Emeral Crabs pros/cons?

[reef_doug]

I'm battling a slight hair algae problem with my new tank and thinking about picking up a few Emerald crabs.

I want to make sure I don't regret the decision, what are the pros and cons with Emeralds.

I do have a couple large cleaner shrimps, any problems with compatability?

No triggers, or other agressive fish that would eat them.

I'm more interested in corals, I intend to keep SPS, LPS, Mushrooms and Zoas.

Thanks
Doug

 

[birdy607]

i think i might have just gotten a bad emerald crab. but one day i came down and he was yanking the tenticals of my torch coral out and idk what exactly he did with them after wards.
but he did take care of my hair algae. he bothered a couple other corals to. i ended up taking him back. but he took out my hair lage in two days or less

 

[Rue]

Somewhere I read to only get 1 per tank.

 

[reef_doug]

How about a sally crab instead of emerald? Which one is better for hair algae and which one is better at leaving corals alone?

Thanks

 

[carlos_fb]

I had a Sally lightfoot crab in my tank when I had a problem with hair algae and he did an awesome job. The thing would eat algae non stop. I also had a few emeralds which also ate algae but nothing compare to my Sally crab.

Please be aware that Sallys nor Emeralds are really reef safe so keep an eye on them and get them out of the tank as soon as you have your algae under control.

Hair algae is very common on new tanks and usually goes away with time once the tank's parameters are stable.

Check out some picture of my tank when I had the problem and after I got rid of it.

 

[Subliminal]

How long between the two pics?

 

[carlos_fb]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10418954#post10418954 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Subliminal
How long between the two pics?

Less than 2 months. :strooper: