What to do with Gorilla Crab

[MBVette]

So I got some rock from TBS yesterday and I found a gorilla crab in there. He is about 2'' across when he is spread out.

Right now I have him sitting in a cup, determining if he needs to go toilet surfing or what else to do with him.

[coral_killer37]

You should play it safe and ban him to the sump for the rest of his days.

[chimmike]

Grow him big and fat, then cook him and eat him.

[zachfishman]

Originally Posted by chimmike

Grow him big and fat, then cook him and eat him.

If you want to avoid this situation suggested by chimmike, toss the cup in your freezer to humanely kill it. Then you can thaw it out and see if it self-revives! (I try it every time for kicks, you'll hear if it ever succeeds )

[noahm]

sump. I have a huge one in there from my TBS rock

[footballdude2k3]

sump ftw, dont kill it just because it found its way to your house

[dogstar74]

A little butter, and some garlic, and mmm mmm good!

[mpsullivan]

+1 to renting out the sump for the lil guy if you got it, if not, no harm in bringin him to your LFS to try and trade for an emerald or 1-2 dwarf hermits if you have a good relationship...

[Frick-n-Frags]

give it an old tire to play with

[MBVette]

I dumped him into the sump, for now as I didnt want to kill him.

My sump is very barron and is just my skimmer and some empty chambers. Will he be alright down there, and do I need to feed him if so what?

[cody6766]

he'll probably catch some food that blows in as long as you don't have a filter sock, but tossing in a bit to eat now and again woudln't be a bad idea. Maybe squirt in some food when you feed the fish or toss in a bit of raw shrimp or something.

you could take one of your bare chambers and toss in a bit of sand and rock and make a little habitat for him if you want.

[noahm]

Originally Posted by MBVette

I dumped him into the sump, for now as I didnt want to kill him.

My sump is very barron and is just my skimmer and some empty chambers. Will he be alright down there, and do I need to feed him if so what?

He will likely get whatever he needs as stuff goes through the system, but will also eat whatever you put in front of him... table scraps, whatever lol. Seriously though, I wouldn't worry about him. He will eat pod molts if it comes to that.

[shackscs]

Just to give you a heads up, before you relax on finding one crab, I bought rock from TBS last year (And would do so again in a heart beat) and I am still catching crabs. The trick to try and lure them into a trap early on before they grow and do any damage.

I put some mysid shrimp into the bottom a plastic container, leaned it up against a piece of coral just enough for them not to be able to get out but easy enough for them to slip into.

Have not done it a while but I saw a claw retreating behind a rock the other day so off I am again trapping.

Oh, I banish mine to the sump as well.

And for what it's worth, the TBS rock is loaded with a lot of great stuff. I got quite a few pistol shrimp, a ton of porcelin crabs and other goodies. I also got some mantis shrimp but I got all of them out before I put the rock in the tank.

Did you clean the rock before putting it in?

How many pounds did you get?

[MBVette]

I did not clean the rock before putting it in, as it was only about 3 hours after he took it out of his tank that it was in mine.

I got 40lbs of rock from him.

oh and I am sure that I will find more unwanted guests, as I think I heard the clicking of a mantis in there.

[shackscs]

Ummm...are we talking about the same TBS (Tampa Bay Saltwater) located in FL?

Richard brings his rocks up fresh and ships them in water and they don't have a retail place to pick up stuff from.

[MBVette]

yup. He put them on a plane from Tampa to DC. 2 hour flight and I am 15 minutes from the airport so I had the rock in my tank about 2.5 hours after the flight took off. So it was probably a little more than 3 hours but not much.

[chimmike]

Whew. That many crabs in TBS rock? I was gonna buy some from them. Probably still will but will wait on putting in any life first and definitely put around some traps!

[shackscs]

Lucky that you can get stuff that quick from him.

I would definately buy again if I needed more rock. I still have sponges, barnacles, clams and other stuff growing and spreading from what he sent.

