Crabs in Coral??

[bjs]

Hi! I am new at this and it may be a silly question but here goes.. My fiance went diving today and brought me up this beautiful large piece of coral (he shouldnt have) to put in my salt water tank which is new (no fish yet). It has numerous amounts of tiny small crabs in it.. Is it o.k. to put them in the tank?? Or not recommended? Also, I want to clean the coral because its a sand color and I want to try to get it white.. Should I just take the animals off and put them in the tank?? Im confused... THANKS!!!

 

[slothy]

has the tank cycled ? if it hasnt i would take take coral back... if it did, depending what kinda crabs.. most are reef safe though

 

[bjs]

It has been up and running for about a week.. I have kept a check on everything and all levels are great.. What should I do with the coral.. A friend recommended letting it sit in a mix of water and clorox then boiling it.. Shes not to bright so Im not sure about that.. Im not interested in keeping live rock or coral.. Ive heard it can be a pain.. I also dont want crabs eating away a fish tails when Im FINALLY able to get them...
Thanks for the info..

 

[nucknfutts]

holy crap take the coral back! and dont clean it. your tank has to cycle for at least a month with lr or ls. do some research before you start bying fish and coral. Read the posts on the mesage boards you'll learn alot your tank isn't ready for anything yet.

 

[ryebread]

I think that BJS is talking about a coral skeleton......not a live coral. If so, yes you can soak the skeleton in clorox to make it nice and white and clean it up. You want to make sure that you clean the skeleton after you soak it in the bleach so that you don't bring bleach into the tank. I would reccomend running the skeleton under hot water for about 20-30 minutes to make sure you got it all out.