I Got Him!!!!

[argi]

I got a hitchhiker on my liverock (the rock is 3 years old) that just recently, in the past 6-8 months, started causing some problems. He literally ate 2 small derasa clams and I think he may have eaten a few fish. Not to mention knocking over the occasional coral.

Anyway I have never been able to catch him until tonight.:D . One of my corals on the sand bed was getting pushed towards the front of the tank. So when I went to look, there he was. I quickly grabbed the only thing I had handy, a Kent Marine algae scraper (the 2 foot one) and I pinned him on the botton of the tank. While I held him down my son went to get a net and I netted him out. YESSSSSSS!!!!!!

Here is a picture of the little bugger. Any ideas what type of crab it might be?

[dc]

No, but he's cute! Too bad they are so much trouble.:D

[ReefGeekster]

another way to catch a crab like that is use a tall clear drinking glass and lean it against a rock and put a krill in the bottom, once the crab goes in it can't crawl out. Best done at night when he goes hunting.
You could always toss the crab back in and try the drinking glass thing :lol:

[johnny]

hate to rain on your parade, but that looks like a commensal crab to me... how big is he?

Also, how do you know he killed the clams and fish and it wasn't something you did? (aka bad specimen, poor water quality, etc).

Sorry but I hear too many people blame just about anything they can for a problem they have so as not to accept guilt and now this beautiful crab may be killed because of it.

Then again I could be totally wrong, but some people still claim that bristleworms eat their corals.

Nick

[ReefGeekster]

Originally posted by johnny
hate to rain on your parade, but that looks like a commensal crab to me... how big is he?

Also, how do you know he killed the clams and fish and it wasn't something you did? (aka bad specimen, poor water quality, etc).

Sorry but I hear too many people blame just about anything they can for a problem they have so as not to accept guilt and now this beautiful crab may be killed because of it.

Then again I could be totally wrong, but some people still claim that bristleworms eat their corals.

Nick


Very true just because the curator sees a crab, worm, fish, shrimp ect.. is seen eating another critter it's assumed it killed it rather than eating a already dead or dying critter.
I've heard people yanking it out of the tank to just stomp on it and pass judgment just to find out it wasn't even it that killed it. Great American Justice System at it's best.

[Corpus Callosum]

Look at the ends of the claws. Are they sharp, indicating a predatory nature, or are they flat, indicating that it is meant to scrape algae off rocks?

[texasreefer]

If you lived closer I would take it. I have a 10G setup w/ crabs in it. I have a rock crab I caught at Glveston that was the size of dime when I got it and it is now about 3" across. I hand feed it silversides. My daughter loves to feed it and will play tug-a-war w/ it before letting go of the fish.

[argi]

As far as knowing if he is the culprit for the alleged killings, here are the "facts". I purchased three 2" derasa clams. I put these clams into my tank on the bottom of the tank on the sand bed. All was good that day. So when I went to check on the clams in the morning one was in the same place I had put it, the second one was about 6 inches away and the third was gone. I know clams will move themselves, but that was not the case in this instance. There were literally drag marks in the sand. This is how I found the third clam. He was being munched on by the crab. Unfortunatly it was in the back of the tank so there was no way to get to the crab and clam, but the shell at that point was basically empty so the clam was already gone.

So I moved the other 2 clams towards the front of the tank hoping the crab was full and headed off to work. When I got home there was only one clam where I had put them. I noticed a rock was moving, so I lifted the rock and there the crab was munching on the clam. I quickly pulled the clam away and tried to grab the crab. No luck. He had ripped the mantle of the clam and I thought it was going to be dead by the end of the day.

I built a little pedestal out of bits and pieces of aquarium stuff and put the remaining two clams on it (I was able to set it up with some sand for them to sit in). Everything was going great for about 2 months, even the damaged clam was recovering. Then the pedestal somehow got knocked over (the crab???) and the damaged clam was gone. I found him after some searching. Guess who had him. Yup, the crab again had him. But this time I was to late. There was nothing left of the clam.

I have since sold the third clam to make sure he did not end up dead also. I truly believe the crab is the culprit. Besides the above mentioned stuff, if he was truely just cleaning up a dead or dying clam, I would have thought the damaged clam would have died very soon after he got attacked. But he did not die and was making a great recovery.

So where is the crab now? I can't kill him. He is in my sump in a covered container until I either build a new home for him or find someone who wants him. Any takers? texasreefer..if you pay for shipping he is yours:D .

sci33..claws are pointed as far as I can tell.

Oh yeah, the crabs carapace (I think that is what you call the shell) is about 1.5 inches.

[Rickeejb]

I have 10-12 comensal crabs, in my sps in my tank. And he doesn't look like any of the ones I have. They do not get much bigger than maybe 1/2". Besides they all seem to stay in their sps colonies and do not bother anything else.

[argi]

I forgot to mention this in my second post, but I am 100% sure this guy is not a commensal crab. I have some of the commensal crabs in my sps colonies and he is not like them at all. One of his claws is the size of the biggest commensal crabs I have seen. His whole body is probably 2-2.5" including his legs. Just his shell is about 1.5" across.

argi

[Project Reef]

Finally caught the sucker ay Argi! Cool.

P.s. Guys, that is 100% not an acroporid commensal crab.

[Old Yeller Tang]

Might be a mud crab.

[argi]

Project..yeah I got him:D . Man was I happy.

thanks
argi

[Red Sea Purple Tang]

I have a hitchhiker similar, about an inch and a half. Same pattern but he's different shades of blue. Any ideas?

[johnny]

haha ok now that you tell me he's about 2", that's a different story. He looked exactly like the commensal crabs I had living in my birdsnest (before my tank crash), that's why I asked.

I'm sorry but I STILL don't think he's your culprit. To me it still sounds like your clams were not happy. The drag marks were from the clams moving one "blow" at a time to find someplace they liked better.

The clam that was hurt was probably letting off a mucus and that's why the crab ate it (granted here the crab was to blame a little as the clam would have possible recovered the "rotting" flesh part). But I'm guessing the clams were all hurt in jumps from the rock or jumps into the rock, etc.

It's really amazing how strong clams are, only second to being stubborn and refusing to stay where we want them :)

Either way, it's probably not a bad idea to get rid of the crab ... imo any crab over 1" should be on a dinner plate or left in the ocean :D

Nick

[Flanders]

I've heard people yanking it out of the tank to just stomp on it and pass judgment just to find out it wasn't even it that killed it. Great American Justice System at it's best.

Do you put a mosquito on trial to make sure it was the one that bit you? Let's be realistic here. We as human beings manage the ecosystems that we live in - no different than killing hitchhikers in our reefs.

[kozmo02]

he looks like cartman :p

[Rickeejb]

Do you put a mosquito on trial to make sure it was the one that bit you? Let's be realistic here. We as human beings manage the ecosystems that we live in - no different than killing hitchhikers in our reefs. Boy did you nail that one down.;)

[ijneb]

When i first saw it, I thought it was a stone crab at first =X
http://www.fla-keys.com/news/images/keysstonew1.jpg
But ofcorse he is still a baby.