Crab ID?

dan-in-den

Member
I just found 2 of these crabs on my 1 month old live rock. This is the bigger of the two.
His body is about 1 cm across with an oval shape. Both claws appear to be the same size. The underside of the claws are white and he appears to be much lighter on his underside.
There appear to be small spines/bristles on his legs.
As near as I can tell, his claws appear to be sharper rather than dull.
I dangled a piece of crab meat in front of him and he grabbed it and disappeared.
No fish losses or damage that I've seen.
The smaller crab looks a little bit more "hairier" but has same shape and coloration.
This is the best picture I could get. I'll try for more later.
he is facing the bottom right corner of the picture.
Any ideas?
 

dan-in-den

Member
I've been able to identify the smaller one. It appears to be a gorilla crab. It has sharp claws that are black with a white tip.
The bigger one doesn't have the black claws but they appear to be sharp also.
I tried the baited glass trick but only caught hermits.
I tried a freshwater dip on the rock they are on with no luck.
I just bought a gallon on seltzer water. See how they like that!!!! :sleepy:
 

jawfishray

Member
OK,
I am not suggesting to kill all things that are not pretty or some such, but when you have bad guys and can not get them out...kill them.
Puchase a dowel. 2-3' depending on the width and breadth of your tank. Choose a dowel with the dimention that best fits in your hand, $3 or so. Tap a small finishing nail into the end of it, remove the nail (finishing nails have no heads on them), turn it around and work it into the hole.
Now you basically have a litter picker upper.
Remove the LR in question, put into a bucket. Bait the sharp end. dangle near crab hole, when they come out position the nail so no damage will come to your bucket, and drive your point home.
Fresh crab for the tank.
Ray
 

dan-in-den

Member
Great ideas! Thanks.
I got a Dremel tool for Christmas so maybe I'll take the wooden dowel and sharpen the finishing nail and go

[hr]
fishing. I fed the smaller one a piece of shrimp with tweezers and he grabbed it and ran down his hole.
If I don't injure myself with the tool or stab myself in the finger, I might be able to get those crabs :)
Thank you for the suggestions!
 
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