ID on Crab please!

samaus31

AC Members
Mar 28, 2007
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I recently bought a medium rock full of encrusting lemon xenia...or so it was named at the LFS. It looks like pompom but without the stalk and like the name says it just grows horizontally without pulsing. Now after acclimating the xenia for a bit i pulled it out of the bucket and noticed a small white crab with 1 big claw and 1 small claw with a brown pattern on its back??? Any idea what this guy could be? I put him in the tank anyway thinking he was fine but later thought about it a bit more and went to look for him but he was gone. Today i found that he has molted. I cant really take a picture of him since i havent been able to see him since i put him in the tank. Plus i dont know how to add a picture on this place hahah. Any advice would be helpful.
 
but porceliens' claws are the same size. i supose it is possible that if one was broken off, the smaller one could be one growing back. I think a picture would be pretty much necessary if it isnt a porcelein. perhaps you could take a picture of the shell that molted? For what i have seen, they are also much more active so you would have seen it most likely. They have to be out in the open in a good amount of flow to filter phyto as germanman mentioned, so you see them quite often.
 
well, i got the molted shell and its pure white, no coloration at all and the one claw that was on the molt was the small one, he did not have the other claw on the molt. i got a pic and i will have to post it soon sorry for the delay :)
 
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