Strawberry Crabs ( not Hermits )

nemonewbie

Membership Expired
I did a search and found a couple of threads on Strawberry Crabs, but they are at least two years old. I am in the process of get one and wanted to see, if anyone has one and are they reef safe and do they other fish / corals? Liveaquaria, says they are, but wanted to hear from someone who actually has one. Thanks for you comments.
 
I have one. It was a model citizen and I never saw it for a year until I moved everything into a new tank. In the new tank it started pulling frags down into holes where I could never get them and being really annoying. I also had a tailspot blenny that I had for a long time that went missing. I haven't lost any other fish or had issue but I've a sneaking suspicion that the crab got it.

Anyhow, they're pretty for the 5 seconds you see them when you put them in your tank. After that you might see it for a brief moment before they hide if you're using a flashlight at night. Not something I would recommend to anyone for the simple fact is they serve no real purpose in the tank and you'll never see them. I see my emerald crabs much more often and they actually serve a purpose in the tank.
 
I had one not too long ago. It stayed in an LPS and close surroundings during the day ... at night it ventured out to clean up food. They serve no purpose as Ben said. They have razor sharp claws and though they seem SLOW moving ... they are lightning fast when something wanders into their territory. If it's a small snail, it usually gets tossed during the grab -- something fleshy would not be so lucky, though I never witnessed such. It will *charge* hermits ... that's about it. I will have one again, but not if I have any nudibranches.
 
I have one. It's been two years. I see it every now and then with a flashlight at night. But even with a flashlight, it hides away immediately. As of it killing anything, idk, all fishes are still alive, but snails.... :/
 
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