xanthid crab!!!

[sabazerehi]

in the last few months, i've seen a black crab with red eyes(assuming xanthid) only twice. two days ago i finally bought this beautiful maroon yellow stripe clown fish i've been dying to get and it was doing amazingly well up until a few hours ago when i noticed it wasn't here. when i first put it in the tank it hid a little as expected but not for as long as you would think, it was out in no time swimming with the rest of my fish and eating within hours of being put into the tanks so it didn't seem to be sick or anything. i noticed no aggression from my other fish, a watchman goby, sixline wrasse, and damsel (believe it or not my most peaceful fish in the tank). i checked all around my tank, literally everywhere, to see if it had jumped and i found nothing and i had seen the fish swimming around just an hour or two before. can i conclude that the crab killed it? because it wouldn't be the first time i suspected it of murdering one of my fish. also i am willing to finally tear down my entire tank if it means catching the darn thing, however, what are my chances of actually catching it before i go to such extremes? thanks for the help, sorry if this was too long.

 

[sabazerehi]

p.s. if it is dead how fast would the body decompose or be eaten? because it hasn't really been that long and i even moved around my rocks and didn't find anything.

 

[mjoener]

wow, how big is this crab!

 

[sabazerehi]

he's really not that big that's thing, maybe an inch but he might have grown it's been a few months since i've actually seen it, maybe i need to look around better. i'm utterly confused

 

[mjoener]

how ong has the clown been dead... i mean missing lol

 

[sabazerehi]

i'm pretty sure it's dead, it's been a few hours like 4 or 5 now. so should i try tearing down my tank? i have a 24 nano that i could keep everything in that i've had set up waiting to get a mantis (there's no mantis in there yet)

 

[StunnaShadez]

i dunno about that xanthid but when i had an emerald it was just an inch. after 2 molts in 2 weeks, the body was huge! around 2 inches almost!

 

[reeferaddiction]

i would try to bait before tearing down

 

[Peter Eichler]

I HIGHLY doubt the crab was the culprit.

 

[H2OLUVSME]

Re: xanthid crab!!!

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10946934#post10946934 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sabazerehi
can i conclude that the crab killed it?

No you cant conclude your crab killed it, and personally I would doubt it. How much rock do you have? Is it porous? Fish and crabs could squeeze into some small holes.


..... what are my chances of actually catching it before i go to such extremes?

Pretty slim. I would take the advice of the trap, and try watching after lights out. The xanthids Ive had experience with were nocturnal.


thanks for the help, sorry if this was too long.

 

[sabazerehi]

i've tried both already, i've stayed up to past one at time in the morning just looking for the thing, and i've set up a bottle trap on more than a few occasions and just end up catching my goby. anyway that the crab might be dead (i'm sure this is a long shot) since i haven't seen it in so long and it used to eat some xenia in my tank but i took it out and none of my other corals have been touched.