I have crabs!!

[criketnest]

found a ***** today while going to look at the new Joann's that opened up (Joann's is really big). Anyway, I talked to the lady there that told me she has had tanks for approx 20 years. I told her all about the dang brown algae I can't get rid of and what my tank was at for readings. she suggested a clean up crew and of course more live rock Currently have approx 40 lb in 65 gal tank. anyway I got a Crab that she recommended and said should do ok. She also recommended not getting any new fish for a couple of months to get tank established. I have already come to that conculsion.
The crab is a cute little gay called a sally I think. I also picked up another powerhead and a pump and airstone for my bucket of saltwater to help keep it moving between changes. I took out 4 gallons of water and replaced it with 4 galons of RO water and the SG came down to 1.024 which is at the top for SG so I think I am going to take out another gallon and replace with gallon of RO. She said she thought I was going in the right direction so far.
I hope so
Chris

 

[bigarn]

Sally lightfoot crab .... good cleaners.

 

[oceanists]

Originally Posted by bigarn
Sally lightfoot crab .... good cleaners.

yes very very very hungry guys , dont be alarmed when you find his shell without him it that means he molted , that happened to me and i got real sad , then one day i saw him and i was like WHAT THE ?? Its a ghost ...... So i came here and found out he molted , he will keep your lr clean , they ussually make one peice their home , and wont venture to far from that rock , so you may want to get a couple more , then they may spawn

 

[criketnest]

When i put him in he went right to work on my one peice of live rock. that one is close to the filter arm that goes into the Tank (has cover so nothing big ie crab or fish) can get sucked up and he was on there eating the algae too.
So I could get a couple of more and it would be ok? I wasn't sure so I wanted to start out with one.
Chris

 

[danedodger]

She wasn't wrong and I'm so happy that your ***** has someone with some experience there! But if she knew about this she should've told you that some people go through some real nightmares with sally lightfoots! They're generally herbivorous when small but when they grow larger they can turn into fish eating polyp destroying anemone shredding hermit crab killers. They're very fast and seem to be pretty bright when it comes to catching prey! They can leap at and catch fish and quite a few people have talked about theirs actually setting traps for fish.
On the other hand I've seen people have them in their reef tank without any apparent problems. Which one is the exception to the rule I wouldn't dare try to say.

 

[bigarn]

In a 65 gallon ... no problem getting more.