acro crabs???

[jenzabear]

Hi,

My husband and I recently put a pavona cactus coral into our aquarium...we noticed that there are these little crabs living in it. My camera isn't good enough to post a decent picture of them but they are a whitish color and look fuzzy and almost spider-like. Also, they have bright blue eyes and black claws. Just wondering if they are pests or if they're ok to keep in there??? Please help!!

 

[bertoni]

Hmm, are they sea spiders (pycnogonids)? Google should turn up some pictures. Otherwise, if they stay very small, they might not do much or any harm.

 

[jenzabear]

no, they are definately not sea spiders. They are a type crab for sure but they are hairy. They are still pretty small but I can see them picking at the coral. I'm not sure is they're eating the polyps or just cleanign it.

 

[jenzabear]

could it be possible that they are small rock crabs??

 

[bertoni]

Could be a lot of animals. I would watch them carefully for signs of troubles.

 

[jenzabear]

i think to be safe we're gonna remove them. What's the best way of going about this??

 

[bertoni]

I've been able to catch hitchhiker crabs using tongs, but that's the only idea I have. They sound pretty small. Can you remove the coral with the crabs and work from there?

 

[jenzabear]

the coral is easy enough to remove, and we were able to get one out using a pair of tweezers, but the other one is soooooo small he just moves further into the coral and we haven't been able to get it out yet!! any other ideas??

 

[szwab]

do they look like any of these?

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=814418

 

[szwab]

you can also put the coral in a QT tank with some meaty food near the coral and wait for them to go eat.
a woden cabob stick also comes in handy

 

[jenzabear]

wow thanks for that page szwab!! It looks exactly like those fuzzy white ones, I think they called them gorilla crabs except they have blue eyes. The QT idea sounds interesting but it won't work. at least not until we go and buy a new QT as the one we currently have belings to my sister and she wants it back, plus it has been treated with copper. I'll be keeping a close eye on the other one and if it decides to venture out closer to the edge, try to get him out of there. Also, we don't have a refugium, but do you think that they're safe to keep in our sump?? I'd hate to kill the little guys on purpose, it just seems too cruel.

 

[bertoni]

They're probably fine in the sump. That's what a lot of people do. I suppose they might make it through the pump and back into the tank, but the odds seem low.

If you don't mind the process, you could try jabbing the little one with a needle on a syringe, or something similar.