gorilla crab care

[Sunny]

i have what i believe to be a gorilla crab in my 90g tank. are these a bad thing? at the moment i've caught him & he's in the sump until i can find out any information about them.

has anyone had any experience with these crabs that they can help me???

[Crakeur]

does it eat bananas?

[Sunny]

no, it doesn't eat bananas

i don't know what it eats or what it needs, hence the query

[wnuk]

How do you know it doesn't eat bananas if you have stated yourself that you know not what it eats?????

[Dave ESPI]

in all my vast travels I have NEVER seen or heard if a gorilla crab.

do you have the taxo or latin name for it?

I think this is a pic of the female of the species... they differ from the males.

[rlinusc]

here is a thread i had a while ago on the subject. They are also generally called "hairy crabs"

 

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&....com%26rnum%3D1

 

And the general info:

 

"Species of Pilumnus are widely distributed throughout the Indo-Pacific.

They occur in a

wide spectre of habitats, including muddy or sandy bottoms, on rocks, in

mangroves, and on

coral reefs. Frequently, specimens are introduced into aquaria together with

corals and

live rock. Many aquarists are, thus, familiar with these "hairy monsters"

even though they

normally are seen only at night. Sometimes, they can inflict serious damage

upon other

invertebrates, while under other conditions they may not be predatory at

all"

 

 

However, I did finally find 3 Caribbean/Florida species:

 

Pilumnus dasypodus

Pilumnus sayi

Pilumnus caribbaeus

[ajroahkni]

My LR came w/ a few of these white, hairy guys, but they were all real little (3/4" @ most). They do look gorilla-ish, so I guess the name's appropriate. They appear to feed on the detritus/algae on the LR and are very shy/skittish.

 

But again, mine are little. How big is your sump monster?

[Sunny]

thanx

the only reason i called it a "gorilla crab" was that i was looking at past posts on "hairy crabs" & that's what someone named it. i also found the info on the pilumnus sp crabs & that's what it looks like too.

the crab's basically the size of a furry golf ball & the 3 nights that he was in the tank nothing vanished without a trace, so maybe he's harmless. i'd only seen him sitting in a crevice on the top of the rock, but last night he was on the front gravel & the hermit crabs were moving away from him & he was following (don't know about chasing???)

i just wanted to know if anyone's had any troubles with these guys as i don't want to dump him is he's reef friendly.

[Dave ESPI]

seperate it. If its like the ones Ive had in the past, they will become nusances. they are reletives to the Shame faced or calico crabs. look at the claw shape and position in relation to body. if they look like they are doing a "Peek A Boo" face, dump it.

HTH

[Fant]

its got claws.. ditch it