Recommeded crabs for a DSB?

[Dag]

Are there any crabs that are recommended for use with a DSB?

[rshimek]

Hi,

No.

:D

[fjdevelopment]

Finally yesterday captured an over sized wild emerior crab who had been eating my fish.

If you need a trap I can recommend one that works!

[cfockler]

In this excellent article on captive ecosystems you mention that the small hermit crabs "do wonders in keeping debris under control."
http://www.aquarium.net/1196/1196_4.shtml
Probably the best arthropod scavengers are small hermit crabs. The so-called "herbivorous" hermit crabs that are commonly found in reef aquaria, are in reality rather omnivorous, and will eat food particles, parts of animals, and plant debris. They do not seem to attack living animals very frequently, and as a consequence are good candidates for the scavenger array of any reef aquarium. A small herd of these crabs will do wonders in keep debris under control.
Do you consider their omnivorous diet to be too detrimental to a DSB? I have about a dozen of the tiny blue legged hermits in my 75 gallon DSB. They never seem to leave the rocks.

[rshimek]

Originally posted by cfockler

Hi,

In this excellent article on captive ecosystems you mention that the small hermit crabs "do wonders in keeping debris under control."

Subsequent to writing that I article, I did some more experimentation and research with the crabs in my tanks, and came to the conclusion that they are not good things to have in the tank.

Do you consider their omnivorous diet to be too detrimental to a DSB?

They are mostly predatory with a slight tendency to eating the occasional plant material.

They never seem to leave the rocks.

They eat small organisms found on the rocks, such as larvae, juvenile snails, small crustaceans, and the occasional sporling alga. They are quite detrimental to small grazing animals.

:D

[cfockler]

A ha! Well I guess I'll be taking those little boogers out tomorrow then! Thanks for the update.

[oz]

I have a Porcelain Anemone Crab (Neopetrolisthes ohshimai) but I don't have an anemone so he makes his home on my green Slipper/Tongue Coral (Polyphillia sp.). He never ventures out anywhere but always on top of the slipper coral.

And the slipper Coral does not seem to mind at all. I have both the crab and slipper coral for close to 9 months, crab molts all the time but the size is still very small, under an inch length wise.