Missing Fish - Emerald Crab??

[bheaven]

I have an Emerald crab that is getting quite large. I'd guess that his body (not including legs) is about the diameter of a US quarter and its wing span of its claws would > 4 inches (guess). This crab is easily 3X the size of the other emeralds in my tank. I'm not sure if he just grew quickly or was a hitch-hiker from my LR purchase?

Trying to catch / photograph but so far unsuccessful.

I "lost" a chromis back in Dec. - never found any remains. On Saturday (2/2/08) my clown fairy wrasse went MIA. The size of the wrasse was approaching 4 inches in length.

I'm starting to suspect that the Emerald Crab is the cause of my missing fish??

I know that the fish didn't jump out as tank is covered and the fish did not travel to the sump & aren'y in the overflow.

Any thoughts / suggestions?

Tank size 125G reef & approx. 200 - 250 lbs LR.

 

[funkyman]

I'm not saying it can't happen, but I've never seen an emerald crab that big. At least not in captivity.

It sounds like it could be a rock crab. It would have been a hitch hiker in your live rock. They're fast, aggressive, and grow quickly. They're most active at night. I've had to remove 3 or 4 since I've been reefing.

The pic will be the determining factor.

 

[hockeycoach19]

I have (4) emeralds in my tank. Three of them are small but one has a body about the size of a quarter. The weird thing is that they all started off the same size.

 

[Dtip]

Sounds like you've got a prime suspect there. If you trap and isolate him in a fuge and nothing else goes missing...

Then again, could be that your fish died for some other reason (disease, injury, parameters, etc.) and the tank scavengers all joined hands to clean up the mess.

 

[bheaven]

How do I catch an Emerald Crab?

How do I catch an Emerald Crab?

I have a lot of rock and the crab does not come out into the open much. Is there a trap that I should use? If so, what do I use for bait?