Crabby

[spanko]

Caught the little bugger. Had an astrea snail shell (empty) in front of his lair.
Here he is.

 

[stephish]

YAY!!! :cheer: Congratulations for successfully capturing the beast! definitely a xanthid.

 

[spanko]

:notsure: Now that you say it is a xanthid, aren't emerald green crabs xanthids also> Should he be the next thing I get out of the tank? Oh yea I have one in there.

 

[renogaw]

emerald crabs are fine. they are omnivores, but are great algae eaters, and are one of the only ways to control bubble algae (their cupped claws don't pop the bubbles).
that crab doesnt look reef or fish friendly. and you already know it was eating a snail.
put it in your fuge if you have one. Smork is ALWAYS looking for awesome crabs and maybe there's a way to get ahold of her.

 

[renogaw]

her email is in this forum https://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/show...ighlight=smork

 

[spanko]

I don't have a sump or a fuge. He now resides at the LFS in their's. Did get a deal on a purple gorgonian for him though.

 

[renogaw]

Originally Posted by spanko
I don't have a sump or a fuge. He now resides at the LFS in their's. Did get a deal on a purple gorgonian for him though.
that's sweet though! its surprising they took it. my lfs considers them nuisances and trigger food.

 

[spanko]

Yea they have one in their fuge they showed me that is about the size of a silver dollar. What a monster. They have one customer that comes in looking for weird critters every now and then and are saving the big one and the one I gave them for him.

 

[spanko]

So continuing on with the story, now that bad brown mithrax is gone and I am feeling lucky to have caught him I am looking in my tank last night enjoying the view. When low a behold there on my new Gorgonian sits my emerald crab trying to pick polyps of off it. At first I was shocked and in disbelief thinking he must be picking off detritus or algae. So I got out the trusty magnifying glass to get a closer look. Oh no!!! Sure enough he is trying to pick off the polyps, which are cloing up faster than he can get them thank you. So, with the net and the glass cleaner wand I gently but firmly shove the little b#%#!rd into the net and transport him back to the LFS.
So now the only crabs in my tank are hermits. I am seeing more empty snail shells laying around lately. Mostly Cerith shells. I am now on a quest to find out if it was the original brown crab or maybe the emerald that was enjoying escargo. If I find out it is the hermits they will go the way of the others. They are muce easier to catch though.
To be continued................

 

[renogaw]

if it's eating polyps, its hungry due to lack of algae in your tank. Do you give them algae sheets or pieces of shrimp, clam, etc? your other crab was not a mythrax crab (if you're talking about the one pictured).

 

[spanko]

Listened to LFS on the other one. What is it do you know? As for algae I do have some caulerpa growing here and there. Also feed Mysis and Krill as well as pellets and some dry food. Alternating schedules.

 

[renogaw]

the pictured one is some type of rock crab or something, but the claws are not that of a mythrax crab. mythrax's are just another name for emerald crabs.
i generally give my 2 mythrax crabs each a nice piece of scallop, shrimp, or clam and make sure they eat it. every once in a while i'll make sure they get a piece of my algae sheets. i do the meat maybe 2-3 times a week, and let them be scavengers the rest of the week.