decorator or emerald crab

[eclipse12]

Which is a better crab for a reef?

 

[aarone]

go with a decorator crab. They are alot cooler than emeralds.

 

[bdhough]

Uh for a REEF definitely not a decorator. He will pick and destroy things for his camoflague. Go with the emerald.

 

[aarone]

sorry did not see the reef part.

 

[nanoambiance]

Mind if I interject real quick . . .
On emeralds. I know they are reef safe, and I had one small one which I only caught glimpses of at night, etc. Never bothered my snails, blue legs, or featherworms. Well, I decided to get one more emerald crab since a buddy was doing an order from here, and when it came it, it was huge. Easily the large rubber eraser block size, etc. 2.5 -3 inches across if you looked at it head on.
Now to my point, tonight, after the lights out for a while, I noticed the big emerald was all on top of a smaller blue leg, and when I walked up it froze. so I backed off, and while it froze, the blue leg scampered off, but after a bit, the emerald quickly came back on top of it as if it were chasing/eating, etc? It later quit since I was in front of the tank now. So, is there a point where emeralds get too big, and then are destructive because they still look for food source, and if not on LR or detritus, they turn on hermits and snails. I value my snails and hermits more than this one big guy. Opinions?

 

[bdhough]

Yes They will go after other things. Some are killers Unfortunately. Just keep an eye on your populations. Thankfully hermits are cheap. You could try spot feeding the crab some mysis or something.....