Dangerous hitchiker crap... HELP!

[craig_08]

I have had a 24 gallon nanocube for about a year now. About 5 months ago I noticed a small white hairy crab. I knew that hairy crabs are generally dangerous but it was small and I rarely saw it. I forgot about him for a while then was reminded about him when I saw him grab a hermit crab and pull him into a cave. For the past month or so, I have seen him more and more. He keeps getting more bold and also much larger. He is now a good bit larger than a silver dollar. I noticed within the last week he has attacked and eaten three turbo snails. He is aggressive enough that if I wiggle my fingers in front of his cave he will run out and try to attack the glass but if I try to capture him with a net, he retreats to his cave. How can I get this crab out of my tank to save the rest of my clean up crew? Does anyone have any ideas to build a trap or somehow trick him into getting in the net? Please help.

 

[craig_08]

Oops I almost forgot the picture. Like I said, he will run out of his cave to attack my fingers but whenever I pull out a camera he hides in his cave. As a side note since I thought this was funny, he hates my girlfriend. Whenever she sits on the futon next to the tank to watch TV, he runs out of his cave and starts swiping his pinchers at her. Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[gsd]

Take a regular old clear glass drinking glass and tilt it on its side up against the live rock. Place some bait in the glass soit sinks tothe glasses bottom. Crab will smell out bait, and go up live rock to glasses edge, and once it starts down into the glass it loses its grip and slides to bottom of the drinking glass. You can then remove glass and crab. It may be a bit of a challenge if yu have hermits or fish that will also try to steal the bait, but most fish will advoid going into the glass and try to get to it from the outside. Hermits will get into the glass, but normally the other crabs will still go after the bait and get caught. Some shrimp will also tend to get into the glass as well.

 

[alyssia]

Originally Posted by Craig_08
Oops I almost forgot the picture. Like I said, he will run out of his cave to attack my fingers but whenever I pull out a camera he hides in his cave. As a side note since I thought this was funny, he hates my girlfriend. Whenever she sits on the futon next to the tank to watch TV, he runs out of his cave and starts swiping his pinchers at her. Thanks in advance for the help.

funny story
Looks like a gorilla crab, BTW. Definitely get it out.