SereneAquatic
New member
This morning when I woke up, I saw in the nano quarantine tank that something had happened to the big, hairy legged crab that we bought about a month ago.
We've had a big fellow that I can't get a positive ID on, along with a thin stripe hermit crab and some emerald crabs. The big hairy one called Stink Eye has a large claw on the left side, along with a larger eye that is bright green on the same side. The other side of him is much smaller, including the eye that was thin and white/black. (I'll post pictures below). We were going to create a 'crabitat' for them in the sump after quarantine.
I have kept them well fed and haven't seen any skirmishes since the very first day when they sized each other up.
This morning, Stink Eye had his back to the front of the tank, and I could see his eye poking up like a telescope looking behind him, like he does frequently... but... his LEGS... seemingly ALL OF THEM were in front of him. At first I thought "Whoa... that's some molt"... but after looking more closely at the legs and at him... it looked more like he was uhh... separated from his legs, probably by the other (smaller) crab. The other crab was moving in to try to get him the rest of the way out of his shell but I separated them and put the big hairy fellow into an acrylic box I had where he could be safe while I figured out what happened.
Weirder and weirder... I then noticed what I THOUGHT was the crab initially, poking some of himself out through a hole in the bottom of his shell... but realized later that it's an anemone. I NEVER would have noticed the anemone, it was literally on the bottom of the shell where the crab would have been dragging it around all the time. He was also very prone to digging himself down into the sand, which I'm not sure how an anemone would survive or enjoy... but it seems very much at home.
I'm hoping you guys can help me out with some of this, please!
1. Did the crab get attacked, or did he molt? I can see tiny legs on him and he seems OK still inside his shell... but he's tiny now, and all of his defense is absolutely gone. I'm sure the other crab would eat him if I put them back together.
2. What kind of anemone is this? Should I remove it?? Is it safe to eventually move into my display tank? (pics attached)
3. ... I know this is dumb, but are these copepods climbing on the glass of my tank, or something else? (see pics)
I also posted a video on youtube with some footage because the pictures are hard to wrap your head around what's going on.
We've had a big fellow that I can't get a positive ID on, along with a thin stripe hermit crab and some emerald crabs. The big hairy one called Stink Eye has a large claw on the left side, along with a larger eye that is bright green on the same side. The other side of him is much smaller, including the eye that was thin and white/black. (I'll post pictures below). We were going to create a 'crabitat' for them in the sump after quarantine.
I have kept them well fed and haven't seen any skirmishes since the very first day when they sized each other up.
This morning, Stink Eye had his back to the front of the tank, and I could see his eye poking up like a telescope looking behind him, like he does frequently... but... his LEGS... seemingly ALL OF THEM were in front of him. At first I thought "Whoa... that's some molt"... but after looking more closely at the legs and at him... it looked more like he was uhh... separated from his legs, probably by the other (smaller) crab. The other crab was moving in to try to get him the rest of the way out of his shell but I separated them and put the big hairy fellow into an acrylic box I had where he could be safe while I figured out what happened.
Weirder and weirder... I then noticed what I THOUGHT was the crab initially, poking some of himself out through a hole in the bottom of his shell... but realized later that it's an anemone. I NEVER would have noticed the anemone, it was literally on the bottom of the shell where the crab would have been dragging it around all the time. He was also very prone to digging himself down into the sand, which I'm not sure how an anemone would survive or enjoy... but it seems very much at home.
I'm hoping you guys can help me out with some of this, please!
1. Did the crab get attacked, or did he molt? I can see tiny legs on him and he seems OK still inside his shell... but he's tiny now, and all of his defense is absolutely gone. I'm sure the other crab would eat him if I put them back together.
2. What kind of anemone is this? Should I remove it?? Is it safe to eventually move into my display tank? (pics attached)
3. ... I know this is dumb, but are these copepods climbing on the glass of my tank, or something else? (see pics)
I also posted a video on youtube with some footage because the pictures are hard to wrap your head around what's going on.
[emoji12][emoji15]