My cleaning process:

Have ready several white buckets or styrofoam boxes (LFS has tons) with saltwater from the tank or make some up. You will also need a bucket or two of fresh RO water or a bottle or so of seltzer water.

Remove the rocks from the boxes and begin to place in new SW boxes or buckets.

Inspect what is left inside of the shipping box. Should be a lot of good stuff there and possibly some not so good. Decide what you want to do with it. I dumped all of it in my sump.

Give a few good shakes of the rocks in the clean water to dislodge anything not smart enough to have found a home in the rocks.

Now, dip the rocks one at a time in the fresh water or squirt the rocks with the seltzer water. Most things will come shooting out of the rocks very quickly. I prefer the fresh water method.

Quickly gather up any thing you want to keep and transfer to back SW. Tank, sump or newly made up water will do just fine.

After all of that, I would still place the rocks in the sump until you can further inspect them. If not, put the rocks in the tank and set traps.

[jefathome]

Originally Posted by chimmike

Grow him big and fat, then cook him and eat him.

And call him Pinchy

[chimmike]

Originally Posted by shackscs

Lucky that you can get stuff that quick from him.

I would definately buy again if I needed more rock. I still have sponges, barnacles, clams and other stuff growing and spreading from what he sent.

Have ready several white buckets or styrofoam boxes (LFS has tons) with saltwater from the tank or make some up. You will also need a bucket or two
My cleaning process:
of fresh RO water or a bottle or so of seltzer water.

Remove the rocks from the boxes and begin to place in new SW boxes or buckets.

Inspect what is left inside of the shipping box. Should be a lot of good stuff there and possibly some not so good. Decide what you want to do with it. I dumped all of it in my sump.

Give a few good shakes of the rocks in the clean water to dislodge anything not smart enough to have found a home in the rocks.

Now, dip the rocks one at a time in the fresh water or squirt the rocks with the seltzer water. Most things will come shooting out of the rocks very quickly. I prefer the fresh water method.

Quickly gather up any thing you want to keep and transfer to back SW. Tank, sump or newly made up water will do just fine.

After all of that, I would still place the rocks in the sump until you can further inspect them. If not, put the rocks in the tank and set traps.

That's a good idea. What all did you get in your rocks?

[MyDogIsStill#1]

Originally Posted by shackscs

Just to give you a heads up, before you relax on finding one crab, I bought rock from TBS last year (And would do so again in a heart beat) and I am still catching crabs. The trick to try and lure them into a trap early on before they grow and do any damage.

I put some mysid shrimp into the bottom a plastic container, leaned it up against a piece of coral just enough for them not to be able to get out but easy enough for them to slip into.

Have not done it a while but I saw a claw retreating behind a rock the other day so off I am again trapping.

Oh, I banish mine to the sump as well.

And for what it's worth, the TBS rock is loaded with a lot of great stuff. I got quite a few pistol shrimp, a ton of porcelin crabs and other goodies. I also got some mantis shrimp but I got all of them out before I put the rock in the tank.

Did you clean the rock before putting it in?

How many pounds did you get?

Become the Bubba Gump of crabs

Crab creole
crab stew
crab cake
crab dip
crab kabob
boiled crab
crab scampi
crab thermadore
garlic crab
crab sandwhich
crab chowder

mmmm crab

[sjmantis]

Get a mantis shrimp

[ilovesoda]

Steamed with butter and garlic

[PelagicMagic]

interceptor

[MBVette]

cool, wish I would have known this before I put it in. I know there is another crab down there as I fed mysis today and saw a claw come out. Couldnt get a glimpse of what he was though. He looked kinda small, so I will be keeping my eyes out for him.

And its great getting rock that quickly. My office (where the tank is) is 15 minutes from Dulles airport which has a direct flight from Tampa that Richard used. Going to the LFS takes the rock out of the water for say 45 minutes to an hour depending on how quickly I check out after I pick the rock up. So even if I could find rock at the LFS that is almost as nice as TBS's rock it really will not save me time; and certainly not money since its only $5/lb + shipping from TBS and $5.95 + tax from my LFS.