My first hitch-hiker, any ideas?

[mrwizard]

I Bought 20lbs of live rock today added it to my tank and tonight thought I would get my torch out and see if I can see any critters and low and behold I found this, any ideas? Looks evil with those red eyes lol.

 

[Toddww1]

is it alive and moving? looks like 3 demons in the pic lol. is it one thing with red eyes? pic is decieving.

 

[Schism]

Looks like a crab of some sort. Perhaps a porcelain (sp?) crab.

 

[mrwizard]

Yeah he's still alive, I managed to get a video of him, might help with id'ing.

 

[herp_mommy]

looks like a cool little thing. If you hear snapping/clicking/popping, it's a mantis shrimp. Whatever he is, catch him by getting a tall, smooth glass, baiting it with a piece of food and setting it diagonal near his hole at night. Should catch him by morning. Just make sure he can't use the shrimp to climb back out.

 

[mrwizard]

looks like a cool little thing. If you hear snapping/clicking/popping, it's a mantis shrimp. Whatever he is, catch him by getting a tall, smooth glass, baiting it with a piece of food and setting it diagonal near his hole at night. Should catch him by morning. Just make sure he can't use the shrimp to climb back out.

Yeah he's very cool, haven't heard him make any noises so that's good lol. Think I'm gonna catch him and let him set up home in the sump, the other half wants cleaner shrimp so don't want the crab having them for dinner haha.

 

[Flreefer]

Yeah, I was thinking Mantis too, but it looks more like a crab than a shrimp.
Don't know what it is, but I agree too, thing looks pretty darn evil!!
Putting him in the sump is a great idea, this way he can be monitored and easily fed, and kept away from any other stock.
Hope you figure out what it is, I'm curious too!

 

[Yaxley]

Definitely some type of crab I would say judging by the size/claws...very cool! More pics when you get him in the open would be great!

 

[Toddww1]

it is a crab, u can see that in the vid. looked in my ref books and i believe it is an anemone crab. book says they will come out when food dropped in the tank. mine does when i add some pellets. try that to get him out of the hole. very cool hitchhiker.

 

[mrwizard]

In glad it's not mantis, what a 1st present from the saltwater world that would of been :/ gonna try set a trap up tonight and hopefully he'll make an appearance, he's only a little fella but your right he looks evil haha. And thanks for the replies, I will update when I have more pics.

 

[mrwizard]

Was looking around the tank again last night, I had my torch out lol, found another hitch hiker, it also looks like a crab but this one is BIGGER, haven't seen the whole crab but his legs are BIG!

Was gonna set a trap tonight, problem is I haven't got any fish or crab food is there anything else I can use that we eat ourselves? I have Tuna, would that work? Lol

 

[Rutrag]

Plain tuna packed in water would probably work. How about a piece of raw shrimp?

 

[I.have.the.salty.bug]

it is a crab, u can see that in the vid. looked in my ref books and i believe it is an anemone crab. book says they will come out when food dropped in the tank. mine does when i add some pellets. try that to get him out of the hole. very cool hitchhiker.

Lucky to get a hitchhiker like an anemone crab

 

[mrwizard]

Plain tuna packed in water would probably work. How about a piece of raw shrimp?

Yeah think I'm gonna have to wait to get some, it's a bank holiday over here so not many places are open. Thanks

 

[mrwizard]

CAUGHT ONE!! Haha figured I'd give the tuna a try and within an hour or 2 he couldn't resist, I think this is the bigger one, the claws on this guy are huge!!

 

[herp_mommy]

Glad you caught one. Where do you plan on putting him?

 

[mrwizard]

Glad you caught one. Where do you plan on putting him?

Me too, I treat it as a challenge haha. He's in the sump already, i took a few pieces of live rock out of the dt and had some left over base rock so made him a little cave in there.

 

[Toddww1]

that one isnt an anemone crab. i forget the name but ill post the page from my invert book tonight so u can read about it. pretty cool though. u seen the first one u posted again?

 

[Sniperhank]

You caught yourself a green matrix crab!

 

[mrwizard]

that one isnt an anemone crab. i forget the name but ill post the page from my invert book tonight so u can read about it. pretty cool though. u seen the first one u posted again?

Thank you that would be brilliant.
Yeah seen the first one again last night after I caught the bigger one, he's my next target haha.