OneReef
Reef Guru
For months now, I wake up every morning to find my corals on the sand moved around, and knocked over. I would re-arrange them, and the next morning, all was in disarray again. Not a big deal, but kinda tiresome. I didn't mind too much until whatever this creature knocking over my coral had begun to take a liking to one of my nicer acans. Now, for the last 2 weeks, whatever this creature was, had now set its sights on my acan. This is a nice sized colony, it is shaped and sized like my fist, with heads all the way around, the bottom glued onto a piece of rock rubble. It is purple and orange, with green mouths. Every morning, this thing was getting flipped upside down. A couple of mornings I saw it laying on its side and being pulled/pushed on the sand, but could not see what it was.
Last night, I finally decided to use my flashlight in the dark to see what was going on. When i first shined it onto the acan, I saw something move back into the gap between the acan and the rock rubble that it was mounted on. So I knew something was on the under side of the acan. It was skiddish with the white LED light, so I put the red lens cap on the light. I waited a few minutes. When I shined the red light down in there, he could apparently not see that red spectrum. I was trying to figure out if I was looking at a crab, mantis, or pistol. After 15 more minutes of looking, he finally came out further and I saw that it was a small crab. He walked out of his home under the Acan, and walked down the side of the rock rubble the acan is attached to. He started burrowing in the sand under the rock rubble piece and wedging himself further and further under it until the acan tipped over. Then he started making little caves in the sand around and under the rock. I was surprised at how strong this little guy was.
I decided that I needed to catch him while I knew where he was, and tipped the acan back upright and he scurried back in his hole under the Acan. I lifted it out and into a tupperware container. I broke the acan off the rock rubble (it was just superglued on, came off easily), and there was the little crab on the underside cavity of the acan. He was holding on for dear life, and I had to get a flathead screwdriver to pry him off. I hate to say that I broke off one of his main big claws while doing so. Hope it grows back for him.
He has big round fat claws and not the sharp pincher looking type. He got banished to my fuge, although I feel sorry for the poor guy, seeing as how I just added a mantis shrimp to my fuge yesterday. But he had to come out of the tank, as my corals were peeved at the disruption he was doing.
Anyone have an ID on this crab??
Here is the Acan after removal:
Here is the culprit with his broken off claw (ooppps):
Last night, I finally decided to use my flashlight in the dark to see what was going on. When i first shined it onto the acan, I saw something move back into the gap between the acan and the rock rubble that it was mounted on. So I knew something was on the under side of the acan. It was skiddish with the white LED light, so I put the red lens cap on the light. I waited a few minutes. When I shined the red light down in there, he could apparently not see that red spectrum. I was trying to figure out if I was looking at a crab, mantis, or pistol. After 15 more minutes of looking, he finally came out further and I saw that it was a small crab. He walked out of his home under the Acan, and walked down the side of the rock rubble the acan is attached to. He started burrowing in the sand under the rock rubble piece and wedging himself further and further under it until the acan tipped over. Then he started making little caves in the sand around and under the rock. I was surprised at how strong this little guy was.
I decided that I needed to catch him while I knew where he was, and tipped the acan back upright and he scurried back in his hole under the Acan. I lifted it out and into a tupperware container. I broke the acan off the rock rubble (it was just superglued on, came off easily), and there was the little crab on the underside cavity of the acan. He was holding on for dear life, and I had to get a flathead screwdriver to pry him off. I hate to say that I broke off one of his main big claws while doing so. Hope it grows back for him.
He has big round fat claws and not the sharp pincher looking type. He got banished to my fuge, although I feel sorry for the poor guy, seeing as how I just added a mantis shrimp to my fuge yesterday. But he had to come out of the tank, as my corals were peeved at the disruption he was doing.
Anyone have an ID on this crab??
Here is the Acan after removal:
Here is the culprit with his broken off claw (ooppps):
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