mystery crab

twogirls

twogirls

Member
we have a hitch hiker crab that I can't seem to find a picture of. I can't take a picture of him because he hides if you move by the tank. I finally got a good look at him today and just want some help to know if I need to get him out of there or not.
His body shape is like the emerald crabs. His color is grey/brown, he blends into the rocks really well. His legs are stripped with his body color and white. His legs remind me of a really nasty kind of hairy spider. He hitch hiked in about 6 weeks ago and has at least doubled in size. From "toe to toe" he's about 1.5 inches
 
twogirls

twogirls

Member
anybody else?? really need to know if these guys are safe. One of our fish died and had a gash out of it's side. That is the major reason I am wanting to know
 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
what do the claws look like? did you look at gorilla crabs?
if the claws are pointy it is most likely your culprit. If they are cupped, then it most likely is a mythrax cousin.
 
smork81

smork81

Member
If you want to get rid of it and can catch it I would love to take it off your hands and would pay shipping! Please don't kill it. My email is akin_nostaw19@yahoo.com if you want to get rid of it contact me please.
 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
smork you still havent gotten a gorilla? i'll go crabbing for those two i still have in my LR and let you know if i catch them.
what are you doing with that nasty looking crab you caught?
 
smork81

smork81

Member
Oh I actually got that one from a LFS.
keepin it in my fuge. I still want any gorillas. I have another 40g sump with another fuge and another 30g sump for my 55g that still has no critters in it! Live rock but no crabs *sigh* Keep fishin for those bugger renogaw!
 
twogirls

twogirls

Member
okay, I looked at the gorilla and it's not it. Too hairy. It just kind of looks like it has a tiny bit of hair on it's legs. I'll try to get a pic. He's getting too big to hide as well as he has in the past. And I do not want to kill him, I just want to make sure he's safe
 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
looksl ike a rock crab--but there's so many different types of crabs :( i'd suggest pulling the piece of rock it hides in out of your tank, and getting that thing out of there. those claws aren't safe.
 
quil

quil

Member
I just pulled a gorilla crab out of my tank last night...must've hitchhiked in on some of my zoos I just got. Thing was pretty big, so I know he wasn't in there before. I took a feeder stick and put a piece of krill on the end, and then lured him to the front of the tank. My wife put a glove on, reached in and scooped him up before he could get away. I tossed him in my live rock/rubble tank...
 
twogirls

twogirls

Member
he doesn't stay under one rock, he does tend to stay toward the right side of my tank. It's hard to know exactly where he is. We also have just discovered another one of these guys, but he is much smaller (for now) and never comes completely out of the rock.
 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
if the claw tip is not cupped/ushaped its not a good crab for your tank.
here's a pic of a red mythrax crab, i ended up having to put him in my fuge--he actually broke skin and he has cupped claw tips.
 
salth20addict

salth20addict

New Member
Looks to be a member of the mythrax crab family, like an emerald crab. If the claws don't come to a point but instead are rounded and have a space between the claws when the tips are closed then I think you're safe. That's how it looks in the picture anyway. JMO.
:thinking:
 
twogirls

twogirls

Member
he looks just like the red pics above except the color. he blends in really well. is it safe to leave him in the tank or should I remove him?
 
bolt696

bolt696

Member
Hey, I found this guy in my tank. Took almost 4 months to catch him. tried all kinds of traps with all different foods, never fell for it. When I went from my 55 to 125 I finally got the

[hr]
. He was the size of a silver dollar. He ate almost all my clean up crew. Every morning I would wake up and find a pile of shells. I beleive it is a gorilla crab but never confirmed it. This was huge. I am lucky I was wearing diving gloves because it crabbed my finger and would not let go for 30-40 seconds. Here is a pick, and the best one I have seen. End result, he took a nice swim down the toilet......
 
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