crab info/id if possible

[tabman2]

Anyone have an idea what kinda crab this guy might be, he's gotten alot bigger than I remembered from 2 years ago. prolly about 2 inches from side to side. He started at about 1 inch across.

He's dark brown on armor (tan between his legs), hes got a pair of nasty red eyes, has an urge to make smaller crabs and possibly snails lunch, when aggravated he turns in to a little square shaped rock looking thing. Thus his name 'The Rock' .. He hides in live rock or digs a small tunnel under it.

I forgot to mention his deadly grip, he and drag a 2 liter pop bottle around the tank.

 

[racrumrine]

It's a type of xanthid crab that is not considered to be reef safe.

I found a shell/molt of one in my main tank once.

There is a picture of one here http://melevsreef.com/id/crabs.html If you do a picture search using xanthid, you'll find lots of examples of them.

If you have a sump, he could live there. You could also share him with reefers that like more agressive animals. Someone will want him.

Best of luck,

Roy

 

[tabman2]

thank you!

It sure looks like he's from that family.

Looks like I got a smooth one compared to some of the pictures I've seen.

Imma try to isolate him in a 10 gallon for now. He'll be alone in there to do what he will.

 

[Tu Ku]

Could you comment on what makes them possibly destructive. I have had one living in my system for a while and only ever noticed it ripping algae from the rocks.

 

[dc]

Mine used to eat snails, I watched him grab them and pull them into his cave. When I caught him, I gave him his own tank, till I ended up gave him to some guy in the pet store. I named him rocky!

 

[tabman2]

"Could you comment on what makes them possibly destructive. I have had one living in my system for a while and only ever noticed it ripping algae from the rocks."


While I have noticed him being happy with algae, I've also noticed my ZERO Turbo snail population lmao! And I found one of my Red Scarlet Hermits limbs outside his den along with his torn apart shell. I'll post pics on the shell, you guys thought the Mantis was mean. Like holy cow.