gt3073b Posted August 23, 2002 Share Posted August 23, 2002 I bought the little guy about 3 hours ago and he has already chowed down on some bubble valonia and all kinds of hairy algae (at least 3 or 4 different kinds so far). He scared me at first when I though he was eating coralline but it was just some soft chocolate colored stuff near the edge of the good stuff. I have also noticed that he has "groupies". Little stars are coming out of the sand to eat his turds and the hermit crabs eat whatever he drops. Who would have thought the cleanup crew would be so darn cool? Bryan. Link to comment
Toyfreek Posted August 23, 2002 Share Posted August 23, 2002 I agree I love those Mithrax sculptus crabs as well, never had a naughty one *yet* Toy Link to comment
Glenn Posted August 23, 2002 Share Posted August 23, 2002 Watch him closely. I have read some posts that said their emerald crab ate some of their corals and one post said that it ate their Flame Angel. I have not personally seen them do any of this ( I have had 2 or 3 in the past) but it deserves a watchful eye. Then again that's just my $.02.:| Link to comment
NaNO ReeFiN Posted August 23, 2002 Share Posted August 23, 2002 Yeah, I was about to say.. it's only been 3 hours, check back with us within 3 days or 3 weeks and tell us how the little guys doing. Link to comment
tinyreef Posted August 23, 2002 Share Posted August 23, 2002 wait 'til it runs out of algae to eat. whooooa nellie! there are success stories though, enjoy the janitors! Link to comment
spectre Posted August 23, 2002 Share Posted August 23, 2002 Emeralds are very cool. I've had one in my tank for 8 months. he has not touched the corals, and not a bit of algae in the tank. He eats mysis and flakes. Little guy knows when its feeding time. He'll emerge and sit on the topmost rock waiting for me to feed him. He lost one of his claws a couple of months ago, not sure what did that, but he's doing fine. Link to comment
anthony812 Posted August 23, 2002 Share Posted August 23, 2002 i have 5 emerlad crabs in my tank for over 6 months now, and YES, they will eat fish..but only the DEAD OR SICK ones, and they are extreme fast eaters, they will clean up a damsel within hours down to the bone! I was furious last night when i got home finding the anwer to all my Clam death questions, i place my Clams inbetween rocks, and after a few months they would all die from the same cause, something was eating from the bottom of them!! Last night, with my new Gold Crocea, in which he planted his roots down onto the LR within 2 hours after i place him in my tank was doing really well, and as i watched him, he is opening and closing really fast! i was like."thats wrong with this stupid clam!" so i looked aroud it and i found one of my smaller emerald crab got underneath the LR and was picking at the roots of the clam!!! I was so mad, i was trying to find a plyer or a clamp of some sort thta i was gunna crack that emerlad crab's shell in half! but i was not able to find any tools..and he is too fast for my hands to catch and so i just ripped the clam off the Lr that he is established in and placed him back down to the sand bed. With the clams on my sand bed, i have never had a problem with anythng, its always when i decided to move them into the LR "like how they are in the nature" that they start dying..and so now i know the reason! Ok, i know yal are probably bored with my story..sorry...:*( Link to comment
Sahin Posted August 23, 2002 Share Posted August 23, 2002 I was tempted to buy one when I was at the LFS a month back. But they look kinda mean to me, and I thought about the few stories where they'de ate corals etc, so decided not to buy one. However, hope your one is a good guy and it goes as well as it is now. How about a few pics then? Link to comment
gt3073b Posted September 17, 2002 Author Share Posted September 17, 2002 Just wanted to post a follow-up to my original post. I still think the emerald crab is the most beneficial addition to my tank thus far. Alot of my LR lives up to the Don King hair mentioned above, but the crab is steadily driving it back. The green hair slowly gets removed all the way down to bare white rock. He isn't eating coralline algae, my clown, or my xenia. He is eating tons of hair and even a couple valonia bubbles this week. He also leaves my macro alone for the most part. In fact, the macro has taken off now that the crab eats the hair algae and releases all that PO4 and NO3 back into the water. I've added PO4 resin and Carbon to help reduce the waste levels. I got really freaked out when he started waving his claws at the xenia (he loves to hide on the side of the rock behind the xenia). Apparently when it brushes up against him he gets kinda ####ed and trys to look all scary. He hasnt actually grabbed it though. I think he is afraid of my clown too. The false perc is barely over an inch long but bold enough to IMMEDIATELY attack my hand when I stick it in the tank. When the crab waves his claws at the clown, the clown just hovers over him until the crab backs down. Seems like a pretty wussy crab to me. I don't think he'll cause any problems. Link to comment
gigemmatt Posted September 18, 2002 Share Posted September 18, 2002 I have an older and a younger emerald crab in my algae forest 10 gal. They are doing great, however, they have all but removed any and all volunteer coral that came on my LR. They haven't attacked my fish yet because my pseudochromis keeps him in check. I had a problem with my astreas looking like Don King because of the hair algae on their shells, the older crab will ride them around for an hour and give them a shave. They have been pretty active and spend alot of their time separating the sand particles from them mat of algae that is left over from my two week trip to Vegas. My tank is really hardy, those automatic feeders you can buy are great. Anyway, the E. crabs are doing fine and I would encourage everybody to get one, but beware the bad apples that you will occasionally get. Link to comment
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