Simmy Posted December 13, 2014 Share Posted December 13, 2014 Hello everyone, This is my first post on the forum, there is such an amazing amount of information! I need some help with working out whether this crab would be reef safe. He arrived in my tank as a hitch hiker on live rock along with a rock dwelling cucumber (which I am also unsure of whether to keep) Has anyone on this forum seen this critter before? Link to comment
AnnWang Posted December 13, 2014 Share Posted December 13, 2014 Have one in my tank too. Also came as a hitchhiker. No idea what it is. Took a pic and showed it to the guy at my LFS and he said it was reef safe but I'm not 100% sure about it. However most crabs are not reef safe but it should be alright as long as you keep them well fed. Link to comment
TeamIM24 Posted December 13, 2014 Share Posted December 13, 2014 My daughter is a crab expert (and crab trainer) and she hadn't seen it before. Link to comment
Deleted User 8 Posted December 13, 2014 Share Posted December 13, 2014 There really is no reef safe crab. Some are well behaved but always have the potential to case damage. It's what crabs do. Buzz Link to comment
Weasel Baron Posted December 14, 2014 Share Posted December 14, 2014 likely a Xanthid or Mithrax spp, the claws make me think mithrax. I'd get rid of it, I dont trust crabs Link to comment
Maniu Posted December 14, 2014 Share Posted December 14, 2014 Maybe gorilla...... but I'm not sure. Link to comment
CronicReefer Posted December 14, 2014 Share Posted December 14, 2014 The only crab I keep is an emerald mithrax for algae removal. Mine eats bryopsis/GHA/bubble algae and stays off the coral so I'm very lucky to find this guy. The crab you have looks like a type of mithrax crab but it is not of the emerald variety Link to comment
Simmy Posted December 15, 2014 Author Share Posted December 15, 2014 Thanks everyone, think I will try to catch and remove him. That will be fun! He was hiding in there for a few weeks before he made his presence known. Link to comment
Weasel Baron Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 the plastic tubes reef epoxy putty come in work well to capture stuff you dont want in your tank. Just stick a piece of shrimp or whatever and lay it on the bottom of your tank. Keep an eye on it and you should be able to grab the whole thing before the crab has a chance to crawl out. if you dont have any of those then small water bottles do the trick just as well Link to comment
ndrobey Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 White blunt claws usually means reef safe. Appears to be a mithrax algae-eater. Link to comment
Dr.Brain Coral Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 Those aren't blunt claws. Its hairy and has pointy claws. I am pretty confident its a gorilla crab. Link to comment
clownfitch Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 I am certain that it is a gorilla crab also. Opportunistic feeder.. Not reef safe. Link to comment
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