Gorilla Crabs

[PaulCom]

Does anyone have a novel method of trapping gorilla crabs once they are in the tank?

We missed a couple of big 'uns....and now they sit on the bottom (under a rock) throwing mini beer cans and laughing at us....

Also, do gorilla crabs "click"? I know mantis do, but only when they strike - right?

 

[Sir Crabby]

I've never heard gorilla crabs click but pistol shrimp and mantis do.

 

[PaulCom]

Do mantis shrimp just click to pass the time away, or only when they strike?

 

[dklaue]

Mine seems to only do it when he is striking rock when he decides to renovate whatever rock he is living in, or if he hits at tough shell of some snail or crab. Pistol shrimp are the ones who seem to do it at a whim if they feel threatened in any way.

 

[Jocko]

I used a shot glass with some food in the bottom to catch small gorillas. I would just lean it up against the rock where the crab hangs out. You catch other stuff too, but you can put them back after. How big are we talking? One of my previous captures has been in my sump for a couple of years and is over 3" across now. He's the king crab.

 

[divemonster]

what do you feed the "king" crab? and how often?

 

[divemonster]

CRABS!!

CRABS!!

GRRRRR!! now i've lost a peppermint shrimp to those bad crabs :mad2:

my tank with part 2 installed is still going through its cycle. i'm afraid to put in the crab trap right now because I don't want any ammonia spikes due to the presence of the bait. should i wait until cycle is over or would it be okay to proceed with the bad crab decimation mission?

 

[Maxi]

If you find a mantis, don't take him out

If its big enough I think it'll get the crabs eventually.

 

[PaulCom]

Depending on what you're using as bait, it shouldn't affect the cycle of the tank compared to the live rock, etc.

I put a small finger-tip size piece of shrimp in mine and had my first crab within a couple of hours. I re-baited the trap, put it back in the water and waited 15 minutes for another one to crawl in.

I have them in my fuge....sometimes they actually ride the ball of Cheato I have in there...*L*

I toss a couple small pieces of shrimp in once a week and they've both grown pretty dramatically....

 

[divemonster]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12951823#post12951823 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Maxi
If you find a mantis, don't take him out

If its big enough I think it'll get the crabs eventually.

i found 2 mantis shrimp, but i kinda like them. i do worry about my "good" crabs though. one of the red mithrax has molted and it has a new, pretty carapace.

i absolutely LOVE my tank :inlove: i've gotten so protective over the inhabitants...except for that stone crab i found. i know it's responsible for the wounding of the poor sea cucumber and the demise of the peppermint shrimp. :furious: if i were a cruel person i'd remove its pincers and put it in the refugium with the large gorilla crab

 

[divemonster]

Maxi was right...there are fewer gorilla crabs lately! Thank you N. wennera

 

[redwarrior77]

That's a great picture of a mantis! I still have no clue what "clicks" in my tank, but as hard as I've tried to root the guy out to get a look at him, I guess he's here to stay. I figure once the tank gets settled if I'm still worried or critters start going missing, I can start setting traps.

That looks like a very pretty mantis shrimp!

 

[divemonster]

i fed it today to see what would happen. It grabbed that piece of shrimp off the stick lightening fast! it came out of its hole when I fed the anemone so i thought "why not?"

 

[biomekanic]

I found the mantis in my tank when I did a feeding of live brine as a "treat" to my fish. ( I'd gut loaded them with dried spirulina first ).

My explative got my wife's attention. He'd been in there a year without me even knowing.

The funny part was that he was from a piece of LR that I'd picked up at a LFS that was "guarenteed mantis free", I was hoping for a mantis or two in my package but didn't get one.

I know the mantis wasn't from the Package because I identified it as an Indo species, not a Gulf one. Not unless he was a long, long way from home.

 

[divemonster]

guaranteed mantis free! LOL

we have 3 mantis, 1 is in the sump from part one. the other 2 arrived with part 2 and are in the main tank. Or rather there were 2, i've only seen the one recently but who knows, the other one could've moved to a different rock