Liverocks/Corals and Crabs

[pwilk20]

Hi, are crabs dangerous to corals?
My liverock (from Liverocks.com ) came with some small crabs and numerous other critters. Yesterday I purchased a pumping Xenia and some yellow polyps. I am now worried that the crabs will damage my corals. Should I get rid of them? If so, what`s the easiest method?

Thanks,

Paul.

 

[jackdp]

Get a positive ID on the crabs, most crabs are notorius for eating anything that looks edible including coral polyps. There are a few crabs that are labelled reef safe but even then you never know. I've had a sallylightfoot for about a year now and have had no problems but he is closely watched.

 

[ohio reefer]

i have 2 sally's and 2 emerald crabs. i have no problems with them. they are awesome with algea

 

[reefrunner69]

Crabs are EVIL!!

That's my story and I'm sticking to it

 

[pwilk20]

Well then, I guess time will tell :? . I`ll keep a close eye on them .

Thanks,

Paul

 

[kwan]

Well, my emerald is eating away my coralline algae which is not a good thing.

 

[pwilk20]

As soon as I finished typing my reply, I glanced over at my polyps. There he was, a nickle size crab picking on the colony! Well, I got my answer, crabs are bad! Stood up to 2 am, managed to remove 5 of the critters .

There is still something making a clicking sound, mantis maybe?

Paul.

 

[jackdp]

My Sally Lightfoot eats coralline for lack of anything better to do, but then the coralline grows so fast that it doesn't really matter, as long as he stays away from the polyps.

 

[jamal-188]

There is still something making a clicking sound, mantis maybe?

Could be a pistol shrimp as well, which are generally safe to keep. I have a few emeralds and a few unidentified that I didn't catch yet but when I do they are gone, they ate a really cool mushroom I got a couple months back. I agree w/ rr, crabs are evil, but I've been lucky with my emeralds so far.