Do Stone Crab like Phish,...or Fish?

[Fin McCoul]

I have a stone crab that came in on some Gulf live rock. Aside from the general tunneling
and rearing towards other inhabitants, does he pose any type of threat to my reef? He molts about every month. At first he was kind of comical, but now he is getting large. I know he will have to come out eventually, but I plan on upgrading to a larger tank in the next couple of months. Can I wait and deal with him then? I have some smaller fish (orchid dottyback, lawnmower blenny) that are beginning to look like a snack. Any opinions or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[sttaylor]

Lemon and butter?


But really, how big is he?

Scott

 

[Fin McCoul]

2.0"-2.5". He molts like it is going out of style though. I try to throw some food his way, but he is starting to look devious!

 

[waterfaller1]

He is a serious threat to your tank inhabitants, and as he gets bigger so will his appetite increase. Crabs are opportunistic,and crabs with pointy claws are worse. Get him out if you want your fish and other inverts to be safe.

 

[sttaylor]

At that size, you can make a bottle trap out of a gatoraide bottle (wide mouth).

Scott

 

[Fin McCoul]

Yeah I've tried the bottle trap, he just doesn't go for it. What should I bait it with? I've tried brine and squid. The main problem is I have camel shrimp that fall for it first. Should I bury the trap in the substrate, with only half the mouth exposed? I am getting ready to use deadly force. I would like to catch him, but it may come to fisticuffs .

 

[Fin McCoul]

I have also heard that I can use a glass with a smooth interior. The problem is this confrontation is confined to my twenty high. Such close quarters makes my strategy limited. I would appreciate any advice.

 

[waterfaller1]

Dble post

 

[waterfaller1]

I trained a bad crab to come to my hand for food, when he started to trust me I snatched him out. It took awhile though. You could try bait on a hook, but he would probably let go. Stocking trap might work..he might get tangled in it. You can try the tall tilted glass method, he will get in but won't be able to scale the glass to get out. Put something chunky that holds together in there like shrimp or squid...and maybe tie it up in a piece of stocking just so the shrimps can't get to it. Just an FYI, your camel shrimp are also a threat to your corals.

 

[Fin McCoul]

Well the crab has been caught, or speared. I forked him up! He was looking very menacing, so I took a dinner fork and stabbed him. I know, I know call PETA. I will probably get a lot of heat for this method, but something had to be done. I threw him in my sump and hopefully he will survive his injuries. After I get back from the beach I will take him to the LFS. They will probably just feed him to their clown trigger, but at least he will be out of my tank. I felt bad about the fork technique, but it was the quickest way to eliminate senor crab!

 

[Reefmedic79]

Put him in the blender and feed him back to the tank.