Hairy looking crab found in tank !!! Good/Bad ?

[alexkid]

Hello everyone,

I was woken up this morning with the yelling of my wife as she spotted a large (2 / 3 inch) crab walking around on the top portion of liverock in the tank.

The crab can be best described as fairly hairy looking with slightly large claws. He blended into the live rock exceptionally well (at times you could not notice the crab was there).

My question is, good / bad for my reef / fish aquarium (I have not lost a fish in two years, the only issue I had was my bubble coral deflating a few times)

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

thank you

 

[kyrin01]

Sounds like a gorilla crab... Get him out ASAP... Bad stuff...


Google gorilla crab and see if that is what it looks like.

 

[AHDOnline]

a picture would help.

I am not one that immediately pulls items out of my tank without knowing much about them unless you are positive its causing trouble.

Try to search different crab images to see if you can identify him if you cant get a picture.

I have had a hitch hiker emerald crab that was smaller, and covered in algae and hair.

 

[Guygettnby]

^ +1

look at some pictures to see if you can ID the crab before you get rid of it. but if you have a sump you can put the crab there until you get a posative ID on it. pictures would really help here as well.

 

[alexkid]

here is the photo

here is the photo

hello everyone , please take a look and let me know, this is the best shot I can get of the funny looking crabby

 

[Guygettnby]

by the looks of it in that picture the claws do not seem to be pointed and to be honest it looks to me like a mithrax crab. so i wouldnt worry about it too much.

 

[rssjsb]

by the looks of it in that picture the claws do not seem to be pointed and to be honest it looks to me like a mithrax crab. so i wouldnt worry about it too much.

Yep - those claws look like algae scoopers. Of course, no crab is 100% reliable, but unless you've noticed things disappearing, I wouldn't be overly concerned.

 

[kyrin01]

and its definately NOT a gorrilla crab... lol.. I had a bad experience with one so anytime i hear hairy i have flashbacks...