dlaunde Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 Hey all, Just received a few corals from live aquaria and noticed a hitchhiking crab living on one of the pieces of LR the coral is attached to. He seems alive and well but I have no idea what kind he is. My tank is 10 gallon with only soft corals and 6 snails for CUC. I know crab are hit or miss with interacting with other invertebrates. Unfortunately I don't have a separate tank or anyone around me who would take him so...what should I do? Put him in and hope he and the snails do fine or.... Thanks! Link to comment
Cencalfishguy56 Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 Hey all, Just received a few corals from live aquaria and noticed a hitchhiking crab living on one of the pieces of LR the coral is attached to. He seems alive and well but I have no idea what kind he is. My tank is 10 gallon with only soft corals and 6 snails for CUC. I know crab are hit or miss with interacting with other invertebrates. Unfortunately I don't have a separate tank or anyone around me who would take him so...what should I do? Put him in and hope he and the snails do fine or.... Thanks! got a pic or description? Link to comment
dlaunde Posted October 1, 2016 Author Share Posted October 1, 2016 got a pic or description? It came attached to a trumpet coral. I also ordered a candy button and green polyp colony. Plus there is a leather toadstool and hairy mushroom already in the tank along with 3 bumblebee snails and 3 astrea snails. Any issues? Link to comment
RayWhisperer Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 Well, I've never seen one of those. Looks like it's probably some type of Xanthid species. Sorry, can't be more help. Probably a risky addition, just as a guess, though. Link to comment
dlaunde Posted October 1, 2016 Author Share Posted October 1, 2016 ....he got into the tank. My fiancee didn't know he was in with the corals and she started arranging them while I ran out for a minute. Do I just wait and see what he does? Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 I think good or bad can be found out by looking at the shape of the claws. I don't remember which is which. Link to comment
seabass Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 Generally, most hitchhiking crabs aren't reef safe. It appears that it might be a mithrax crab (which aren't all bad, but can be opportunistic feeders). Link to comment
dlaunde Posted October 1, 2016 Author Share Posted October 1, 2016 So if I see him/catch him...any suggestions? Don't want to be considered inhumane for disposing of it I suppose. Link to comment
malacoda Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 Hard to tell in the pic, but if I look really close, it looks like the pincers on the end of its claws are pointy an black (which would mean not a mithrax as its pincers be red and the ends are flat kind of like little 'c-clamps'. Pointy, black-tipped pincers usually means not reef-safe ... but not always. There are so many varieties of crabs the only way to be certain is to catch them in an act of misbehaving. As seabass mentioned, this even holds true for so-called reef-safe crabs like red mithrax. I had two that came on my aqua-cultured live rock. One took to eating my acans two months after I put the corals in the tank (no longer a resident in my kingdom). The other has been a model citizen going on 10 months now. I also have at least 3 or 4 with black-tipped claws that came on the live rock as well. The only trouble I've seen any of them cause so far is a bit of digging around the base of my rocks and corals which causes some of the smaller corals to tilt or shift a bit sometimes. If they're out in the open and I can catch them, I yank them out. Otherwise I just let them serve as part of the CUC. Bottom line: I wouldn't stress over it. It's too small to cause fish or other critters any trouble. And unless your tank is uber-clean, it'll probably just feed on detritus and not both anything. That said, if you really want it out, you could try this... Just before lights out, put small chunk of fresh clam or shrimp in the bottom of a shot glass and set the glass on the sand bed so that the rim is touching live rock near where the crab has taken up residence. The crab will go up the rock and down into the glass to feed but not be able to climb back up and out of the glass (too smooth to climb). He'll still be trapped in the glass come morning. Some people have had success with this. I personally have not. Oh, and if you have a shrimp as part of your CUC it may steal the bait before the crab can get in the glass. Link to comment
dlaunde Posted October 2, 2016 Author Share Posted October 2, 2016 I saw the little guy feeding on some detritus on my LR. I'll leave him be unless I see him bothering any coral. Last question: do snails or crabs cause huge ammonia issues when they die? I'm the type that likes to keep track of every organism to make sure I clear out dead bodies when it happens...but with so many crevices in my LR, if a bumblebee crawled in and died I'd never find it. Likewise I don't want to have to lift up my LR weekly looking for empty shells. Do I just leave them be and let nature do its thing as it happens and only remove empty shells or dead CUC members if they're out in the open or easily visible? Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted October 2, 2016 Share Posted October 2, 2016 Something small like that more than likely won't make a dent and the other CUC members would quickly find it and eat it. Link to comment
