The Great crab escape??

[zenn]

I had a recent episode where a hitchhiker rock crab was killing off my snails and hermits. He was hard to catch but i got him with a trap i made and then threw him into my sump. Today, i see him playing about the rocks in my main tank AGAIN!!! Luckily, he was sitting in this fake coral thing i have and i was able to pick that up quickly and move him back to the sump. Do these crabs find ways back to the main tank through the pipping? Or is that highly unlikely and i probably just have another one?


If he did find a way back into the main, he would have had to go through a physical filter that's too high for him to reach anyways, and then through my mag 9.5 pump(ouch) and up into the main. I guess he could have somehow got into the bubble trap as well but that's too high for him as well. Then he would have had to crawl up the drain pipe with water rushing down. I'm confused

 

[AndyH5512]

Maybe there is more than one hitchhiker in there. Yikes..... LOL.

 

[steve r]

everytime i though i had the last crab another one showed up. and i know they didnt make it back from the sump. i have caught at least 6 from 40lbs of live rock

steve r

 

[melosu58]

I agree it probably has more than one in it

 

[Brenden]

Has to be more than one. I will probably never catch all my crabs. One way I have caught several is I have one of the gripper claws. If I know where the crab is hanging out I will pinch some flake food in the claw and hold it near its hole. It will come out and start eating the food. Slowly open the claw about 1/4" and it will stick its claw in to get the food then grab its claw. I have had about a 70% success with this so far.

 

[zenn]

hmmmm, these crabs don't make clicking sounds do they? I will hear a clicking sound sometimes, not ver often, but usually when it does happen, it will be one click at a time, and maybe 4-5 clicks over a span of about 10mintues. I have a lot of snails and thought maybe it was their shells hitting the glass, but it almost happens too often for that to be the case. I'm wondering if it's not the rock crabs that are doing that.

 

[Brenden]

it will be one click at a time, and maybe 4-5 clicks over a span of about 10mintues

Sounds like a pistol or mantis shrimp to me.

 

[zenn]

crap, i think i would have seen a pistol shrimp by now cause they aren't very illusive, so that leaves a mantis shrimp. Those are bad right? Everythign i've read says they're evil. But i've never seen it if that's what it is? Are they really really good at hiding or something?

 

[Brenden]

Everythign i've read says they're evil.

Depends on who you listen to. I some some in my tank and have not had any deaths from them. I do not know for sure it is a mantis or pistol though. I have set traps several times but always catch a crab.

 

[cal91666]

Are they really really good at hiding or something?

YES they are! I heard the one in my tank for months before finally spotting him and spent several more months trying to catch or trap. It finally got into my overflow and I was able to catch it. All total over a year from first hearing to final removal.

 

[zenn]

will a mantis eat a cleaner shrimp?

 

[cal91666]

I never had that problem. I had 2 cleaner shrimp during my mantis period and didn't loose either until the addition of a Coral Banded shrimp.

 

[Brenden]

A hungry mantis can generally eat anything it wants to. Crab, shrimp, fish are all game. Mike at liverocks says the mantis that lives in the caribbean is not the "evil" variety people always talk about. He keeps several in his tanks. PS. my rock came from liverocks.com I had a 3 inch mantis in my refugium for months. I just sold him this week. I had caught a large crab that was doing damage in the tank. I threw him in the refugium. A few days later I was looking around the refugium and the crab was dinner for the mantis. He had a hole smashed through its shell.