RIP grumpy crab

Bent

Bent

I got nothin'
I'm heartbroken.

Grumpy the stone crab, who has lived a good two years in my sump has died today. I saw him last night before I went to bed and this morning I found him stuck on the inlet of the return pump.

He was about the size of my fist and when I got him in my TBS shipment two years ago he was about the size of a dime. It's odd how you can get attached to something as innocuous as a "undesireable" crab, but there you go.

How sucky to die over something so asinine. Sorry grump, I should have took better care to cover the inlets.
 
Well good news. It actually was a molt!

It was the most complete molt I've ever seen.

Dude seems like he's doubled in size now. I need to get a good pic of him. He's starting to worry me. I think he's getting to the size where he could escape if he wanted to.
 
i had the exact thing happen to me with one of the skunk shrimp i bought, next morning i come out to see what i thought was the remains of a shrimp sucked into the powerhead...thinking i just threw 25 bucks down the drain... i then counted all my shrimp, so i know the feeling! lol
 
Not sure where you live but maybe its time to release him back to the wild. In Florida it is illegal to have that crab.
 
ClownMan727 said:
Not sure where you live but maybe its time to release him back to the wild. In Florida it is illegal to have that crab.
Click to expand...



That would actually not be a good idea because the crab has now been potentially exposed to foreign organisms that could pose a threat to native species. Compare it to the carp that have been traveling closer to the Great Lakes or the lion fish along the Eastern seaboard.

Also, Tampa Bay Saltwater has the appropriate license for culturing their rock, and I don't know how that may or may not impact the legality of possessing an organism that would otherwise be prohibited from collection.
 
ClownMan727 said:
Not sure where you live but maybe its time to release him back to the wild. In Florida it is illegal to have that crab.
Click to expand...

no real stone crab friendly areas in WV.

As mentioned, TBS has the appropriate liscences to culture their live rock, which is where this guy came from. I'd imagine that would make it ok to keep because if its legal to collect but illegal to keep that would mean you are legally required to kill it which makes no sense what so ever.

But yeah, I would have bet my life that I threw his corpse outside and not a molt.
 
crazy.. mine didn't last too long.. I put them in a tank by themselves and I think I overfed them. they killed a lot of stuff before I got them out of my display. they are fairly attractive things...

well.. you could always throw him in a pot of boiling water.. their claws are supposed to be really tasty...
 
LOL! Some molts really do make you think you lost the original. My favorite was when I asked my cleaning lady to watch the tank while we were on vacation. Second day in BVI I started getting frantic texts about something dead in the tank. Took about half a day to figure out what happened. Cleaning lady refuses to watch the tank anymore, which is for the best. My ATO only seems to set off an alarm when she is in the house and I am not;)
 
Man I'm glad to read this

I'm going to show my wife so she no longer thinks I'm insane

I have 6 different crabs, everytime I see a complete molt I wrestle it out f the tank with a miniature coffin ready.....
 
agreenberg77 said:
Man I'm glad to read this

I'm going to show my wife so she no longer thinks I'm insane

I have 6 different crabs, everytime I see a complete molt I wrestle it out f the tank with a miniature coffin ready.....
Click to expand...

lol sometimes they can look and feel exactly like the real thing. It boggles the mind how they can haul themselves out of those shells and leave them whole.

https://youtu.be/4QIgW639Oog

lol it's like a space alien.
 
After molting my crab tends to hide for a couple days. I was thinking it was because the new shell was soft and they hid in close quarters to protect themselves until it hardened a bit….

Thoughts?
 
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