Green emerald crab problem

[jb88]

I have my 55gallon reef tank full of rock and almost every type of coral. But i have noticed whenever i but a full size acro it starts dying in certain areas. i figured out the problem one night when i saw my green emerald crabs eating it!:mad: does anybody know how to kill these guys without destroying my whole tank to find them?

[kybreos]

try getting him to eat from a stick or something then when he gets used to you snap him up.

[nodbugger]

Get a trigger.

[TippyToeX]

Get a bottle, like a plastic soda bottle. With enough space for the crab to fit in but not a fish. Lean it up against a rock, so that the crab can go in but not crawl out. Then place some bait in the bottom of the bottle to get the crab to go in.

Perhaps that is worth a shot. :) Good luck!

[clown fanatic]

i hear these animals are opportunistic feeders and will eat what is available. are you getting him enough foods?

[SuperNerd]

Most crabs are opportunistic feeders and more likely than not it is not getting enough to eat just by picking at the rocks so it goes after corals. It's either eat the coral or starve.

Don't kill it though. Catch it and take it back to the lfs for some store credit.

How often do you feed the tank meaty foods?

[jimsta]

Yeah I agree with SuperNerd you should take it back to the LFS and get some credit, if they give it to you. Some of those LFS owners can be pretty stubborn about returns. Just my 2cents.

LOL Hope This Helps

[ACBlinky]

I had a male who was fine, then moulted and appeared to mature into an adult - suddenly his arms got HUGE. Right at that point he developed a taste for corals and became really destructive, so he had to go! I tried the soda bottle trap, caught all kinds of other things but he just looked at it and wandered over to my Xenia for a snack. I ended up ripping the tank apart to catch him (it's only a 14g but still no fun task). The only upside was that I paid $10CD for him, and he was so big when I returned him that the store offered me $10 in credit, so I didn't really lose anything. My frags recovered, even the Xenia he nearly sliced in half.
Incidentally, I don't think spot feeding will stop an EC that's developed a taste for corals - mine was probably the most overfed crab in the world, I stuffed him full of yummy meaty foods in an attempt to keep him away from my frags, and he would just finish his meal and move right on to the GSP and start ripping away.

[jb88]

I feed my tank a half a cube of frozen mysis shrimp 3 times a week{only have 2 fish} but i can't risk the crabs eating my corals>i will try the bottle method and take him to my LFS
thanks!