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Coral Vue Hydros

tiny crab id


jesseatam

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Found what appears to be a dead crab on my live rock. I also another similar crab while my tank was cycling too, anyone know what the species is? I assume it's predatory due to the shape of its claws. Sorry the the picture quality it bad just snapped them quickly on my phone.

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Cute indeed, but I'm not sure how reef safe it is :lol:. I got my rock from Atlantic Reef Conservation btw, I wasn't impressed at first but now as the tank matures i'm starting to like it more and more.

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10 minutes ago, jesseatam said:

Cute indeed, but I'm not sure how reef safe it is :lol:. I got my rock from Atlantic Reef Conservation btw, I wasn't impressed at first but now as the tank matures i'm starting to like it more and more.

On this thread it talks a bit about black tip crabs

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RayWhisperer

Markings look very similar to a juvenile calico crab, as does the shape and claw structure. The black tips on the claws, however, do not.

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2 hours ago, RayWhisperer said:

Markings look very similar to a juvenile calico crab, as does the shape and claw structure. The black tips on the claws, however, do not.

Yeah that's the first thing that came to my mind as well.

4 hours ago, Lugmos12 said:

On this thread it talks a bit about black tip crabs

Wow never knew gorilla crabs actually burrowed into rock, very interesting.

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idk what kind of crab it is, but it looks like one of the predatory hitchhiking ones. It also looks like that could be a molt, and not an actual corpse, meaning the owner may be still in there

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14 minutes ago, LJR said:

idk what kind of crab it is, but it looks like one of the predatory hitchhiking ones. It also looks like that could be a molt, and not an actual corpse, meaning the owner may be still in there

It felt pretty weighty for a molt, but the only experience I have with crab molts is my hermit so its very possible the owner is still lurking around.

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Just now, jesseatam said:

It felt pretty weighty for a molt, but the only experience I have with crab molts is my hermit so its very possible the owner is still lurking around.

I used to check for eyes with my porcelain crab (not a true crab, but close enough, lol). If the eyes are black, its probably a corpse

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4 minutes ago, LJR said:

I used to check for eyes with my porcelain crab (not a true crab, but close enough, lol). If the eyes are black, its probably a corpse

Hm well there are no eyes in the pics but there still appears to be flesh inside were they should be? Wish I kept the body now so I could take it apart to see. 

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Just now, jesseatam said:

Hm well there are no eyes in the pics but there still appears to be flesh inside were they should be? Wish I kept the body now so I could take it apart to see. 

It could have been that the eyes just fell off, but I had noticed that usually there is a little something left in the shell when the crabs molts it. It could go either way, I'd just keep your eyes peeled for things being eaten. Maybe use a red light to peek around at night.

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1 minute ago, LJR said:

It could have been that the eyes just fell off, but I had noticed that usually there is a little something left in the shell when the crabs molts it. It could go either way, I'd just keep your eyes peeled for things being eaten. Maybe use a red light to peek around at night.

Yeah the molt was pretty small so I'm not super worried as of now but I definitely want to remove it so I don't have any future problems. Also a day or two before I found the body/molt I saw what looked to be fuzzy legs duck into the rock when I made a sudden movement outside the rock while the moonlights were on. I think I have a headlamp with a red light somewhere, worst case I'll just snag my snakes heat lamp as I use a red bulb for that :lol:. What I found funny was when I was taking the crab out I dropped it and my Geometric Pygmy Hawkfish made a beeline for it but didn't actually eat it. He hasn't taken prepared foods since I've had him so this interested me, the only things I've seen him eat are things on the rocks that I can't see which I presume are pods and a small worm that was not a bristle worm.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Kill it!  It's a tiny gorilla crab!  I had one come in on my live rock and it took me three zoa polyps, countless snaps and three months to kill him.

 

hopefully you didn't put him back - they can get up to 2" - shell alone - so that'd probably be about 4"+ including claws and legs!!

 

good luck!

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  • 3 weeks later...

So bad news, it has returned. I'm ot sure if it's the same exact crab but definitely the same species, but either way it's bigger. I caught it moving around a small rock in the little cave. The black pointy claws make me uneasy even though all my corals appear to be fine, although I don't have any fish in at the moment so I can't say anything about that. I think I want to remove this guy so should I just go for the typical jar/cup against the rock with some mysis or whatever in it? I'm just worried that my fire shrimp will just dive in and steal it before the crab even has a chance at it.

 

The crab is where you see the flashlight shining in the picture, you can see a bit of its orange patterning and legs.

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Mission Failed: the little guy is surprising quick and bolted under the rock real fast. He hasn't done any actual damage yet so I'm not sure if it's even worth the effort to try to trap him.

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Was able to snag two more decent pics of him. This whole time I've just been assuming it's been a type of xanthid crab since it's too hairy to be a clown crab, any other ideas besides that?

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I tried every trap - store bought and home made and in the end - I used a stainless steel kitchen skewer!!  It took me about a dozen tries - but I got him.  I kept the skewer next to my tank so I could get it quickly.  It took me quite a while.  He was in a hole that ran clear through the other side so when I finally got him - I could see his tiny legs stuck out the other side and the next day my hermits were eating him!! ???? My family was worried about how excited I was ....  

good luck to you!!!!

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