QUESTION:whats the best bait for crabs
- Thread starter nitroreef
- Start date
insomniac2k2
Active member
if you can take the rock out of the tank. Just dump some soda water in where the crab is hiding. The crab will come running out with a quickness. I did mine over a 5g bucket. The little sucker plopped right in. He now lives in my sump.
fragyoureef
New member
biggest fear with live rock..........worms crabs ect....
I manually caught mine at night as S13<3 recommended.
Others have had good luck with using double or triple-sized shot glasses placed near where you see them come in and out of. Just put some food in the glass, and the next morning you'll have a critter (hopefully, but not always, the right one)
Maybe the glass you used before was too wide so they could escape? Also, I'd use mysid shrimp, but that's me, and I doubt the crabs care, they just want food. Also, I guess do this after your fish go to sleep so they don't poach the food.
Others have had good luck with using double or triple-sized shot glasses placed near where you see them come in and out of. Just put some food in the glass, and the next morning you'll have a critter (hopefully, but not always, the right one)
Maybe the glass you used before was too wide so they could escape? Also, I'd use mysid shrimp, but that's me, and I doubt the crabs care, they just want food. Also, I guess do this after your fish go to sleep so they don't poach the food.
It's a double edged sword for sure. There are fears of crabs, worms, starfish, bacteria, algae, etc that you don't want in your tank, however the biological benefits of using liverock are very likely underappreciated IMO. It's just a lot harder to see when things go wrong than when things go right. I think that using as raw a live rock as possible will probably be better in the long run than using sterile/sterilized live rock, but of course to each their own.
If I was doing a high-flow SPS/clams only tank, I'd probably use more sterile rock, but if I was doing any sort of mixed reef, I'd probably want grungy rock for lots of interesting "stuff" to be in. It adds to the ambiance IMO. I always had funky sponges, weird 'pods, all sorts of odd stuff. I did end up having a decorator crab who would pull polyps off my SPS at night and stick them to his back... That ended quickly... but otherwise a generally positive experience.
fragyoureef
New member
I dont know if i would risk it the benift doesnt out weigh the reward for me........+ the difference in price is usually 3/LB which is a lot when your talking about tanks 75gal and up.....
But once again like you said to each there own.......
anyways good luck with that crap the soda Idea sounds pretty good to me. Just wash it out a bit to make sure your not putting all that crap back in your tank.
But once again like you said to each there own.......
anyways good luck with that crap the soda Idea sounds pretty good to me. Just wash it out a bit to make sure your not putting all that crap back in your tank.
nitroreef
New member
fragyoureef true just last week i pulled 5 pieces of live rock which connected some type of slime tunnel. I placed them in several BUCKET'S for a few hours. I Knew i had a euniced worm for years.
To my surprise it turned out to have grown to two feet. I was shocked. I left a very small amount of sea water, so its body can totally come out of the rock, and let gravity do its function. Lets see happens tonight with those crabs
To my surprise it turned out to have grown to two feet. I was shocked. I left a very small amount of sea water, so its body can totally come out of the rock, and let gravity do its function. Lets see happens tonight with those crabs
mrabolli
Member
Cut the bottom 1/3 of a plastic water bottle and cut the top third of the neck off. Open the hole if you have to and invert it into the bottom 1/3. Bait it with some meaty food on top of some sand as a weight to hold it in bottom of the tank. Tilt it about 45 degrees and in the morning he will be in there and not able to get out.
Waterhouse
New member
dont shower!
Sunshine252
New member
I've had the best luck with bait shrimp... the stinky kind! I could trap them with no problem. Unfortunately, the little buggers were smart enough to get back out of the traps so I still had to rearrange my rocks. They're out now though!
