hitch-hiker HELP

D

dadyoj21

New member
I need help with ideas to catch a hitchhiker red eyed zanthid crab in my 120 gallon tank. he is responsible for the death of 3 anthias (in one weekend) and a coral banded shrimp about 2 weeks ago.

I got a kitchen fork on him one time and tried smashing him but he slid away after i had him pinned for several seconds

Have tried trapping him in baited jar 6 or 7 times but just end up with a jar full of other crabs every time

I was able to trap another preditory zanthid crab a couple of months ago that was responsible for some serious damage and as soon as i got him this one started showing up at night.

this crab is vary elusive I can only find him late at night with a flashlight, he never comes out in the open and shows up all over the tank in the rocks

Any ideas or things anyone has tried with success, let me know I am tired of theese late night hunting expeditions and really dont want to have to pull everything out of my 120 gal tank
 
I caught one once with a piece of shrimp on a feeding prong and as soon as he came out and grabbed the shrimp I grabbed him with my hand. Other than that it might take a tank tear down.
 
I had the same issue as you. except i did know where it lived.
I tried for 4 months to catch it. to make a long story short...

I crammed formula 2 (WITH gel binder) into its hole. I let it sit there and eat for about an hour. It was close enough to the front of its cave that i could see it.

I boiled some water....
Filled up my turkey baster (careful it'll come shooting out)
And I shot three turkeybasters full of boiling water in his cave.
His cave has two exits. he never made it to the other entrance after the first quirt.
Hermits ate him and spit out the shell.

Its slightly mean. but i had enough. I also had another crab I killed prior to this one. I took his whole rock out of the tank. tried luring it out for hours. never worked.. killed him with boiling water to
 
I have not had to do this, but I have heard that you can put some krill or silversides in some pantyhose and they will get stuck in it. Not sure how well it would work

for future refrence. I always dip my new live rock in super saturated salt water for a few seconds. Any hitch-hikers should come out then.

Good luck
 
I tried to do some research on this for you. I found 0 results under zanthid crab. Are you sure its spelled right? It kept comming up zoanthid and crab in the same search but not together.
 
you are correct my spelling was wrong it has been a while since I lokked them up the correct spelling is xanthid crab and there are many different species. I found one site that had a picture of the guy I am hunting now, and he is called a red eyed xanthid crab.

The one I caught a couple of months ago, I found a picture iof on-line but no name other than predatory xanthid crab, I observed himseveraltimes before i Caught him killing hermits, snails, emerald crabs and even ripped one arm off a very large banded shrimp. all of this happening while I was watching and trying to catch him. Just before that I lost several fish and a small crocea clam and couldn't figure out why. Healthy fish I had for several years.

I ended up coaxing him into my glass jar trap one night as he was trying to catch my black cap basslet. I took some pictures of him, he was really cool looking and then let my 2 year old son flush him. This may seem a bit cruel but after researching these crabs and seeing first hand the damage they do I wiil not wish them on anybody.

Anyways all the posts are interesting and for my current crab I have not seen him since I made this post. I tried baitng him out into the open when i observed him in different caves but he was to smart for that or maybe i was not patient enough. I like the boiling water approach but he hangs ou in areas where other coeals and polyps are very close, but i will definately keep that in mind.

I may have got him the night before I made the post. He was in a cave in a large rock at the bottom of my tank. The rock had many holes and caves but maybe only one opening he could fit thru.
Well I blocked that opening with a fork and ran a meat thermometer into every other hole i could get at. Since then no sign of him and my royal gramma has been holding up in that same cave ever since.

He may have fled to another spot and I am keeping a look out for him. I hate loosing my livestock in any manne.

anyways thanks to all for the ideas I will keep them in mind
 
Just when I thought he was gone I spotted him again last night and spent a couple of hours trying to lure him out. Anyways another night gone by and about 25 hermits in my trap this morning but no xanthid crab
 
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