Just a little crabby

M

mylittlesquishy

Okay, I have this tiny little crab that seems to be larger than a way out of my christmas tree coral rock.

Should I leave him or how would I remove him if it is neccesary?

First pic shows his little hole and the second shows the rock. It is interesting to watch him pick at rock but sad to see him stuck. :sad:

Thanks for any advice or maybe crab ID.

Gail
 
Gail, have you seen his pincers? Are they sharp, or do they have little flat pads? That might help determine if he's a bad guy or not. Most crabs are opportunistic omnivores, but I tend to go by the 'innocent until proven guilty' philosophy when it comes to unknown crabs.
 
You know Scott I think they are pointed and sharp.

The only part of his body that even shows are the pincers. The little neon goby sat right up next to him and the pincers didn't charge. I think he just can't move much from the hole.

I guess he isn't much of a danger to any other, I am only concerned about his possible demise and the bioload.

GP
 
Unlike Scott I go on the guilty until proven innocent on the crab side. Seen to many bad things. I trust acro craqbs and acro crabs only! So personally I would stab it and kill it if I could but that's just me.

Having said that just watch your corals for any damage. It's highly unlikely he'll do anything to fish or even inverts save the occasional snail but some of them can get pretty big. The gorilla crabs (which this doesn't appear to be) have been known to kill small fish!
 
Well - I'm with Scott - mainly b/c hitch hiker crab don't ASK to be put in our tanks - they're stuck with what we give them. So I'm always a fan of "innocent until proven guilty" and trying to find a way to give them a happy home.

Considering that this little guy can't even get out of his hole, I don't think he's a threat to much in your tank. Is the rock he's in easy to remove? If so, is there a way to remove it to make the hole larger for him?
 
If you want to keep this lil guy/girl then you may want to free it from it's hole as suggested in the previous posting. He probably hid in there after molting then couldn't get out after his new shell hardened. I'm sure you know how they expel fluid from their body in order to shrink and pull away from their existing shell during molting...run hide... then pump back up and let their new shell get hard. I always wondered how they did that for a long while :wink:

Cheers!
 
The rock is a christmas tree rock and I'm a little worried about endangering the christmas worms.

If I take out the rock to enlarge the hole, will it hurt the christmas worms to be out of the tank for a few minutes?

I think he's not the only one stuck between a rock and a hard spot... :?

GP
 
Won't hurt at all. They'll retract and can be out of water for several minutes witrh no harm at all!
 
Okay, I got up this morning and removed the rock for about five minutes and out came the little crab. I guess he wasn't really stuck, just perching in there.

He has been exiled to my new refugium.

I haven't seen my little neon goby since. He may have been in the rock when I removed it.

Gail
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top