Emerald Crab Agressive?

[Stormvillefish]

Hi ... just got some snails, hermit crabs and an emerald crab the other day. Came home from work and the emerald crab was riding one of the snails (which was attached to the glass)l like a cowboy riding a bull at a rodeo ... is this normal ... is he being agressive or just a little hungry and thought he would see if he could pull the snail off the glass? Do I need to worry that he will try and eat/kill my cleaning crew? Thanks.

 

[jbc123]

Haha, they are supposed to be peaceful. I guess if he was starving he may resort to desperate measures. Do you have algae for him to eat? Does he eat that or left over foods on the bottom?

Maybe he was just going for a joyride!

 

[jamest0o0]

All crabs are oppurtunistic and will kill a snail if it gets the chance.

 

[singold]

I don't think he would try to kill your clean-up-crew (I have never seen my emerald crab be aggressive towards them, but it may need to be supplemented some food. I feed mine a piece of dried seawood about once a week or so. It also depends on how established your tank is for its food, appears to be algae and coraline algae off rock from what I have observed. You can buy dried seaweed sheets in a packet at local fish store. I attach the dried seaweed piece to the end of a plastic stick & the emerald crab crawls to it with open claws and grabs it off. They love dried seaweed! It goes after it feverishly.

 

[Flipper62]

As long as the emerald crab has food to eat, Its not gonna attack snails...or corals.......With normal feeding, there should be enough left over food to feed him..& he will be fine.

NOW....if the crab is riding a snail like a cowboy.........Maybe he is tring to start a Broak Back snail movie...LOL