Help ID this crab please!!!

[mrmaroon]

THis is my first try with a pic. Can you please help me ID this crab. It is about the size of a quarter, nocturnal, and growing rapidly. THis is a shot from behind. It has very sharp pointy front claws, unlike a hermit.

 

[pufferfreak]

Kill him, I had one like taht and I had trouble in my tnak, I finally kille dhim and now my tank is awesome.

 

[striker]

I have to disagree. I have about 4 hitcher crabs and 2 urchins that came on my lr six months ago. Instead of listening to others I didn't kill them and they have never caused me any problems. It's true that some crabs are predatory and others are destructive but many aren't. I'd keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn't harm anything before making a rash decision. Maybe a better pic will give you a positive id from other members.

 

[mrmaroon]

here is a closer pic from the front

 

[angelspot]

It looks like a stone crab and that is not good, if you have a reef tank he will put holes in almost any thing. That is how you get all kinds of holes in lr.

 

[mrmaroon]

But I have not lost any fish, corals, crabs, snails, etc. ANd I have seen this thing for at least 6 months.

 

[striker]

Sometimes inverts will display varying behaviors in different environments or as they mature. In the case of your crab it might start to become destructive but there's a chance it might not. It's wise always to keep an eye on all your critters to make sure they don't go ballistic. I have a decorator crab that when I first put into my tank devoured a mushroom. I was outraged and about to put him in the refuge when I changed my mind and gave it another chance. Either the mushroom was dying or the decorator was exhibiting nervous behavior during acclimation because he has since not bothered anything else and is one of my favorites. Same goes for my two urchins. One of the most important things in a reef tank IMO is diversity and not to listen to everyones' opinion. As I said before I'd keep it and keep an eye on it. Make your own judgement based on your experience with the little fellow.

 

[jonthefb]

i dunno the closeup pic of that guy looks like trouble, but if youve had him goin on 6 months now and hes not harming anythign, id leave him in there. of course then you run the risk of him going awol and killing stuff, but thats the risk you take!
good luck
jon

 

[mrmaroon]

Any ideas on getting him out? He is very fast and quite shy....his last set of legs can also almost flip up and let him walk upside down sort of if you know what i mean

 

[jonthefb]

does he eat any food when you feed the tank?
if he does you might not feed for like three days, then when you do set aside a little chunk of food in an 2 llitre botte that the top is cut off of and inverted (so the neck is inside the bottle body) he should be able to get in but not back out.
good luck
jon

 

[mrmaroon]

he only comes out at night and I do not see him ever come out when I feed

 

[bang guy]

I'm in agreement with jon. I think that crab is going to be baaaaad news when it gets a little bigger.

 

[mrmaroon]

I caught it. It is in a piece of LR in a net. The problem is, is that I caught on of my emeralds too and I want to keep the LR. Will they come out in a FW dip?

 

[mrmaroon]

I "donated" him to the LFS and picked up a female cleaner shrimp. mmmm shrimp.

 

[jonthefb]

good to hear that hes gone. when gettign emerald for customers at the lfs, if they are hiding in rocks i usually pull the rock out of the water and wait a bit and they eventually come out. dunno if it woulda worked with that guy, but its no big deal anymore. did you take the rock in to em? or just the crab?
good luck
jon

 

[mrmaroon]

I just lifted the rock into the air and they both fell out. THe LFS could not ID it but they said "probably not reef safe"!

 

[attml]

Does it look like this? If so it is a Boxer Crab (Lybia tessellata)
http://www.vibrantsea.net/boxer19_anilao18.htm

 

[mrmaroon]

Very similar body style and close on colors but completely different claws.

 

[attml]

How about this one? Harlequin Crab?
http://www.vibrantsea.net/harlequin2_kbr1.html

 

[mrmaroon]

It looks wery similar to the Harlequin but its legs are not clear and its front claws were much larger and they wer a solid redish brown color and looked ver agressive/sharp.