I caught a little hitchhiker crab last night. It is too small for me to take a pic of (size of a button), but it has one large claw, one smaller one. It is kinda pale tan color, with a couple of big dark spots on it. I caught it grazing on my LR, not sure what he was eating. Should I put him in the fuge, or just end him? Not sure if he might be a beneficial buffer. The only other inhabitants of my fuge are cheato and LR.
Caught a crab last night.. keep him in the fuge/sump?
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You have 2 choices you can throw him in the fuge or you can throw him away.
I would dump him in the fuge.
I would dump him in the fuge.
Darren24;147108 wrote: Hey don't kill him. I will come get him if you do not want him.
If you'd really like him, come get him my friend. call me if you're serious. I'd say get him tonight though. I have him in a little frag container, so I don't know how long he'll live. I have been keeping him cool and doing little water changes. He seems ok right now.
my # is 7o6 98o 3467
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does he have rounded claws or a sharp point
Yeah, just barely black tips. And little black spots on the legs and claws. Kinda like a leopard print.
Ah, this is him:
I cannot ID this crab by species with certainty but merely can say that it is a Xanthid species. Like most crabs, they are omnivorous with a strong inclination to be carnivores. I have no doubt that this creature would eat fish given the chance. Avoid most all crabs in reef aquaria and systems with small fishes. Kindly, Anthony
source: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/swcrabidfaqs.htm">http://www.wetwebmedia.com/swcrabidfaqs.htm</a>
</em>So... he's a bad crab. I hate to kill him. I really wish someone had a mantis tank or something to put him in....?
Putting him in the fuge will kill the best capability of a fuge which is providing a safe haven for pods to grow. He'll eat the larger isopods that will cut down on natural food for your tank.
My rule for fuges is no predators whatsoever higher up the chain than snails.
My rule for fuges is no predators whatsoever higher up the chain than snails.
lol....what do you think the mantis is going to do to him?
I just took 16 of these out of my tank and had to remove every rock to get them. I put a couple in my mantis tank to give the mantis something to do. (I won't have to feed him this week.)
Of course the next day when rearranging the rock in the display tank I saw another one, so no telling how many I put back in. If you leave one in the tank--or in the sump--you'll end up with a bunch.
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Wow they multiply in the tank? Crabs have a planktonic stage so they don't typically survive to adulthood in a reef tank. If they are, that's really cool as that's kinda like cleaner shrimp spawning and growing to maturity in yourtank. That's good money .
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