Crab Identification

[RothChyld]

Can anyone identify this crab?

- He is a dull red with hair all over his body.
- His claws appear to look like stone crab claws which are slightly yellow with black tips.
- He is pretty small and is comparable to an emerald crab in size.
- He seems primarily nocturnal.
- He takes frozen when I give it to him.

I have not lost any fish and I suspect he came into my tank a month ago or has been doing a good job hiding.

Thanks in advance!

Mike

PS. Please note the author of this thread is by no means biased in saying that this crab is a "he".

 

[RothChyld]

I guess when you preview a reply you lose your attachment. Here it is.

 

[mogurnda]

Ooooh! Spooky!

It looks like what I call a "hairy crab." Clever name, huh? It seems like the lore is that if it's got strong, dark-tipped claws it's probably a troublemaker. I had a batch that came in on TBS live rock. They ate all the arms off my serpent star (took several months, but they grew back).

If you don't have anything slow and easy to molest in the tank, like stars or fanworms, it may not be a problem.

Seems like losing your attachment when you preview is a bit of a bug. It's happened to me more than once.

 

[RothChyld]

I caught the little bugger after about 1 hour of putting a tall beer glass with a frozen cube against the rock. Yes he was dumb enough to go in. I am going to bring him to the LFS to find a more suitable home. He was a troublemaker and I have read about them killing fish as well. Bottom line if you see one of these he's bad news unless you are in a fish only system with large species. He would then be one heck of a scavenger.

Mike

 

[mogurnda]

In my dream tank, there will be a portion of the sump dedicated to guys like that who come in with the rock. It's a pretty crab.

 

[RothChyld]

I was wondering about whether or not I could put him in my wet-dry to clean up. Would that work? Would I have to supplement anything in there? I have live rock as the medium but this guy is so big he probably wouldn't be able to get around it.

 

[gbolton]

He would probably work great in there. As long as he can stay submerged you would be surprised in the creivces a crab can slide through.

 

[caz]

click on bad crab

http://www.tbsaltwater.com/diy.html

 

[M-pire]

I went down to TBS a few weeks ago to buy some live rock, and they had these guys in their own tank. They were selling them as feeders, and told me not to try putting them in my reef tank...

 

[M-pire]

Oh, and at TBS they called them "hairy crabs" also!