My Emerald crab is on steroids

[ncsnake]

I bought two about 3 months ago, one has stayed relaively the same size ...the other well he is HUGE! He just molted and I cannnot believe how big he is...he is 3 to 4 times the size he was when I put him in the tank---Any danger of him getting too big and taking down live stock?

 

[j21kickster]

lol- they seem to do that- no worries though

 

[buzz]

That is a great shot!
I had a Green Emerald that got to be huge! I called him Popeye because of his huge forearms. But that took several molts for him to get that big. Never bothered anything. Popeye eventually died.
Then I got a devil crab...a Red Emerald. It was about an inch across when I got it. Molted once, and tripled in size. Actually scared me when I saw it reaching out of the rockwork. It started bothering everything, so I banished it to my 29g by itself for a long time. It humbled out, and then I got my 100g. I decided to parole it to that tank, thinking it was big enough so there would be no problems. Well, it killed my first lettuce nudibranch, and has since mangled my blue tang while it was sleeping (ripped it's fin out, and scratched it all up), so I traded the crab back to the LFS.
The point? It is a hit or miss. Some are fine, some are not.

 

[hip68]

This is a picture of my emerald crab trying to bench press a queen conch. It actually succeeded in tossing it a couple inches. It hasnt killed anything even tho my chromis sleep right next to it in the rock. But its a BIG crab.. the body alone is probably quarter size at least.

 

[ncsnake]

Yea the reason I asked was I had a hermit kill a huge powder blue tang several years ago when I had a FO tank. I didn't think Emeralds had a rep for aggression but this guy is starting to look like saltwater version of the incredible hulk.

 

[hip68]

My two have been great. Only thing they go after is algea and food. Other than that no problems at all. And like i said the green chromis i have sleep right next to them in the rocks. There has been no aggression at all out of the crabs. Suprising, but true.

 

[buzz]

They typically don't go after fish, but they are omnivores. If hungry, they will eat what is in front of them. Keep them well fed to curb their appetites.
I don't think mine went hunting for the blue tang, but it found it in a spot it couldn't get out of, and went to town.
Some are more aggressive than others.

 

[hip68]

I think thats the key for most critters. Make sure they are well fed and they wont go after the stuff you wanna keep. Long as they arent starving they should be good inhabitants.

 

[legend]

i posted the same thread about a month ago..i was shocked to see how big this crab got in so little time. Nice pic!

 

[nicky1.8t]

killer pic that is sweet

 

[ncsnake]

Originally posted by waterfaller1
Did you see him take down the tang?I doubt a hermit could do this..what you may have seen was the crab taking advantage of a free meal..perhaps the tang was sick,or had died..the hermit was doing his job as a scavenger..
Tang was healthy and always hung out behind a rock when lights were out...crap snagged him and was holding him... munched on his tail. I found the fish struggling to get away...I removed the crab but the fish was wounded badly and went into shock and died a short time later...this was a B. I. G. hermit and again the fish was healthy one hour and had a hole in him the next.....Hermit was a stone cold killer.

 

[phil1964]

I bought 5 when I started out. 4 never grew much and 1 is a mutant. I very rarely see them but they did get rid of all green bubbles except on power heads where they can’t get to.
They have not bothered anything.

 

[synyster11]

That thing looks KILLER!! I want one!! Look at the tank at night.. You will see that thing bench pressing Live rock!!

 

[fishkiller]

Yeah man!! Mine would move a piece of lr that weighs at least 2 freakin' lbs! I think he got crushed under the lr when I was moving it all around puting my new sand in. Oh well, he was a mean little sucker anyway.

 

[buzz]

I have had 2 greens, and 1 red emerald. The 2 greens never bothered anything. The red was a demon. All made short work of any bubble algae in my tank.