Er...now I have a home for wayward (Mantis Proof!?!) Gorilla Crabs...

[Uriel]

So, the guys at the LFS called me and told me that I had a monsterous gorilla crab waiting, for my peacock to eat. It had been in some guys tank for at least 5 years,hiding in the rocks.

I went over, spotted it... It is HUGE.About 3" across, he is a monster.
they had put it in with their 2 new peacocks, which are little guys, 3" long or so. A few dings, but no dead crab.
They then put it in with an octo, which acted very scared of the monster crab... they then called me.

See, I HAD a Peacock that was a legend. Dagon ate whatever entered, he was the Barry Bonds of Peacocks, ferocious, whacking them out of the park, before they ever hit the sand, he ate whatever, including a few Gorillas that folks had donated.

Here's a link , with video...Yes, that funny looking guy is me. Anyways...

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=1015016

Dagon died in a horrible filter clogging accident.

My OTHER peacock , Hydra (Lovecraft fans will note the significance of the two names...) is big, but not as aggressive as Dagon was. He even shares his food with the yellow damsel that lives with him.

So, I took the Gorilla home, and showed Hydra the bag, crab inside. He looked very excited, and swam to his 'spot' (He has a favorite spot for feeding).
I added the hapless Gorilla, who looked like a massive tarantula, really...Hydra swam over, took one look, and swam away.
I refuse to believe that Hydra was scared of the crab...it is a BIG crab, however.

:|

He wasn't even interested in whacking the crab.
Um...I removed the crab, who looked relieved. I looked about, finally found a container to float him in, and plopped him in an empty tank, to ponder his Fate. I am a softie...perhaps it's because I love Mantis Shrimp, which so many hate, as well as scorpions, as well as spiders. Gorilla Crabs are Evil, right!?!
Actually, he's kind of cute, like a teddy bear.
I shall call him KONG, or MONGO, I am not sure.
Feel free to pick one or the other, I am leaning towards Mongo.
I figured that he would make a good refugium dweller, when I set up my 80 reef. He can eat all of whatever flows in, leftover food, etc...and he won't bother the pods, since they are tiny.

What's next for me, an Aiptasia Garden???


-Uriel

 

[flfirefighter13]

one mans trash is another's treasure, your not alone though, I had a little 2.5 with a small crab no one could id and a rock covered in aiptasia, It seemed most people would look at the 75 reef for 1/2 the time the spent watching the crab and aiptasia, who knew 12 dolars fo stuff trumps thousands

 

[danskim]

Haha cool.
I've also seen a huge hairy hermit crab tank that I thought was cool!

 

[Mental1]

I have two mantis in my sump and two big red mithrax crabs and I have a 30 gallon tank with two big gorilla crabs and rock loaded with aptasia. I can't kill anybody! I think they are all cool. The gorilla crab eats everything including the aptasia and nipping off the end of my thermometer! Guess I am crazy too.

 

[Uriel]

Wait, your Gorilla eats aiptasia!?!?!?!?!

Hmm...Perhaps Mongo shall earn his keep after all...

-Uriel

 

[Mental1]

Not a long term aptasia solution -- got lots of little ones growing now. Trying to decide what to do actually. I do have someone who likes gorillas. I want to get some peppermint shrimp to eat the aptasia and clean up the rock but they can't survive with the gorilla and the spotted hawkfish. (-: They are really cool to watch the gorillas -- ocean tarantulas. I feed all of my crabs -- and the gorillas are very good at pulling the shrimp meat off the homemade crab and mantis feeder ( a straightened wire hanger with a straightened fish hook taped on the end). All of my little ocean insects! I just had to transfer one of my red mithrax crabs to the sump after he consumed $25 worth of ricordea. We'll see how long he survives the mantis region. I don't really like playing God but they just don't listen when I tell them not to eat the expensive stuff. A decorator crab went the same way after attacking my zoes ....

 

[Mental1]

Not a long term aptasia solution -- got lots of little ones growing now. Trying to decide what to do actually. I do have someone who likes gorillas. I want to get some peppermint shrimp to eat the aptasia and clean up the rock but they can't survive with the gorilla and the spotted hawkfish. (-: They are really cool to watch the gorillas -- ocean tarantulas. I feed all of my crabs -- and the gorillas are very good at pulling the shrimp meat off the homemade crab and mantis feeder ( a straightened wire hanger with a straightened fish hook taped on the end). All of my little ocean insects! I just had to transfer one of my red mithrax crabs to the sump after he consumed $25 worth of ricordea. We'll see how long he survives the mantis region. I don't really like playing God but they just don't listen when I tell them not to eat the expensive stuff. A decorator crab went the same way after attacking my zoes ....

 

[Mental1]

Not a long term aptasia solution -- got lots of little ones growing now. Trying to decide what to do actually. I do have someone who likes gorillas. I want to get some peppermint shrimp to eat the aptasia and clean up the rock but they can't survive with the gorilla and the spotted hawkfish. (-: They are really cool to watch the gorillas -- ocean tarantulas. I feed all of my crabs -- and the gorillas are very good at pulling the shrimp meat off the homemade crab and mantis feeder ( a straightened wire hanger with a straightened fish hook taped on the end). All of my little ocean insects! I just had to transfer one of my red mithrax crabs to the sump after he consumed $25 worth of ricordea. We'll see how long he survives the mantis region. I don't really like playing God but they just don't listen when I tell them not to eat the expensive stuff. A decorator crab went the same way after attacking my zoes ....

 

[mattyice]

ill take one of the gorillas off of your hands if you want! PM me if you would want to take one off of your hands