Hitcher Crab with one little Claw and one BIG Claw. NEW(PIC)

[EL Diablo]

Every so often I see this crab that hitched on my LR.
I could never get a good look at him until last night.

It was too dark to get a pick.
He's at least the size of quarter.
A bit hairy, and one claw was much bigger than the other.
Way bigger.

Anyone know what type of Crab this is.

His pinchers were sharp and pointy. Not exactly
Reef safe I assume, He hasnt touched any of
my corals though.

I am thinking with the big claw this is my snapping
culprit.

Since he hasnt touched any Corals in over 2 months
do you think he is ok?

So far so good. or maybe he is reef safe, Doubt it though.

Thanks

 

[Brad]

The one large claw and one smaller is the calling card of the Pistol shrimp, who is known for making those snapping/popping noises.

But...you wouldn't generally mistake a shrimp for a crab. Pistol shimp are very uncrab-like.

So....if it is a crab I have no idea what it might be. Most people like to remove crabs from their tanks, but I have many, many of them and they don't seem to cause a lot of trouble. They seem to strip the coraline off the rocks in places, but it grows back soon enough. In fact, I'm starting to think that the coraline actually grows back faster on the areas where the crabs have stripped it.

 

[EL Diablo]

Yup it's a Crab for sure, I've seen Pistols and the Claws are just like that.
One big and one Small.

I'll try to get a pic but it's gonna be difficult.

 

[Fluff]

Perhaps the smaller claw is due to a lost limb growing back. Maybe it takes a few molts for it to grow to normal size? Just a thought.

 

[lando]

The advice I got from Mike at liverocks.com was if the claws have black tips they are a stone crab=bad crab. If they do not have blacked-tiped claws they are, most likely, reef safe. When in doubt get it out.

 

[EL Diablo]

Thanks Lando,

I dont remember the color of the claw tips.

I'll look for him tonight. I'll feed the tank to get his interest.

 

[Brad]

I've got a few of the black tip claw type you mention....stone crabs...what damage do they do? Their noctural, so I haven't been able to see them in action...

 

[dralarms]

what damage do they do

Snails, hermits, anything slow will become a midnight snack. My son had one and it got 4 or 5 of his snails in just about a week. 8O

 

[i have crabs]

i have 1 and he was ok for about 5 monthes untill i seen him try to kill a bumble bee snail and then killed a zebra hermit
now he and his rock are in another tank with just crabs in it

not shure how to post a pic so i wont

 

[EL Diablo]

ok guys I got a Pic. not the best cause he is way in the back of the tank but good enough to see the claws. and as you can see they are black tipped. so I guess he is a bad guy.

Funny thing is I have close to 20 snails, a few small hermits, and a bunch of corals and for months I have had no problems. Guess I have been lucky.
Looks like this guy gotta go.

When I snapped these pics my Goby was right next to the crab and the crab just flexed his claws out and the Goby just looked at him.

Here are the pics

So it looks like the recommendation is to yank this fella

 

[lando]

I would get rid of it. See if the LFS will trade you a few reef hermits for it.

 

[Rocket2001]

is it possibly a fiddler crab the are know for one huge claw and one small claw