Will porcelain crab ever come out to play?

[Salt Kreep]

As soon as I put him in the tank he bee-lined it for a cave. It's been a month and he hasn't been coming out during the day. I've caught him stirring around at night so I know he's still kick'n, but not much more than that. Is this typical? Is this as good as it gets?

 

[Mr2KiEu]

Porcelain crabs usually like to host in a anemone or at the base of the anemone. They will even host in frogspawn or hammer corals as well.

 

[Salt Kreep]

Well he's welcome to try my frogspawn!
Anyone here have one that was skittish but eventually started to come out?

 

[Ron Reefman]

Ha! I collected more than 20 of them in the Gulf of Mexico and when I put them in my tank they did the same thing for me, like a rocket straight to the rocks, never to be seen again. I'd be annoyed if I had paid $10 or $20 apiece for them rather than get them for free!

 

[Salt Kreep]

Wow, twenty in a tank and no one in sight.:celeb1:

 

[sam.basye]

It also depends on the type of porcelain crab you have.
The Caribbean ones are a grayish color and live in rock and there's the white/pink ones that live in anemones in the wild.
Makes sense they match their surroundings.
I've had one of each and the gray one lived in the rock work and the white/pink one liked to hang out on my mp10 to filter for food. Lol
No anemones at the time.

 

[Salt Kreep]

:bounce1:
He's starting to come out now!
Very cautious still, but he does come out when I add food to the tank. I'm sure he'd be out a lot more but he gets spooked by my blood shrimp. I'm sure they'll get used to each other...eventually.