Warning to emrald owners

[c0mf0rt]

I think I've finally figured it out... I was looking through Julian Sprungs book and he talks about normal emerald crabs and ones that are much larger....

Well I added two of the "larger" ones with MAMOTH claws and noticed my coraline was starting to get eatin..... then I got home tonight and noticed the emerald duking it out with a hermit crab.....

My guess is that the smaller ones are safe and that the mamoth claw ones are more aggressive and capable of pinching of coraline....

buyer beware.....

I've managed to put on of the larger ones in the fuge....looking for the other......

 

[grimlock3000]

Pic? I want to see how big these claws are...

 

[c0mf0rt]

Got some things to do tonight.... I will take one when I get a sec...... they are noticeably bigger.... I mean the claws on these suckers are huge....

 

[fualku]

One of my emerald crabs has grown very large while the other two remained much smaller. I have two of the green and one of the blue kind. I read that the largest ones are about 25mm across. Just the carapace, not including the legs. They wont get any bigger than that. He has not been a problem yet.

 

[c0mf0rt]

I'm thinking they are two different kinds though.... I mean I have had two for months and they haven't gotten any noticeably larger.... while the other two I bought are at least twice the size.... since I've added them I've started noticing damage.... and trust me from the pinch I took they can hurt stuff.....

 

[fualku]

One of my emerald crabs has grown very large while the other two remained much smaller. I have two of the green and one of the blue kind. I read that the largest ones are about 25mm across. Just the carapace, not including the legs. They wont get any bigger than that. He has not been a problem yet.

 

[jenpc]

One of my emeralds has gotten very large! His front claws are just large..reminds me of popeye..ha ha. So far I haven't noticed him eating anything but algae, but I will keep my eye out.

 

[c0mf0rt]

I posted the pic at the top... not a great one but take a look at the claws...

 

[jenpc]

exactly like mine..ughhhh!! Now I will really watch him!

 

[c0mf0rt]

I'm glad you can tell the difference in claws... I wish I could get the two next to each other.... but the difference is huge.... I mean the claws on these are about four times the size of my other emeralds......

 

[jenpc]

My 2 emeralds have been molting at the same time, but Joe..MY VERY large crab..he is twice the size of the smaller crabs claws. Did they say what kind of crab he is? Just a type of emerald or not?

 

[c0mf0rt]

Yeah it's just another type of emerald. Different latin name etc. obviously because of the size difference........

 

[grimlock3000]

This is my Emerald Crab. I have personally not seen many other Emerald Crab so I am not sure what is normal for one of these. I suppose this is the potentially evil large claw type???

 

[c0mf0rt]

looks like one of the larger ones to me.... these pics are so hard to tell though ... hard to measure the scale......

 

[Brad]

I have two and they are both as large as I've seen. Yes, I've seen them pick off coraline, and also scrape at some coral...but they are also macroalgae eating machines. Coraline grows back.

 

[jenpc]

That looks identical to my large emerald. When you have a big and a small one its very easy to tell. I haven't had issues with him though. A few months ago I got them both and they were both small ...its incredible the difference. After a few moltings my larger crab has just doubled the size of the smaller. The claws are the biggest difference. The smaller one hides a lot more also. They were both out this morning, but normally I really have to search for him.

I, personally, am just going to keep my eye on him as he appears to just love eating algae and hasn't bothered anyone else. I dont think taking him out would be beneficial to my tank.

 

[quarryshark]

I've never had a problem with one. I have 4 in my system and they are always busy cleaning rock. 2 of them are pretty big.

 

[grimlock3000]

Something in my tank was eating Coraline Algae, however I think it was the Keyhole Limpets which were all eliminated last week. Even if the Crab does eat the stuff, not sure if it could eat it fast enough to do damage. I am going to keep an eye on it though...

 

[quarryshark]

What people forget it that even if an animal eats coraline, they still have to poop it out, it can then spread again. Not as big of a problem as many think.

 

[c0mf0rt]

True...but isn't that the point.... they're system is designed to absorb the coralline.... don't really know how much would be left....

I might leave the second titan crab but two were just doing too much damage... and after I saw that sucker fighting a hermit he HAD to go to the fuge....