Good or bad crabs

[Davidb6]

I’ve bought 2 small birdsnest corals in the last few months. Both of them came with a very small crab living in the coral. One crab is a yellow / gold with a little fuzz on his arms. The other is on a coral I got a couple days ago and still can’t fully see him.

I can’t send pics, (to small and can’t get a good view) can anybody tell me what crabs are bad for my tank and I should look out for?

Thanks

I thought birdsnests grew fast, If so, that little crab may be eating the new growth.

 

[Davidb6]

I can look up pics on-line if I knew which crabs to watch out for and see if I should be worried.

 

[Roy G. Biv]

Re: Good or bad crabs

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10977032#post10977032 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Davidb6
can anybody tell me what crabs are bad for my tank and I should look out for?

This guy is definately bad for your tank.

 

[HBtank]

It can be very hard to tell. Some like to say hairy ones are not good, but that is not always true. If you have a BIG hairy red or blue eyed crab in a colony, I might just go ahead and remove it, as these are often bad.

Otherwise I would just watch the coral for any signs of stress and leave it as it could easily be good.

 

[Davidb6]

Both are very small, one is a yellow / orange coloration and the other is much harder to see but looks dark with thin redish legs and a large right arm.

 

[Lanceafer]

There are acro crabs that are very beneficial. They will kill/eat many of the small coral predators like worms and snails. Many people like to have them in their tanks. So before you kill them try to find out if that’s what they are. From what I understand about them is that they are fairly shy and never get much bigger that a centimeter or two across. They have a wide range of colors as well. I could be wrong but that’s what I have been told.

 

[riley290]

does it look like this (minus the color)

check google images, they have some better pics but the links are dead so I can't put them up here.