Decorator Decision

[shadowbearwv]

I really love my decorator crab but he's starting to become a menace to any soft coral I stick in the tank. I'm not sure I want to relegate him to the sump. I'm just not sure what would be the best way to handle him. He's about 6 inches in diameter including legs and he has been with me since my 20g.

I'm half temped to setup the 12g aquapod for him.

What's everyone's suggestion/ideas on this?

Tony

 

[Trandall]

I hope you get some good answers as my decorator is becoming a bit of a wild child too! He's really tearing up my sponges. Can't put him in my big tank as he'd be food in there. I love to watch him and his antics but hate to see him rip up my beautiful sponges. This morning I had to bop him <lightly> on the head with a feeder stick to get him to quit tearing up my red sponge. He gave me a rather unpleasant look and toddled off.
I may ask around the reef club here and see if someone with no sponges or perhaps fish only non-aggressive tank would like to adopt him.

 

[divemonster]

All of my crabs are in the sump. I now understand what experienced reefers mean when they say, "There is no such thing as a reef friendly crab." I moved every mithrax, gorilla, stone, decorator crab from both of my tanks into the sump. I don't really miss them. People enjoy seeing crabs in the main display (my tank is in the retail portion of my dive shop, so there are quite a few folks looking at the tank) but they all get too destructive when they reach a certain size.

The BIG decorator crab seems quite happy in the sump, and the sump looks cleaner, too.

 

[noahm]

Hah. I have come to the same conclusion. I have probably 50+ porcelain crabs and they are the only ones I really trust. Gorillas will eat anything. Just lost a nice zoa frag to them. caught 4 in a trap that night. The mithrax are typically ok, but I had one just pulling fringe off of another colony or zoas, so he got sumped.

Unfortunately I lost my big deco mysteriously a while back, but I would sump him in a minute if he was being naughty. The sump is like Australia was to the UK. A place to dump prisoners and the unruly.

 

[Yogre]

I think it's really cool that Richard lets us use his forum to exchange information about our TBS tanks. I, too, had to relocate my big decorator crab after I caught him busily field-stripping my candelabra gorgonian. Also nice to hear that the porcelain crabs are fairly trustworthy, I really enjoy watching them eat with their "fans".

I think I've finally gotten most of the mischievous critters under control... thinkin' it's getting to be about time for a CARE package!

 

[Trandall]

What's a *Care* package?

 

[Yogre]

Richard says that once you buy the Package for your tank, you're part of the family for life so he gives you the Package pricing for any additional critters you might want; snails, hermits, gorgs, sponges etc.

I'm thinking I need a lot more snails, and I'm really fond of the gorgs, too. I may try my luck with a couple of sponges, too, now that my tank is a little more mature (and I know they can't tolerate *any* exposure to air).