Crab ID please, hes striping my liverock

[salty420]

so funny how some say eww how ugly and some say how awesome looking. im voting awesome looking. looks like a black mithrax to me tho i didn't know they exsisted... if he's not working out for you try taking him to your lfs or seeing if a local reefer wants him. good luck to you

 

[vorlx]

so funny how some say eww how ugly and some say how awesome looking. im voting awesome looking. looks like a black mithrax to me tho i didn't know they exsisted... if he's not working out for you try taking him to your lfs or seeing if a local reefer wants him. good luck to you

I have seen a red colored mithrax but never black. I dig crabs. They are fun.

 

[Charlesr1958]

I'm very familiar with that species of Mithrax, and they are very destructive in a coral reef aquarium. I have torn down my entire landscape to be rid of a particuliarly large one that had the habit of snipping off zoanthids and destroying any other sessile inverts as well.

Hitch Hiking Crabs

Chuck

 

[soccerkidbs]

i threw mine in with my puffer

 

[Grins]

i threw mine in with my puffer

Did you name him "dinner"?

 

[Rewd]

I think I might have a similar crab in my tank. Where did your LR come from? I saw something like that hiding way up inside a particularly piece of porous LR one day. Then recently before I moved my tank I was watching it one day and a random black claw reached out from behind another piece of LR to grab at some algae. Startled me at first, but that's all I was ever able to see of it. The only crab I've ever added to my tank was a small emerald crab and some blue legs.

 

[sapgranth25]

i have a fair few Hitch Hiker crabs within my tank & i`ve removed a fair few too.
yes he will be the pest striping your live rock white in areas they work on a 2inch square area of rock grinding it down to white not a bad or good thing suppose really depends if you have an over growth of algae`s in areas....... as they tend to eat algae`s within the tank you always know where they have been with the white area
But i would not trust them forever as CRABS eat most things (coral`s/fish/hermits/snails etc )
i`ve had a few eating my star polyps so i feel the best thing is as you have him remove him from the tank regardless as one less hitch hiker crab is all good because they will most likely be more within your tank....

 

[ersico]

i got one too from a lfs, he was free, i think its a mithrax as well, i have had mine for over 3 months in my FOWLR tank and hes doing great, hes with triggers/lion/puffer/tang/hawk/wolf eel and is thriving. i also have urchins and stone crabs to help with the messy eating habits

 

[vorlx]

I love crabs. I can see where you wouldn't want them in a reef as they could be destructive to your stuff but personally I enjoy them as much as I do my fish.

 

[Nolapete]

Demon crab...lol...looks cool!