Please help ID

[stephish]

I've named him destructo because whatever he is he's made a large hole in my lr and may have been the guilty party in fragging my pulsing xenia.

He's about 1 inch across and kind of brownish reddish in color, I think it's some kind of crab? maybe? sorry the pics aren't great but after stalking him on and off all day I finally caught him out about 45 minutes after lights out.

 

[hmello@bermexin]

If he's being that destructive already time for the sump or some lemon and butter.

 

[rodgod20]

a frontal pic would be best

check out www.melevsreef.com/id/ for some help

But I think its possibly a gorrila crab? Paintbug is good at the id's let him chime in

 

[complexbooger]

i have one just like it... thought it was a "brown" emerald lol but i think hes a gorilla. cuz its super fuzzy. But he hids all day in a hole and only comes out to eat local algae and food.
Mine is about 2"

hasnt eatin any coral or live stock.
yet

=JonBlazes

 

[stephish]

Oddly he doesn't look hairy...I'm going to try and catch him today with a bottle trap.

I was doing a roll call in the tank this morning and seem to have a turbo snail missing and fragments of what look like its shell. ugh

 

[Paintbug]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9448358#post9448358 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rodgod20
a frontal pic would be best

check out www.melevsreef.com/id/ for some help

But I think its possibly a gorrila crab? Paintbug is good at the id's let him chime in

well lets see if i can live up to the reputation .

thats an Xanthid crab for sure. looks very similar to the Actaeodes tomentosus which is the second pic here. since these guys are known to be destructive, as you have seen, its best to remove him. i wouldnt kill it, but maybe find someone that wants him. i think LeslieH was looking for some crabs at one point. you may want to PM here and see if she is still gathering them.

 

[saltpeter]

Hitchicker bad crab.Try to lean a small glass (like a fruit juice glass) close to him with krill or silverside in it . He goes in but can't crawl out . Flush him .

 

[complexbooger]

dont flush him. if you have a fuge throw him in, or a sump throw a small rock and let him chill.

not always necesary(sp) to kill everything that is unwanted.

=JonBlaze

 

[stephish]

I've had the most amusing day trying to catch this thing! Paintbug, that is exactly him!!!

First I tried the bottle trap (cut top off water bottle put it back in backwards with piece of shrimp in it) yeah, well I caught my peppermint 3 times, seems he thought it was a game. Needless to say with the peppermint in there the crab who had been interested in the setup, wouldn't go in.

Next I thought maybe I would bait him out with a piece of shrimp on a bamboo skewer, a shrimp kabob if you will. I learned several things from this. First, he's a strong little guy and requires wrestling. Second, he's quite fast. Third, I am not coordinated enough to crab wrestle and net him at the same time. This probably would have won me something on Funniest Home Videos had anyone filmed it.

I then moved on to trying to blast him out with hot wated in a turkey baster. Not so much. This technique didn't seem to phase him one bit.

I'm now down to 2 options, either remove every last bit of lr and all the corals from the tank to get to the largest bottom most chunk of lr that he's living in, or, I re-purpose the bamboo skewer and spear him. I'm not particularly wanting to destroy the little guy but he's tearing up stuff in my tank. So far my Pulsing Xenia and a button polyp have fallen victim to his wiley ways.

Anyone have any other ideas?

 

[rodgod20]

removing the lr is probably the only chance

crabs are an extreme pain sometimes

 

[Icefire]

You don't like self fragging tank? lol

Try the coke bottle technic but with a long glass leaned on a rock.

He can't swim nor climb glass.

 

[stephish]

Icefire i'll give it a whirl right now. I know just the glass.

 

[Northreef2]

I have one just like yours, I took out that specific piece of live rock, ran some RO water into a hole and out he popped into a bowl. He is now living happily in the refugium