White hairy crab?

[austinsdad]

My vote is for bad crab. Big time. That hairy. Fish, shrimp missing. Of course he'll eat anything already dead, as ANY crab will do. You gotta get him outta there. Maybe the old tilted, baited glass trick overnight will work.

 

[bodie]

I just don't know how I will get it out...

I agree that it's probably a bad crab, but I just don't know how I'm going to get it out without disturbing the rocks and corals in my tank. I've only seen it a couple of times over the course of a few years (and each time it seems to have doubled in size!). I'm not familiar with the method that you described so I'll have to do some more research.

The weird thing is, I noticed my algae blenny bump into it on one of the rare occasions that I did see the crab and it even swam right into the crab and the crab didn't act agressive or try and grab it. And another time, I noticed my cleaner shrimp actually crawl on top of it and it didn't try and attack the shrimp. So I can't be certain that it's actually killing these things or if they just died and then he ate them. Either way, I wish I could identify the specific name and more importantly figure out how to remove it from my tank... Any other suggestions on identifying and/or removing it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[thincat]

Just read back on this post and it explains the tilted glass trap.

 

[AMDPhenomX4]

Teddy bear/gorilla crab?

 

[bodie]

I think you've identified it!!!

Teddy bear/gorilla crab?

OMG! I just did a picture search on Yahoo for "Gorilla Crab" and I found someone that posted pics that look exactly like mine. Thanks for your help. I'm going to have to do some research about them...

 

[bodie]

OMG! I just did a picture search on Yahoo for "Gorilla Crab" and I found someone that posted pics that look exactly like mine. Thanks for your help. I'm going to have to do some research about them...

On second thought, it's definitely a teddy bear crab (Polydectus cupulifer). Bad news is that other people have reported them eating their fish and that's it is definitely not reef safe...

 

[mfdrookie516]

take a glass cup (cleaned very well with no soap of course) and put it in the tank at an angle against some rock. put a piece of some kind of food in the bottom. when the crab climbs off the rock in to the glass, the glass keeps it from being able to get "traction" and climb back out. Then you can remove the cup, and do whatever you want with the crab.

 

[bodie]

Thanks mfdrookie516 for providing detailed instructions, that makes a lot of sense. I'm going to try it, but I'm a little skeptical that I will be successful because I've only seen the teddy bear crab three times over the span of a few years. I'm not sure which rock its hiding in. I also think my fish will sneak in and eat the food before the crab does, but its definitely worth a shot. Thanks again!

 

[CaptainAhab]

Put the cup in at the same time you feed.. No one will be the wiser

 

[0o.Kelsey.o0]

as far as i know hairy crabs are usually the bad ones...i had two in my tank and had 3 emerald crabs, 3 shrimp, and one goby dissapear before i realized it...i managed to capture both and they are now living happily in the sump

edit: sorry i didnt see that you had identified it already lol guess i should read the next page hey. If you can catch it i think you should throw him in the sump if you have one...if not bring him to your LFS

 

[bodie]

Yeah, I haven't been successful in catching it yet, but I will probably drop him in the sump if I can ever catch it...

 

[Mitchell0605]

Good luck man! I hope you catch it!