Crab and coral?

robdog696

robdog696

Member
Hello! I'm new to the hobby and recently purchased my first two corals. I started a thread on problems I was having with one, while the other appeared to be doing great! Well I awoke this morning to find one of my purple mushroom polyps broken off of the rock they are attached to. I was wondering if my crab could have done this. He came on a piece of lr I bought, and he's awesome, so I don't want to get rid of him. But if he's going to be messing with my corals it looks like he's gonna have to find a new home. He comes out of hiding about 1 in every three times I feed my fish to eat. He's about the size of a silver dollar with fuzzy legs and large pinchers. The lfs owner called him a rock crab. I'll put a pic of him up later today.
 
some1fishy

some1fishy

Member
lets start off.....
what are your parameters? Lighting? Age of tank? etc? then lets go from there.... get back to us.
 
robdog696

robdog696

Member
blah blah blah... parameters of my tank... I swear some people just post that over and over to get their number of posts up... I have a similar post on the same page with all my parameters... the question, however, was if this crab is reef disastrous... I said I would post a pic of him later today and here he is... thanks again to all of you that have been super helpful and nice!

 
cfung

cfung

New Member
hrmm i think parameters of the tank is a valid question.
could be the lighting.. you said you were new..
 
m0nk

m0nk

Active Member
Is that a gorilla crab? It's hard to tell but it sorta looks like one. From what I remember they're not reef safe and can eat coral.
 
robdog696

robdog696

Member
Perhaps I should have worded my post better. But my only concern here is how one of about 15 polyps suddenly got removed from my rock. I don't think that's an issue that has to do with tank parameters, especially lighting. But yes I am new and I could be wrong. Thanks m0nk! That gives me a place to start looking!
 
farslayer

farslayer

Active Member
Water parameters is absolutely a valid question; if something is wrong, corals can detach (esp. shrooms) and roll away looking for a better spot. I'd recommend being a bit nicer to those who try to help.
Now, for your crab, it doesn't look like a decorator, so likely not the culprit. It somewhat resembles an emerald, but not quite clear enough. I doubt gorilla as those are white (I've had one before). Can you get a better shot of him, preferably a good shot of his pincers? Those will tell you if he is safe or not.
 
scubaguy

scubaguy

Member
I agree with Farslayer it appears to be a emerald crab but can not be for sure. If it is a emerald crab it is fine with coral and no need to get rid of it.
 
puffer32

puffer32

Active Member
Looks like a sally lightfood.
I get loose shrooms all the time in my tank. When they are overcrowded they try to move to another rock, but usually to one close by, seem to kinda crawl its way to another spot slowly, (sse pic below) but sometimes come off fully and end up blowing around the tank due to current. To reattach, put it in a shallow bowl with rock rubble and netting over it. It will attach to a piece of the rubble, then you can glue it to the rock you want it on.
 
1journeyman

1journeyman

Active Member
Originally Posted by Farslayer
It's not a sally, not enough legs and the wrong color.
I thought all crabs had the same number of legs? Do SLC have a different number?
 
1journeyman

1journeyman

Active Member
Originally Posted by Robdog696
blah blah blah... parameters of my tank... I swear some people just post that over and over to get their number of posts up... I have a similar post on the same page with all my parameters... the question, however, was if this crab is reef disastrous... I said I would post a pic of him later today and here he is... thanks again to all of you that have been super helpful and nice!
Rob... expecting people to dig around in other posts of your when you ask a question is far fetched. If you have an issue osting water parameters is standard operating procedure.
Otherwise you will get an answer like the following that won't help you at all, but is the best you can get with the amount of info you posted:
Crabs are opportunistic. Identifying a particular species of crab can be close to impossible. Very few, if any, crabs are 100% reef safe.
 
farslayer

farslayer

Active Member
I was thinking that a SLF had an extra set of legs. Either way, it's definitely not a sally, looks way too different. I'll wait for an updated pic.
 
robdog696

robdog696

Member
Ok... I'm sorry if I come off as rude in this thread, but I do not expect anyone to go digging through previous posts. If the question I asked had anything to do with parameters I would have posted them again. I'm just saying that the only question I asked is, "if my crab could have done this". Again, I'm sorry if I come off as rude or unappreciative. I really am thankful for your help, and most of all enjoy talking with people who share a common interest.
That being said, I talked to my lfs owner today and he said either kill it or put it in the sump. So I caught him and put him in the sump with a small piece of lr to hide under. Here's the pic I got of when I finally found him!
 
puffer32

puffer32

Active Member
I agree, that its not an emerald or a sally, but if you look at the claws they look flat on the ends, so i would say its an algae eater, but putting it in your sump is a good idea, some crabs get very large and even alage eaters can cause problems when they get to large.
 
puffer32

puffer32

Active Member
Claws look blunt to me, not pointy. i don't think its a gorilla, I believe its an algae eater. My emeralds started out green, but the more molts it has, the more its colors change. I now have one thats almost white with black claws. and is huge. It use to be green.
 
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