Crab hitchikers

[Jarred Darque]

ok, the crab..I think it is a crab actaully looks like a spider..except that he is underwater :/..all the time. I have not seen any pinchers on him, but then again, I have not seen him come out of his hole, only duck in right quick if I come near the tank.

He looks to be mostly a brownish-reddish with some white stripes or somethin.

I have not found any pics even resebling this guy, and because he is so shy, I cant get any pics :/ so he is a) and unidentified underwater spider b) some form of uncommon crab :/ or c) a decorator crab that is undecorated...

 

[Devilishturtles]

I'm gonna move this to the ID forum, so the ID'ers can take a poke at it.

 

[Jarred Darque]

ok thanks

I caught the guy out of his hole this mornin, after the lights had been off for about 8 hours. unfortunately, the camera's batteries decided then to die. and it isnt my camera, so I dont have the charger :/

Anyways, he is a redish brown with a whiter underbelly and white striations across his legs and claws. His body is a bit over half an inch tip to tip, and his claws are about 1/4 inch wide

He appears to have red eyes as well.

 

[roka64]

That's a tough call, without a pic.

 

[Jarred Darque]

yeah I know :/ maybe Ican try and get the camera back later this week.

Should I put off on getting a cleaning crew until I have this guy identified? Or should I count him in as part of the expected bio load? I am thinkin I will need 1 or 2 small shrimp, maybe a bumblebee and the smallest pistol shrimp I can get, I was thinking a couple of snails, and a emerald crab perhaps.

Anyways, would a misc. crab be ok? or should i wait till he is identified before I get anything else? I am kinda worried that he is a larger variety of crab, and was thinking of tryin to remove him thiss weekend when I go to the LFS and trading him out for some of my cleaning crew

(BTW, this is in a 5 gallon, so the size of cleaning crew is very important)

 

[roka64]

I would wait. I would skip the crabs. As they get bigger, some of them like to eat whatever they find or can catch. Keep in mind the bumblebee will eat other snails. Clean up crew doesn't count in your bio-load. Bumble Bee Shrimp would probably do great in that size of tank. Read this about them before you decide:
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=1969