ID on this little destructo please

stephish

stephish

Member
After alot of patience and stalking, the "thing in the hole" came out and I was able to get a couple of so so pictures of him. Looks like somekind of big headed crab....he's about 1 inch across and really looks like a big head with a little body.
Can someone ID this thing for me please please please?
going to try the bottle trap with a shrimp tomorrow...

 
reefforbrains

reefforbrains

Active Member
dont know the proper name, but with the red eyes, hes considered a bad one. Can you better describe his claws though. pointed or rounded?
 
reeffreakgeek

reeffreakgeek

Member
The picture looks kinda blurry,but it looks like a boxcrab of some sort.Not reef safe,had one years ago it ate my peppermint shrimps,sexy shrimp,snails and small fish(Catalina,yellow watchman goby).The only crustacean that could hang with it was a large Banded Coral Shrimp.If you see empty shells near its burrow,you will know what it is.BAD!!!
 
stephish

stephish

Member
yeah, pictures aren't the best he's living in an awkward spot. From what I can tell his claws are pointy, not good. I'm going to try and catch him today. I'll post better pics if I can get them.
 
stephish

stephish

Member
renogaw you're welcome to him, when I get the little monster out I'll ship him to you if you like? My tank is only a 20 so no fuge to house his destructive little butt.
 
stephish

stephish

Member
LOL your monster is better looking than mine!
So far the trap works great for my peppermint shrimp, I've caught him twice, he's such a curious little guy. The one i'm trying to catch is curious, he's been peeking out of his hole for about 10 minutes now, hopefully he takes the bait soon becuase I need to turn my filter back on. I'm considering trying some old fashioned type fishing for him, baiting him out with the piece of shrimp and netting him. Last ditch effort will be taking everything out of the tank, I have 5 gallons of change out water made up, aerated and heated as well as my qt.
keep your fingers crossed.
 
stephish

stephish

Member
I fel like howard cosell doing a play by play but the little guy is out of his hole and approaching the trap......
 
stephish

stephish

Member
OK ongoing story here...
I did not catch the crab thing in the bottle trap, I did however catch my peppermint shrimp.....3 x's. Bless his heart Scampi just kept going in there and then the crab thing wouldn't. BTW Scampi is fine, I think he thinks it's a game.
So I went to plan B...shrimp kabob....I put a piece of raw shrimp on a new bamboo skewer and held it in front of the hole. This worked to get him out of the hole and I learned 2 things. First, that little bugger is strong! Second, he's also very fast. Needless to say plan B was a failure I'm apparently not coordinated enough to crab wrestle and operate the net at the same time. It was probably pretty amusing watching me though.
Plan C, I tried hot water in a turkey baster to flush him out. Nope.
I have 2 options left. Remove everything from the tank to get to the lr he's living in or just skewer his butt with the bamboo stick. Anyone have any idea how bad a dead crab carcass stuck in the lr will mess up my params?
 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
dead crab = food for other things. small crab like that won't likely be an issue.
too bad, i was telling Monster he was going to have a friend :)
 
smork81

smork81

Member
Originally Posted by renogaw
dead crab = food for other things. small crab like that won't likely be an issue.
too bad, i was telling Monster he was going to have a friend :)


I want mini-monster for my fuge!!
 
stephish

stephish

Member
Oh he's still very much alive...I was joking about spearing him, there's no way I could bring myself to do that. I've resigned myself to the fact that i'm going to have to take everything out but I'm not going to have time to do it until Thursday. I have an organic paper due this week, one in quant and 2 exams so it's study time. Hopefully he doesn't tear up anything else before then.
 
madboy

madboy

Member
Have you thought about using a twist-tie to attack a piece of shrimp to the center of your net? All you have to do is yank up when he goes for it and you got him. If he recognizes the net you could take a plain sandwich bag and poke a bunch of holes in it (so water can pass through like a net) then throw the shrimp in the bag and twist-tie the bag to the end of a handle of some sorts so he doesn't see your hand. Should work like an invisible net.
Just a thought...good luck
 
katiev

katiev

Member
When we go to Lake Tahoe, we catch crawdads off the pier with a chunk of hot dog stuck on a fish hook/fishing line...works awesome. Maybe try the same tactic. Wait until he gets a good grip on the chunk of food attached to a hook (...maybe twist the hook until it's closed off at the top and remove the barb) and pull up nice and gently, but quickly...and net him.
 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
i've tried to get mythrax out and my gorilla crabs with the string/meat method, but the crabs get a STRONG grasp on the rock and always let go of the food if need be.
 
catawaba

catawaba

Active Member
Had the SAME looking creature.
Used a drinking glass with cocktail shrimp after lights went out.
He was in the glass in less than 30 minutes.
Use about a 12-16oz glass and lean it up against his 'cave'
Then just lift the glass out and put in fuge/take him to your LFS or whatever.
Please don't flush him.
BTW, mine killed my mandarin so I hope you get him outta there!
 
catawaba

catawaba

Active Member
Originally Posted by stephish
Oh he's still very much alive...I was joking about spearing him, there's no way I could bring myself to do that. I've resigned myself to the fact that i'm going to have to take everything out but I'm not going to have time to do it until Thursday. I have an organic paper due this week, one in quant and 2 exams so it's study time. Hopefully he doesn't tear up anything else before then.

Gotta love chemistry!
Cis/Trans
alkyl groups
benzene rings
double bonds
WOO HOO!
 
stephish

stephish

Member
Originally Posted by Catawaba
Gotta love chemistry!
Cis/Trans
alkyl groups
benzene rings
double bonds
WOO HOO!

ahhh protonation, carbocation's, distillation's oddly I like this better that inorganic.
I'm about to put a "shrimp cocktail" in the tank to see if he's feeling adventursome tonight. I intentionally haven't fed yet today so he should be hungry.
 
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