DogfoodEnforcer Posted May 1, 2009 Share Posted May 1, 2009 two days ago during feeding time i caught some motion out of the corner of my eye underneath an overhang on a large rock. i looked closer and holy hell! its a hitchhiker crab! a while ago i caught a gorilla crab that had been in there since i first set up the tank (thing got pretty big!lol) anyways, this crab doesnt look like the gorilla crab i found. this thing is furry like one, but the claws and markings are very different from the last crab i caught. thanks for any help ahead of time. i found another hitchhiker the other night, but this one is furry, with really long legs, and NON-black claws, and NOT red eyes. so i'll keep an eye on it and see what transpires. this crab i caught today (that i had to dismantle a portion of the tank to catch) is now in the fuge. i wanted to kill it, but i had a bhudda moment. actually, upon closer inspection the claws are similar to the gorilla crab i found, but this ones claws actually have an almost purplish tint to them, and the carapace has a different pattern. Link to comment
DogfoodEnforcer Posted May 1, 2009 Author Share Posted May 1, 2009 those are bad dudes, arent they? time for some research. it's now the lone resident of my fuge, so i should dig up some info on it. i tried to feed it a mysid shrimp, but it ignored it. it also ignored a couple of traps i set. kind of a cool crab, but i didnt want to risk my corals, or more importantly my fish and other inverts. Link to comment
lakshwadeep Posted May 1, 2009 Share Posted May 1, 2009 You can leave it in the fuge. Link to comment
redkneecoral Posted May 1, 2009 Share Posted May 1, 2009 so i take itthey will do some harm in the tank Link to comment
DogfoodEnforcer Posted May 2, 2009 Author Share Posted May 2, 2009 well as for harm in the tank. when i was digging this bugger out i found a half eaten blue legged hermit crab...RIGHT by this crab's hole in the rock. IMO that's enough to warrant a permanent time out in the fuge! honestly, im happy to have caught it live. i think its a pretty cool fuge pet. im trying to slip it some food every day and see what happens. right now the fuge is basically the crab...some live rock...and some pods...so its probably even happier in there.lol Link to comment
redkneecoral Posted May 8, 2009 Share Posted May 8, 2009 thats cool you're keeping the crab alive most people i know here locally would of killed the crab Link to comment
DogfoodEnforcer Posted May 11, 2009 Author Share Posted May 11, 2009 well...he was given a slight reprieve. now there's a new sheriff in town...a mantis-type sheriff. i dont know him very well yet, but i heard he doesnt tolerate prison sentences, and prefers capital punishment...carried out by himself... actually...i want to put the friggin crab in my new tank, but i tore apart the fuge last night and cant find it! only thing i can think of is that it somehow got into the return pipe...in which case he is now stuck in the back chambers for the rest of his days. do those crabs bury themselves in the sand? i literally took everything out of the fuge looking for it.lol Link to comment
Montag Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 I looked into this and this is what I found. The original article can be found on reefs.org, hitchhiker section. Crabs found in heads of SPS corals are usually of the Family Xanthidae. They are typically commensals which sometimes protect the coral from predatory fish or invertebrates. However, all of these crabs should be watched carefully as not all of the Xanthids are harmless - see below. Trapezia sp. (Family Trapeziidae) is usually found in Pocilloporadae while species such as Tetralia and Domecia (Family Xanthidae) are the typical residents of Acroporidae.(Delbeek and Sprung The Reef Aquarium, Vol. II, pg. 324). In the experience of the author and other reefkeepers that the author has conversed with, hairy brown crabs imported in SPS colonies tend to be harmful rather than commensal, while the tan, smooth shelled crabs like the one in the above picture are peaceful, well-behaved residents. I hope that is what you are looking for. It doesn't say why specifically they are harmful, but I somehow doubt you want to find out. Link to comment
DogfoodEnforcer Posted May 15, 2009 Author Share Posted May 15, 2009 thanks for the info i found it in the fuge (my fuge pump failed yesterday so i cleared it out (hob fuge)) so it ended up going into the mantis shrimp tank. the first thing it did was charge into the mantis' burrow. got hit a couple of times, then came out. its still in the tank somewhere. it burrowed under some liverock and i havent found any pieced of it yet. Link to comment
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