BAD Hitchiker Crab!

[Ahwagirl]

Saw one of these in my 56 gallon this morning.... trying to EAT the blue-banded crab. Yikes!! :thumbdown

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_pbKM4qxmq4c/SP74_xox7LI/AAAAAAAAFGQ/Fl5fbWdGEcs/s400/14.jpg

 

[Arkayology]

Saw one of these in my 56 gallon this morning.... trying to EAT the blue-banded crab. Yikes!! :thumbdown

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_pbKM4qxmq4c/SP74_xox7LI/AAAAAAAAFGQ/Fl5fbWdGEcs/s400/14.jpg

Is that a Gorilla Crab?

 

[Ahwagirl]

Is that a Gorilla Crab?

From what I've researched, yes. This thing was narly looking-- hairy-- about 3 inches across. Had my blue-banded dude in its claws. I just happened to go get a refill on my coffee and saw this. I immediately grabbed a spatula and swatted it away. It's DEEP in the hole of the rock, too, because it was GONE. New rock, new tank, just starting to add some of my clean-up crew, but I'm taking the rock back. Not gonna try to catch this bad boy. Not worth it!!

 

[Ahwagirl]

From what I've researched, yes. This thing was narly looking-- hairy-- about 3 inches across. Had my blue-banded dude in its claws. I just happened to go get a refill on my coffee and saw this. I immediately grabbed a spatula and swatted it away. It's DEEP in the hole of the rock, too, because it was GONE. New rock, new tank, just starting to add some of my clean-up crew, but I'm taking the rock back. Not gonna try to catch this bad boy. Not worth it!!

Should have seen the glee on faces of the LFS guys.... said they don't see them very often. And, yes, gorilla crab. Yikes! Got a new rock instead. :lolspin:

 

[Ahwagirl]

Should have seen the glee on faces of the LFS guys.... said they don't see them very often. And, yes, gorilla crab. Yikes! Got a new rock instead. :lolspin:

Also looks (from my invert book) that it could be a teddy bear crab.

 

[suta4242]

Don't take this the wrong way.... but it is a reef tank.:hmm5:

Theres going to be lots of surprises in the LR if its any good, some of which you won't see for years or unless you're up in the middle of the night. Sure that crab was a pain, but you just trap him, relocate him to the sump, and move on. No big deal IMO. All these critters are part of what makes a reef tank.

all the best!

 

[baldomero]

yup the other day i put some small hermits i caught on the beach in my tank when all of a sudden i saw a big crab come out from under a rock and just grab one of the hermits and ate em.i guess that accounts for some of the empty shells scattered around.i took a round small deep plastic cup about 10inches deep made a 2 inch cut on it stuck a shrimp in the hole put it in front of his cave and after 20minutes of him not sure if he should go in or not he went in and went straight to the sump.

 

[OneReef]

wow, scary crab

 

[Ahwagirl]

wow, scary crab

Yep! I don't have a sump system so I took the entire rock back to the store-- I had just purchased it about a week before. They confirmed it was a gorilla crab or similar and fed it to one of their trigger fish.:eek1:

 

[jollyballs]

yeah for the trigger