dlaunde Posted October 2, 2016 Author Share Posted October 2, 2016 Thanks all. Gotta say, the crab does look cute when he's eating off the LR. He can stay lol Link to comment
RayWhisperer Posted October 2, 2016 Share Posted October 2, 2016 You said bumblebee... as in bumblebee snail? Those are snail, worm and micro fauna predators, in case you weren't aware. If you were getting them as detrivores, they won't do that. The only detritus they'll eat is meaty foods that get to the bottom. Nassarius snails will serve that same role better, as they are not predatory. Link to comment
dlaunde Posted October 2, 2016 Author Share Posted October 2, 2016 You said bumblebee... as in bumblebee snail? Those are snail, worm and micro fauna predators, in case you weren't aware. If you were getting them as detrivores, they won't do that. The only detritus they'll eat is meaty foods that get to the bottom. Nassarius snails will serve that same role better, as they are not predatory. Thanks! Link to comment
seabass Posted October 2, 2016 Share Posted October 2, 2016 I agree with Ray, but don't find them to be voracious eaters. So I wouldn't worry if you have one or two, but you don't want a lot of them. Link to comment
dlaunde Posted October 2, 2016 Author Share Posted October 2, 2016 I agree with Ray, but don't find them to be voracious eaters. So I wouldn't worry if you have one or two, but you don't want a lot of them.I'm glad you two said something so I know to avoid getting more in the future. Again all of this is my fault for being unprepared when I went to my LFS last weekend. I wasn't planning on buying but only went to look and got caught up so I didn't have everything researched. Hence getting a peppermint shrip and bumblebee snails rather than more useful CUC like a cleaner shrimp and nass snails. Link to comment
Pjanssen Posted October 2, 2016 Share Posted October 2, 2016 I'm glad you two said something so I know to avoid getting more in the future. Again all of this is my fault for being unprepared when I went to my LFS last weekend. I wasn't planning on buying but only went to look and got caught up so I didn't have everything researched. Hence getting a peppermint shrip and bumblebee snails rather than more useful CUC like a cleaner shrimp and nass snails. Happens to most, if not all of us at one time or another. Keep in mind about the cleaner shrimp that they are called cleaner shrimp because they clean things off of your fish. They are not necessarily part of a clean up crew. I don't believe they eat any algae or diatoms etc. They may help in cleaning up excess food is all, but they usually try to steal food from corals. But they are fun to watch. Link to comment
seabass Posted October 2, 2016 Share Posted October 2, 2016 I agree with Pjanssen. Peppermint shrimp are also considered to be a cleaner shrimp, but they tend to be more of a scavenger. I've never seen one clean a fish, but I have witnessed them harass fan worms, corals, and anemones. They can be very effective at eating aiptasia, but I always end up giving them away due to their natural tenancies. While some people report no problems with these shrimp, my experience has been less favorable. For cleaner shrimp, I much prefer skunk cleaner shrimp and blood red fire shrimp to peppermint shrimp. But I would see how it goes with it; each individual can exhibit different behaviors. Link to comment
dlaunde Posted October 2, 2016 Author Share Posted October 2, 2016 So I found the cave the stow away crab is calling him. He came out to inspect my tweezers as I was gluing coral. He's furry if that helps with identification. Going to try to take some more photos but he is very shy...as soon as I grabbed my phone he popped back in the cave. Link to comment
seabass Posted October 2, 2016 Share Posted October 2, 2016 IDK, maybe it's a gorilla crab. Link to comment
basser1 Posted October 2, 2016 Share Posted October 2, 2016 He's furry if that helps with identification. Going to try to take some more photos but he is very shy...as soon as I grabbed my phone he popped back in the cave. If it's furry, I'd remove it..... Link to comment
Cintax Posted October 2, 2016 Share Posted October 2, 2016 I have had a Bumblebee snail for three years with no issues. I've had a few peppermint shrimp as well. They all ate aptasia but were often a pain in the butt at feeding time. The secret is to feed them first. I keep lots of hermit crabs. I have only had issues with the zebra hermits. My blue legged and scarlet hermit crabs have been great. I would just keep an eye on that crab. Every critter seems to have their own personality, judge by actions not species. Link to comment
dlaunde Posted October 2, 2016 Author Share Posted October 2, 2016 I'm starting to really like this crab. Put a veggie round wafer on my forceps to entice him out into the open and next thing I knew he had grabbed it and tried to run away into a crevice. A for effort on his part. I did get a video of him eating. Best I can describe him is he is hairy like a spider, small pincers but they are definitely pointed. Right now he is just pinching the LR. I can actually spot where he is because he keeps spitting out food which leaves a trail like a smoke signal. Link to comment
dlaunde Posted October 4, 2016 Author Share Posted October 4, 2016 Haven't been able to see him in the last 24 hours. Not sure where he's hiding now. Link to comment
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