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Emerald crab had babies??? UPDATED


Lugmos12

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BustytheSnowMaam

There are tens of thousands of different kinds of crabs and many haven't been identified.  The best course of action is to keep an eye on it.  If it's so small you might lose it in your tank, find a way to isolate it.  

 

Crabs are opportunists and detrivores, even the "safe" crabs can turn rogue. I prefer to assume reef-safe until they prove otherwise.

It is awfully cute :wub:

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BustytheSnowMaam

Not a foolproof method, but one way to tell if it's a good guy or not is by the claws.  See photos below. If it has straight, needle-like claws, it is most likely a predator.  If it has dull, rounded claws for scraping algae, it's most likely an algae/detritus eater.  

 

A lot of crabs look look very similar.  I've had a crab like that hitchhike before and it was fine.  In a nano tank, if it's causing harm, you should be able to tell quickly.

IMG_7445.JPG

IMG_7446.JPG

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5 minutes ago, tashayar said:

So cute!  Keep it fed if you don't want it in your tank.  You can also just toss it in your refugium if you have one.

I don't want to throw it away (bc that would be mean). I'm also not sure what kind of crab it is. Because it also looks like an European green crab

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Just now, tashayar said:

I think it's an emerald.  Where is the rock from?  

My rocks came from an LFS, and a local reefer (came with some corals i bought the were attached to it).

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BustytheSnowMaam

That might help narrow down the crab ID, tho it's a long shot.  Do you have some kind of HOB filter?  You could throw some rock rubble into it and put the crab in there.  

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On 8/27/2017 at 3:28 PM, tashayar said:

That might help narrow down the crab ID, tho it's a long shot.  Do you have some kind of HOB filter?  You could throw some rock rubble into it and put the crab in there.  

my tank has a hood so I can't use an HOB; i place him in the second compartment of my sump with live rock. 

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3 minutes ago, tashayar said:

Sounds good- I don't like to kill things either.  

Yea I don't want to remove it without even knowing if it is reef safe or not. I'm actually curious if the emerald crab in my tank gave birth; I haven't seen any more tiny ones so idk ??‍♂️

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BustytheSnowMaam

You wouldn't see miniature versions of adult crabs- they go through several larval stages (with a molt in between each one) that bear little resemblance to adults.  They become part of the zooplankton that floats in the water and becomes food for fish and corals.  

 

I have seen newly acquired Hawaiian hermits give birth.  The larvae cling to the hermit's abdomen, and she pushes the abdomen in and out of the shell to release the larvae into the water.  They don't survive in our systems, but are a food source for tank inhabitants.  In my tank, what I assume were male crabs surrounded her and (I think) mated with her again after she released the larvae.

 

This is a Youtube video (not mine) of what I'm talking about.  You see the hermit releasing larvae at about the 40 second mark.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrUz9uINR-c

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