rock crabs...

[jenzabear]

Hi,

My husband and I have just started up a reef tank about a month and a half ago...we have a 46 gallon bow front tank with about 50 lbs of live rock in it. Last night, our recently purchsed firefish died. I went to our LFS today and was told that a rock crab may have been the culprit, so when I came home... I happened to see a little one in a small hole on our LR. How can we get rid of these guys to prevent further loss of fish????


Jenzabear

 

[EdKruzel]

There are several traps on the market, but placing a piece of raw shrimp in a glass jar or bottle and placing it on the rock at about a 45 degree angle works best.
The crabs will walk across the rock with ease but when they enter the glass container will have no foot hold and slide toward the bottom.
Next lift the entire bottle out.

They can be cautious, so have a little patience.

Ed

 

[jenzabear]

Thanks very much for the info Ed, I'll give that a try and hope that it works.....

 

[Fast Fred]

If you know what rock he is in, remove that rock and place it in a bucket of water with a salinity of 1.030 and he will gladly exit the rock.

 

[Fred_J]

I would not necessarily jump to the conclusion that the crab killed the firefish. The crab sounds a little small to be killing a firefish. I would still get rid of the crabs as they will cause problems sooner or later. Crabs get blamed for killing a lot of animals because they will be seen eating the dead body. A small gorilla crab would have to be about a quarter in size to take out a fish, even then they catch the fish sleeping.
I just removed a gorilla crab that was about a half dollar in size because he started messing with my corals.
Just my .02
Fred

 

[Fred_J]

Duplicate .
Fred

 

[dead beat reef]

90 days might be alittle soon to be adding some types of fish
to your new reef tank. test your water. just like fred crab ???
sometimes things just happen.

 

[jenzabear]

we test our water quite frequently....and we didn't get any fish before consulting the people at our LFS first. We're taking all precautions...trust me...we've done our homework

 

[Scuba_Steve]

didnt see anyone give you a proper
<img src="/images/welcome.gif" width="500" height="62"><br><b><i><big><big>To Reef Central</b></i></big></big>
yet

 

[BTTRFLYGRL]

Unless the Firefish was sick , I doubt a crab could have caught it, I have 3 hitchhikers in my 90, none of them have attempted to kill any fish. Now, a Mantis Shrimp is a possibility. Or maybe you just got a sick fish

 

[usmcsgt]

WOw you actually trust what your LFS says. I know the ones here don't even label their fish and corals correctly.

 

[jenzabear]

our LFS is awesome!! They always post everything correctly and the all of the staff are nuts for saltwater aquariums...they're also very honest....if they think that we shoudn't ba adding something, tey tell us not to get it....unlike other places.

I think that we may have solved the mystery about the fish though.....i think it was possibly an anemone sting....OUCH!

 

[techigirl78]

Did your LFS tell you that you could add an anemone? Usually they aren't recommended until after the tanks been setup for 6 mnts. or more. Nothing against your LFS, but trying to find a broad perspective has been useful IMO. Getting just the perspective of one or a few people may lead you down the wrong road. Getting the perspective of 10 or 100 or more can let you get an idea for a consensus.

Your tank may have been fine for a firefish as long as your ammonia and nitrites had been 0 for awhile, particularly if you got cured LR from the LFS.

I'd check for a mantis if you think something killed it. There's some nasty critters out there. Check your tank at night with a red flashlight and see if you find something a few hours after lights out.

 

[jenzabear]

We did purchased precured LR form the LFS and faithfully tested our water every other day....everything cam up 0...no nitrates, no ammonia and no nitrites.....we brought in samples to the LFS too and they cleared us to get the anemone....we are still doing frequent water tests and everything is still reading zero.

 

[Fred_J]

If your test have been showing 0 it would seem your tank has not cycled. There should have been a large jump then it would have leveled off to zero. Just out of curiosity what anemone did you get. Was vit a condacalytis (sic)
Fred

 

[lossman]

Your lfs seems to be giving you very bad advise. I see by your other post that you have a pair of sick clowns and an anemone. Your lfs seems to be rushing you in the process and encouraging you to add livestock way too soon. The type of anemone that you added to your tank (since you have the clowns hosting in it, I can safely guess that it's not a condi) needs a fully mature tank to survive. One or two months set up is not old enough to support this animal.

 

[techigirl78]

Sounds like you didn't have a cycle which isn't that unusual if you get precured LR from the LFS. I agree with lossman though, they are rushing you a bit if you already have an anemone.

 

[scolex]

Sounds like your LFS Likes to make a profit off of you. Try slowing down a bit and read more for your self.