Emerald Crab

[Kap212]

ok this may be a stupid question, but what would be considered a NORMAL growth rate for an Emerald Crab? Mine when I purchased him about 1 month ago was (body size) maybe about the size of a quarter, to just a touch larger. Well he molted about 3 days ago and after finally getting a GOOD look at him OMG he is HUGE now. Body is about the size of a half dollar, and his claws are about an inch long and the dia of a pencil... He has basically doubled in size! Is this normal?

I have not been power feeding, I put a 1x3 inch piece of Nori in for my yellow tang, aswell as a pinch of Prime Reef Flake in daily. With a cube of Mysis about every 4-5 days.

Do I have a muntant????

Thanks in advance for any ideas.


Greg

 

[MarksReef]

Some thing sounds fishy Any chance to get a pic?

 

[Kap212]

Pic

Pic

Here is a link to a pic the wifey just took. The feather duster in the pic is about 4 inches in length, and approx 1/2 inch in Dia. I wanted to get a pic to show a little comparision.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/kap212/detail?.dir=c3e7&.dnm=590cre2.jpg&.src=ph

Thanks Greg

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

I've come across posts of people having "mutant emerald crabs" in the past.
Certain ones seem to grow very large very quickly.

 

[Kap212]

Thanks for the tip Gary. Being new I didn't really know how fast they would grow, and haven't really found any info on how big they will get. If he should get to big or mean I will have to find a bigger home for him. I was just very very surprised at how fast he more then doubled in size.

Greg

 

[LFS_worker]

Id be worried that he is getting "that much food" .... hows the snail population? any missing fish ... unexplained disapearances??

good luck!!!
brian

 

[Kap212]

No disapearances YET!!! That was one of my concernes, was that I haven't seen any that were this large and I don't want to lose anything.

My plan is to just keep an eye on him and if anything should change of if he should get too aggresive I may have to find him a new home.

Thanks Greg