ID please....crab of some kind...

[corwise]

Hey folks,

Tonight while moving some rock around I noticed a crab in my tank. I've never bought a crab, so he must have hitchhiked in sometime when he was pretty small. He's was still hooked under a rock, so I didn't get a great look at him, but his body looked to be about 3/4 an inch long, probably three inches total. His end claws are black (can't see them in pic), and about an inch long. Any idea what he is? Is he a threat to my corals, my shrimp, or my little clown gobie? This is my first attempt at posting a pic, so lets hope it works. Thanks, and Merry Christmas to all.

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q228/corwise/DSC02451.jpg

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q228/corwise/DSC02450.jpg

 

[kpk]

Looks like a gorilla crab. Get him out asap if possible. They will kill and eat fish etc. HTH

 

[Radcat]

If you don't want it I will take it off your hands.

 

[djc1026]

Gorilla or decorator crab would be my guess, although it doesn't look like it has deocrated itself. If the black claws are smooth and shiny I would be even more inclined to say gorilla crab. At any rate an unidentifiable crab is not good, so I would get it out and sentence it to the fuge/sump or give it to someone who wants it... i.e. Radcat.

Dave

 

[corwise]

Radcat, you're welcome to have it, does anyone have any ideas on catching it without taking about my entire tank?

 

[papagimp]

If it's a gorilla crab, but a little empire state building statue in the tank and what for him to climb it. then send in the planes to take em out. that'll get em!


(best bet is probably to wait until he's on an easily accessable rock and remove that rock. Fish trap may work, but I never saw a single one of my emeralds head for the trap when I had it in my tank for a week.)

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Without a top down shot of the carapace, there's really no way of telling what Family it is in, let alone Genus. It's a complete stab in the dark, but the most common hitchiking crabs in the aquarium hobby are Xanthid crabs. And like almost all crabs, they are opportunistic feeders that prefer meat. Unless you introduced it on purpose, find a way to get it out and at least keep it in a holding container until you can get a better ID.

 

[cmc0814]

Radcat, if it is a gorilla crab, you don't want it unless it is in a tank on its own.

-Chris

 

[corwise]

Hmmm.....seeing how it's been in the tank long enough to get to a decent size, and last night was the first time I saw the thing, catching/killing it will be interesting. Oh well, see what I can do I guess....

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Been there, done that. I had a crab in my tank from Day 1, but it took me six months to know that it was there. It even turned out to be a pregnant female.

 

[herpchat]

Man, I got one of them too.

It lives underneath the rock my anemone is on and seems to be quite happy living off silverside scraps. From my experience they do not venture from the rocks but pull in food that gets near the rock.

Given this news I will try to catch it today.