Unidentifiable crab(s)

[fishtails]

I just bought a piece of lr today and as soon as I got home added it.Well ok. the setup looks execllent(sp.error)and as I was looking on my lr I saw what appeared to be a crab!I'm freaking out because they(yes I just spotted another one)are good sized(bigger than my hermits,lets say a little bigger than a nickel.They have a dull brownish-white coloration and are oval/disc shaped bodies.I am very clueless of what these are and if the will harm my snails,crabs(prob.so)and fish.Does anyone know what they can be and will they harm my fish,etc....Thanks Alex <img src="graemlins//confused.gif" border="0" alt="[confused]" />

 

[mr.flameangel]

i just 2 that sound like the same kind in my tank. are they hairy. i noticed that 1 of them was after my neon goby and perc clown that was lying on the lr. so i got them out. but still have not found what they were. sorry could tell you what they were but watch the fish. good luck

 

[the infamous sea cucumber]

I had a hitchhiker crab come on my lr that sounds very similar to the one you described. It had an oval shaped body, tan color with some white, most noticeably on the tips of its pinchers. Its claws were shaped like a predatory crab, and it was about the size of a half dollar when I first saw it. This was seven months after my lr was added. I have had 2 fish deaths, which I have eventually attributed to this crab. One perfectly healthy blue damsel, and one midas blennie. They both slept in the rockwork near where I eventually located this crabs home. I finally saw this bugger when I was hand feeding my cbs. It came out of the rockwork extremely fast, and robbed the bit of food I was holding out of my hand. It was obviously hungry and aggressive, and when I got a good look at its pinchers I could tell they weren't designed for algae removal. If I were you I would try to get a good look at its pinchers. This may help you to decide what type of diet it has. If they aren’t shaped similar to a minthrax (emerald) crab, I would get it out of there. Remember, better to be safe then sorry.

 

[fishtails]

Thanks everyone for the info.,and I caught one yesterday and took it to the lfs and they didn't know what it was(so no emerald)so they told me to put it in the tank w/their HUGE fish and sure enough they ripped it in half(like on deep blue sea).So today I see one that is diff. and looks "hairy"(diff. from other)walking while the light was on so I caught him and here he is right next to me in a bowl(prob. will feed him too)but he is very small(dime)and I see one more in my lr(hopefully the last)that I cant get too.I see they are carniverious as it ate some brine shrimp I put in there with it so beware of these crabs.How should I torture him? <img src="graemlins//evilwhorn.gif" border="0" alt="[Evil Horn]" /> jk Alex

 

[ilove2ride]

That's sad that the LFS killed it! It can't help that it was taken with it's home and shipped in someone's LR...