BEWARE the "hawaiian strawberry crab"!

[got2envy]

 

biatch

 

[smorrismi]

LOL... yea... it's actually quite simple. You take a risk that buying one could be a menace or it could be a really good addition. I bought mine and he did nothing but come out a night and move around the glass. He knocked over a lot of things, so I put him in my fuge. It's a risk, or it's turns out fine. They are not bad creatures, they just come with some risk.

[MNvikings]

got rid of him. no more terror and all peaceful. i'm surprised it didn't eat my sixline when i had it, but it probably did a better job finding a place to sleep.

[johnmaloney]

tupperware with a ramp in but no ramp out trick to catch a crab IMO

[Timanator]

3 pages, and not even a picture to show us what to avoid.

 

Fail!

[lakshwadeep]

3 pages, and not even a picture to show us what to avoid.

 

Fail!

 

If it looks like a crab from the family Xanthidae, avoid it.

Here's the specific picture:

http://www.google.com/images?um=1&hl=e...434&bih=799

Here's how to ID xanthids (scroll to the bottom)

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-12/rs/index.php

[rbrusletto]

I've heard these guys are lil buggers

[ehwood]

I now have one in my 50 gal. tank. I see it picking away at algae on the live rock as I type this. I haven't seen any corpses around from it so far, though if it wanted to eat a worm or three, I can't say I'd weep over them. I have a damsel and two clowns in there right now, all doing swell with it. I can't verify whether my peppermint shrimp are alive and unharmed at the moment, but I haven't seen any signs of foul play as mentioned earlier.

 

I'm planning to get (another) reef lobster in there eventually (old one died when I initially transferred things into there), and I figure the two will survive one another with maybe the occasional territorial dispute. I'm hoping, of course, that there won't be any nasty fights.

 

So, I can't say I agree with not keeping them. I do have a couple of stationary things - a soft coral and some zoas - and they seem likewise unbothered so far. I also have a few emeralds in there - again, so signs of problems.

 

I might have to try spot feeding Mr. Strawberry a goldfish or some such one of these days, though. Might be fun.