Crazy New Crab Scares Me

futurecanadian

futurecanadian

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Mar 10, 2007
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Cleveland, OH
So I am feeding my main tank the other day which has some new goodies. I will be certain to post pics and details later on today... (new flame angel with odd eating habbits).... anyway.

I am feeding the tank and out from under some LR comes a pincher and it crabs some food and retracts. I then go get a flashlight and do some spotting. I find underneath my LR in a cave is liing a 1-2 Inch dark brown/black crab. He has the body of a fiddler crab and red eyes. very meaty looking. I have never purchased him, so I assume he came with some LR.

I am worried that he might not be compatable with the rest of the tank. As you migth remember, I have had some serious losses in the tank. As of lately I have been good though. My LFS said to catch him and bring him in. I want to do this, but do not want to disturb the tank. Any ideas on how to catch this crab?

P.S. I can not get pictures of him as he is in the cave...
 
The only way you are going to catch him is by grabbing him or getting rid of the rock it is in (which is what I did, except mine was much bigger). These animals are actually quite intelligent and don't usually fall for traps. I do suggest you get rid of it, however, as it will first decimate your clean up crew. As it gets larger, it will begin attacking fishes.
 
If he's hairy with black tipped claws, he may be a gorilla crab and needs to go. I'm not sure otherwise.

There are some commercial traps that may or may not work. You can also try a glass jar with some food at the bottom. Tilt the glass so the crab can get in, but can't climb up the glass.
 
thanks guys. I removed the rock and brought him/it to the LFS... we will see
 
Unknown as of yet. Here is a picture of one. It is some type of Coral Crba is my guess. Heres the link... http://www.wetwebmedia.com/swcrabidfaqs.htm it is the 2nd crab inside that blog. The title of its blog is "Crab ID 1/5/05. Check it out and post any ideas on what species it is...
 
That is a stone/gorilla crab. In any case, it is likely a Xanthid species, which has the tendencies I mentioned above.
 
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