Crab ID Question

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jgr

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Jan 10, 2006
Messages
9
Location
Berkeley, CA
Over the last 1.5 months or so I've cured my live rock, placed it into my tank, and let the tank cycle (using the dead shrimp method). Today, I finally added some inverts (hermit crabs and snails) and of course as soon as I did this, I noticed a crab which had until now, gone un-noticed. Now I am concerned that my new invert additions might become crab food.

He's pretty skiddish so thus far, I've been unable to get a picture of him. I'll describe him as best as possible, and if you could let me know what you think he might be (and thus how aggresively I should attempt to get rid of him), that would be great. As soon as I am able to get a picture, I'll post it.

He's small, dark blueish grey, and perhaps 2/3'' across. He has two small claws and a pair of red and blue maxillipeds (i.e., arms that have ends that are feather-like in appearance). He uses these to filter the water column.

Any ideas? I've looked around on the internet but have been unable to find anything that looks similar. My only thought (perhaps incorrect) is that since he has the maxillipeds, and thus doesn't need to rely solely on using his claws to capture goodies, he may be relatively reef/invert safe.

Thanks for the help in advance.
 
I agree with cccapt. Sounds like a porcelain crab. Probably the safest crab you can have.
 
Great, thanks for the ID. That was my thought as well. The only thing that made me a bit unsure was that the picture of the porcelain crab showed a crab with a fair amount of color variation on the body, whereas the crab in my tank is (more or less) a solid blueish grey. But given that it has the maxillipeds and does look quite similar, it's probably the porcelain.
 
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