Hitchhiker crab

[DrPeaches]

A couple of weeks as I was feeding my fish I caught a glimpse of some large claw-bearing creature out of the corner of my eye, but I never was able to find it to get a good look at it. I continued to search for it with no luck, and I was beginning to wonder if I was hallucinating even though I've sworn off most forms of intoxicating substances.

Tonight I saw it again, but this time it stood still long enough for me to get a picture. It's some sort of brown crab that looks to be about the diameter of a quarter. In the pic you can see a claw and its legs on the right side.

Does anyone have a clue as to what kind of crab it might be? I assume it's harmless since I have no missing livestock.

Finding new, unexpected stuff in my reef tank is one of the things that makes this hobby fun.

 

[cateyes]

with pinchers like that he looks kind of menacing to me... i'm glad he's not in my tank..

 

[Larson]

Guerilla crab, we got a collection of them at the store. They bad news, that's probaly his "home rock" so he'll be under there. But they eat just about everything. Sooo, you may have to dismantle the tank to get to him. I've done it before for someone. Or you can try and spear him.

 

[drowzee]

see if your superman can toss him out of your tank.

 

[just dave]

Re: Hitchhiker crab

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8788524#post8788524 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DrPeaches


Does anyone have a clue as to what kind of crab it might be?

Rutger haueri

 

[rppvt]

I think I discovered one of those tonight as well. I've been missing some star polyps on one rock and went hunting after lights out with the Mini Mag light and lo and behold, there's a white crab with sharp black pincers under a rock. He's about the size of a nickel without legs and has brown stripes on those legs. i obviously didn't get a shot of him... I'm going to see if I can if not, I'm getting my tiny Hawaiian Sling out and we're having itty bitty crab cakes for appetizers tomorrow night.

 

[DrPeaches]

Geez, I thought I had found a neat new critter living in my tank and you tell me it's the crab from hell. Thanks for ruining my Christmas!

I think I actually saw it for the first time back in July just after I got the live rock in the tank. I made a post about it then about some legs sticking out from under the rock, but the consensus was to wait and see what it was before panicking.

It's now been 5 1/2 months and I see no evidence it has killed anything yet, so I'm trying not to stress. The Rutger haueri appears to be living in a small piece of rock that sits on top of the sand. I'll try just to remove that piece next time I see it. If that doesn't work I guess I'll try to give it the old chopstick trap-and-squash.

 

[DrPeaches]

I see people here on reefcentral talking about a crab trap made out of a glass bottle, but from the sketchy directions (or a mental deficiency on my part) I can't figure out just exactly how it''s done. Does anyone know how it's done?

 

[nam2212]

I had one in my old 29G for a year and a half before I saw it. I never observed any strange deaths, but I introduced it to an icepick just to be safe.

 

[casshoward]

I feel your pain Man!

I feel your pain Man!

Reading your thread brought back painful memories of my battle with "Bogger" the hitchiking Mantis Shrimp! I too did the bottle traps and even bought a fancy trap with a spring mounted trap door and never caught him! He eventually swam into my prefilter and was washed down into my sump and trapped himself on the sponge filter! Go figure!!!

Sadly to say, I have continued to hear occassional clicking at night and it appears that the clicking is coming from WITHIN my prefilter. I wonder if the second Mantis, that I never caught, has gotten himself trapped. Luckily, I have not heard any clicking recently, so maybe it has gone to Fishy Heaven (Merry Christmas to Me!).

If you want to try the fancy trap, let me know.

Cass

 

[DrPeaches]

Thanks Cassandra, I might take you up on the offer of the trap. I hate I have to get rid of it since it looks so cool, but I can't afford to let it do any damage to the other critters.

If the trap doesn't work, I might borrow Nick's icepick.

 

[willember]

by the way, where did you get your live rock?

 

[Blindside]

if it has hairy legs, and hairs allover it could be a teddy bear!

 

[just dave]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8792367#post8792367 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DrPeaches
I see people here on reefcentral talking about a crab trap made out of a glass bottle, but from the sketchy directions (or a mental deficiency on my part) I can't figure out just exactly how it''s done. Does anyone know how it's done?

You use a 2 liter plastic drink bottle.

You cut the bottom off.

Tape the threaded top to the muzzle of a shotgun.

Superglue a silver side inside.

When the crab enters, pull the trigger.

It is very effective though there are some teething problems that need to be worked out.

 

[southernstang00]

Yea, I tried that and I got the shrimp but there is a side effect...you will get a hole in the tank...

 

[DrPeaches]

Can one use plastic explosive instead of the shotgun?

 

[just dave]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8796201#post8796201 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DrPeaches
Can one use plastic explosive instead of the shotgun?

One does what one can.

 

[willember]

45 makes a smaller hole...

 

[Cabin3tGuy]

I have a less destructive fool proof method for killing unwanted organisms in your aquarium .... you can use my nephew's new method that he tried out this weekend .... its 100% effective ... poor an entire economy sized bottle of lemonlime gatorade mix from sams in your 29g aquarium ... and poof all bad things die :wave:

 

[rppvt]

oh man... I had a 30 gal and used to top off with half- finished glasses of old RO drinking water from the sink filter... the family left a lot of unfinished glasses around.
one night somebody had a seven-up
the bloom was outstanding- the carnage unsettling.