Orange Decorator crab from hell

[tjl1966]

Hello everyone I am new to the forums I have a decorator crab in my 56 gallon reef tank he is a cute little bugger but he is terrorizing my sun coral and my candy cane coral he went around decorating himself with all of my polyps but is it normal for them to pick on other corals?
I don't want to get rid of him but he is stressing some of my corals out but better him than dead coral and in the great words of The Clash should he stay or should he go someone please help

 

[Arizonagrace]

I bet he sure looks pretty. But I am sorry for the corals. I don't know much about the decorator crab, but it seems he needs a home without corals.

 

[CyclistMT]

Nearly all crabs come from hell.

But he is doing what Decorator Crabs do, decorating himself with his current environment. Great for a species tank but is not "reef friendly".

I think Mick Jones would tell you your crab should "go" and Rock the Casbah somewhere else.

 

[Anim8me2]

I just removed a decorator from my tank. He wasn't decorating anything with my corals other then his stomach.

 

[amlights]

The reason a decorator decorates is to blend in to its environment. That being said, they will "decorate" with whatever they can, i.e. what's in your tank (its current environment) so it can blend in. They have incredible patience. They can get a zoa to attach to its shell. That's super cool!

If you reeeeeally want a crab that's reef safe get a porcelain crab. They're neat. One of their defense mechanisms is that, when faced with danger they will start to clamp their claws, drop their claws, and the claws will keep clamping for a time while they escape. They're scavengers so they won't go after fish. And, they don't eat coral.

Also, pom pom crabs are semi-reef safe. They won't eat coral. But, if you have any aptasia in your tank they actually pick them up and attach them to their arms. They use them as defense and to "sweep up" food. They aptasia can sting coral but their so small the damage is very minimal.

 

[Quik Z06]

Lol I'd love to see a pic with him decorated.

 

[AquaSeeker]

Omg my gf caught a wild orange decorator crab and it had it's own sponge cap until it melted and got bigger and refit his cap and then fragged his own zoas and stuck them on his back. Hes going in the sump today.

 

[Uncle99]

Always safer to assume all crabs bad!
Never met one I liked.
Banned them completely from this last rebuild 26 months ago.
Have not even lost a snail this time.....Hum?