Found the problem, But how do I get it out?

[MasiisaM22]

I know I had a hitchhiker crab for sometime as I found little claws in the sand bed from molting. This has been almost two years and now I found him. He is almost the size of a silver dollar and inside the rock work where I can not get to him. I have had some MIA fish and the finger is getting pointed to him.

How can I get him out? I tried the search function and nothing really came up

 

[roons]

ive got one too, bout 2 years as well, im just waiting for the right time i catch him in a slip up................then hes toast

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

There are a few "traps" I can tell you about, but in all honesty the only thing I've had actually work is take the rock out and split into a few pieces until you can pull him out with tweezers.

You can take a plastic bottle, cut the top of and superglue it back in inverted. Then bait it and wait. You can also just try using a drinking glass with bait in it at a steep enough angle where the crab can not get out.

 

[MasiisaM22]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8031415#post8031415 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LobsterOfJustice
There are a few "traps" I can tell you about, but in all honesty the only thing I've had actually work is take the rock out and split into a few pieces until you can pull him out with tweezers.

You can take a plastic bottle, cut the top of and superglue it back in inverted. Then bait it and wait. You can also just try using a drinking glass with bait in it at a steep enough angle where the crab can not get out.

Thanks for the reply..

I wish I could just pull the rock out, but I just cant , It would work all my corals over.

Humm... the plastic bottle idea..I will give that a shot. Worse thing that will happen is I will trap all my hermits in there...lol

 

[Fountainhead]

What kind of crab is it?

I'm a pretty experienced gorilla crab hunter (TBS rock, LOL) and honestly the only success I ever had was isolating a specific rock that they were on, then pulling the rock out and using ro-di water (or carbonated water) to flush him out. Your problem will be that once they get that big, they tend not to stray up onto the upper rocks, but tend to stay on the bottom.

Watch the tank at night with a red flashlight. Maybe you'll get lucky and spot him on an accessible rock. I'm sure someone will suggest the bottle trick, but I've never had any success at all with that. But this guy (below) was about the size you're talking about, and one day I spotted him on an upper rock and managed to pull it out. I'd chased him for weeks!

 

[Xirxes23]

I have caught both my Mithrax crabs within 30 minutes of placing a large glass with 2-3 algae tablets in it at about a 55-70 degree angle up on some LR... crab goes in, cant get out, no need to rush to get him out either... put them in sump in mini refugium till sell at LFS

*edit* A glass glass, for slippery slopes

 

[MasiisaM22]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8031483#post8031483 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Fountainhead
What kind of crab is it?

I'm a pretty experienced gorilla crab hunter (TBS rock, LOL) and honestly the only success I ever had was isolating a specific rock that they were on, then pulling the rock out and using ro-di water (or carbonated water) to flush him out. Your problem will be that once they get that big, they tend not to stray up onto the upper rocks, but tend to stay on the bottom.

Watch the tank at night with a red flashlight. Maybe you'll get lucky and spot him on an accessible rock. I'm sure someone will suggest the bottle trick, but I've never had any success at all with that. But this guy (below) was about the size you're talking about, and one day I spotted him on an upper rock and managed to pull it out. I'd chased him for weeks!

I do not know what type of crab it is. He is white-ish with red eyes and the tip of his claws are black. And yea he is in the mid-rock section of the tank. What kind of bait should I use?

BTW that is one cool looking crab....

 

[roons]

mine has black and white banded legs, like the cat in the hat lol, and black tipped claws

 

[msman825]

a piece of cooked shrimp on a piece of fishing line . set your net ready and lure him out with the lights off.

 

[Fountainhead]

If you reall want to go fishing, try this. Get a 16 or 20 oz water bottle, and cut the top off. Poke a hole near the opening and attach a length of fishing line. After the lights go out in the tank, place the bottle on it's side on the bottom of the tank in the vicinity of your crab's lair. Partially bury the bottom side of the bottle in the sand, and make sure the fishing line is on the top side. Place a small hunk of shrimp at the base of the bottle, and hold onto the other end of the fishing line.

Turn out all the lights in the room, and train a red-covered flashlight on the bottle. When (er, if) you see the crab enter the bottle yank on the fishing line to quickly upright the bottle, hopefully with the crab still at the bottom. Haul the bottle out and he's yours.

Of course, I spent hours crouched in the dark holding onto a length of fishing line, and my crab(s) never went for the bait. The hermits had a feast though. But who knows, mayble it'll work for you.

 

[roons]

lol,ive spent hours in the dark too, with the shades down and the doors locked and the phone off, lol