ok for your tank or need to be relocated.

 

[divemasterjim]

crab trap?

 

[darb2]

ake a straight sided glass. clean it out. place it in the tank on an angle with the rim pointing up. and place some bait in the bottom. most crabs won't be able to climb back out. It may take some time. try to bait it before lights out, and get up earlt to see what you caught