My emrald crab is eating my little watermelon chalice

[tonggao]

I have this little piece of watermelon 2 from Reef Tech that I traded with someone, and I have been noticing it has been loosing tissues recently. So tonight I took a flashlight to the tank after dark. Guess what I saw, 3 hungry emrald crabs on the plug, and one of them was eating away:mad2: :eek2: :mad2: . Out of the whole tank full of corals, they surely have an expensive taste . I also saw another one hanging on my orange digitata with green base colony which is on the loose rock (unfortunately all others corals are glued down to big rocks). So I fished out the digi colony and banned the little crab into the sump, and made 5 more digi frags along the way by accident (now you know where all my frags came from). I probably have another 5-6 emrald in the tank, does anyone have any suggestions on how to get them out? They have very strong grips, and even if I can get hold of them, it will be a struggle to pull them out. Maybe I can use interceptor to kill them (I know, this is a strange reason for interceptor), but I hate to loose all my pods and starve my mandarine.

 

[MrMikeB]

To get them out is pretty simple - they are not to shy about going after food. Use a smooth bottle/glass with a little food in the bottom. Prop it against some rocks and they will climb in to get the food but cannot climb back out because their legs cannot grip. Keeping the fish and other livestock out of the glass is the tricky part.

As a side note, most crabs will eat coral tissue if its already dead. I have seen them clean live corals (sometime nipping of a polyp or two), but I have only seen them eat coral tissue that had already died - in most cases I did not know it died, but they seem to be able to smell it. Especially if you see them group together on a single coral to eat it.

Not saying this is the case with yours, but I have had many systems with emeralds and have never seen them attack a live coral personally, as they are typically scavengers and go after dead stuff (or algae). So might be worth a second look before the Interceptor.

 

[Ti]

kill it

 

[maxdout]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10403762#post10403762 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Ti
kill it

2nd it here... i had 1 that cost me 300$. took out all my fish when they came down with ICH. They didn't stand a chance. I'll have to say ever since I got rid of him, my bubble algae has started to grow again.

 

[Lordhelmet]

for the first time ever i saw my emerald chompin on my candycane. they were great while i had bubble algea, but now that it's gone they have started to look other places for food.

I'll have to fish them all out too.

 

[Sparkss]

crabs are evil, and I have seen them eat live coral. They are opportunistic eaters, as all crabs are. All you need to do is pierce the carapace and it will eventually die (within a day or less). If it retreats into a hole and you can't get it out, then just poke it with a sharp stick. They are just as bad as a hitchiker crab and in many cases are the same species.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Well first thing to remember not all "Emerald Crabs" are the same species.

I got one particular specimin that I noticed one night grow to fairly scary purportions, maybe 3 inches across with the claws to match! But everytime I see him he's munching on stuff on rocks and the like, maybe I have enough algae to keep him happy (well obviously I do if he grew that big!). Not saying he won't pluck at a coral, but it's a risk I'm willing to take since I put him in there I've only seen him do good (with no funky un-explained losses).

But if you really don't like it, simply reach in there at night when you see him (if you can) and snatch him (them) out, toss them in your sump or someplace where you get other algae growing that you don't care about it.