Crabs that eat Worms

[Tooantuh]

I was doing more homework this afternoon and came across some "Crabs" that like to eat Bristal and Flat Worms. The crab is pretty funky looking, looks like something out of a Sci-Fi movie. The name of it is the Arrow Crab. http://www.reefs2go.com/product/CRAB-ARROWCRAB/Arrow_Crab.html I have been on this site and may other sites today searching the different types of fish and coral and anemones. I am making my list and checking twice to make sure I don't leave anything out for my next trip to the LFS for my Q&A session. I am still alittle confused on what type of lighting i may need for the tank. Right now it is the basic hoodlight with a 50/50 bulb in it. I have been all over the Web looking at all the different lighting systems out there, and boy there are alot to choose from. The tank is a 30gal. 36x16x12, and will be a sps coral and reef life species. That is what I am confused about with the lighting. I am always open to new ideas and suggestions on everything.

 

[Nagle]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14210379#post14210379 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cloran
If you want sps, I would suggest/advise you go with Metal Halides. Sps tend to need intense light.

Mh do put out alot of light. But on a tank that size a T5 set up would work just as good and be more cost efficient to run. You could talk to mojo as he has T5s on his 90gal sps tank.

 

[Fireworm]

The MH is nice. I ran those since day one in the hobby. Today I swtiched over to my T5s to give them a try. You can keep anything you want with T5 HO. The key to T5 is getting good reflectors, along with good bulbs. There is a T5 Q&A thread in the lighting forum. It is crazy long. Or PM Jesse aka MOJO46825 on our local page and ask him, so far he is our T5 go to guy in the club.

Don't get me wrong, I love MH, and will probably go that way again at some point, but with T5 you can get a lot better color pop from all of your corals. The MH will heat up the water, and will cause more evaporation, but that is not all bad.

 

[JCR's Reef]

I dont run T5's, but thats what I would shoot for on a tank this size. Make sure you do your research on your arrow head crabs. I think they eat a little more than bristle worms.

 

[JCR's Reef]

No ripple with the T5's. There are some threads on here where people are putting HO LEDs on there tanks just to achieve the ripple effect though.

 

[Fireworm]

The arrow crabs will tear into the bristle worms, but i wouldn't worry about adding an arrow crab to your tank. At least not yet. They don't live very long at all, and unless you have a "HUGE" amount of worms, they aren't going to hurt anything unless you touch them.

 

[LornaS]

Arrow crabs are not generally considered reef safe and come with other issues as well..... I would think long and hard before adding one and would lean more towards an emerald mithrax or sally lightfoot....

 

[Fireworm]

Crabs in a reef are just a big "IF". They all come with problems. My sally light foot has not done any damage that I know of. My emerald crab will knock any loose frag he can find. I have never had an issue that I know of with a arrow crab, but I know someone who had one that ate one or two clams in there tank.