Sal "Lightfoot" Corleone

[mkregs]

My brother and I both have Sally Lightfoots in our tanks. The other day, he saw his Sally beating the crap out of the underside of one of his fish. I have 3 fish in my tank and don't want them to go through the same. I have read about Sallys, but wanted to read real-life stories as I'm hoping that they don't all eventually go old-school gangster on fish. That crab is a great cleaner and is always working, so I'd hate to get rid of it.

 

So, "I'm going to come to you with a favor"...please post your experiences (good or bad).

[tinctorus]

My brother and I both have Sally Lightfoots in our tanks. The other day, he saw his Sally beating the crap out of the underside of one of his fish. I have 3 fish in my tank and don't want them to go through the same. I have read about Sallys, but wanted to read real-life stories as I'm hoping that they don't all eventually go old-school gangster on fish. That crab is a great cleaner and is always working, so I'd hate to get rid of it.

 

So, "I'm going to come to you with a favor"...please post your experiences (good or bad).

In my experience with sally crabs with ieither having them myself or from seling them for a number of years is that they are generally ok when they are smaller

HOWEVER when they get large enough to realize they can catch and kill fish then they have a tendancy to do just that

My suggestion would be to just watch him and se if he bothers your fish as he starts to get a tad bit bigger

oh and if he does i would immediatly take him out and replace him with some emerald crab or maybe another VERY TINY sally lightfoot that you can keep for awhile

[Kraylen]

Sally lightfoots are horrible.

[mkregs]

Sally lightfoots are horrible.

Thanks, but I was kinda looking for examples of good or bad experiences.

[Koshmar]

In my experience with sally crabs with ieither having them myself or from seling them for a number of years is that they are generally ok when they are smaller

HOWEVER when they get large enough to realize they can catch and kill fish then they have a tendancy to do just that

My suggestion would be to just watch him and se if he bothers your fish as he starts to get a tad bit bigger

oh and if he does i would immediatly take him out and replace him with some emerald crab or maybe another VERY TINY sally lightfoot that you can keep for awhile

+1 I've had a lightfoot for a few months. It's getting bigger and fiesty but my mantis keeps it in check. It does lunge toward small fish (chromis) that I have but that's ok because the fish are for food anyway. If you are worried about some of your small fish being eaten then take it out when you see it jumping for them. They do get aggressive when they get larger, as with most crabs. I've heard the same thing with emeralds too. If you get an emerald, try to get a female (they have blunt claws). Lightfoots are really cool but they can be opportunists like most animals.

[mkregs]

+1 I've had a lightfoot for a few months. It's getting bigger and fiesty but my mantis keeps it in check. It does lunge toward small fish (chromis) that I have but that's ok because the fish are for food anyway. If you are worried about some of your small fish being eaten then take it out when you see it jumping for them. They do get aggressive when they get larger, as with most crabs. I've heard the same thing with emeralds too. If you get an emerald, try to get a female (they have blunt claws). Lightfoots are really cool but they can be opportunists like most animals.

Thanks for the advice! It's good that you also included some info on Emerald Crabs because that's what I was considering going to if I decide to yank Sal from the tank. I'm not totally a pacifist, but let's face it...saltwater fish are expensive. I want Sal to eat well, but am not so much into feeding it gourmet livestock.