I have taken 5 crabs out of my 25g tank now and i know there is still at least one more in there but he is a good hider i know what cave is his and have seen him a few times but i missed with a squewer and now he hasnt come back out in 4 or 5 days.

Are they in crab heaven or in the chowder?

He would eat your pods. In your case you would be better off taking him to your local LFS. Or to someone that need trigger food.:biggrin:

4 are dead and 1 went into the sump and is now about 2" across and living in a large moonsnail shell, he is my kids favorite part of my tank i think because he is black with red eyes.

Well I have been trying to capture this hitchhiker crab for the last few weeks using a drikning glass and shrimp meat at night. No luck.

Got my flashlight out last night and discovered his hiding hole. It is a small cave with 2 entrances but he is getting too big to hide completely. If he scurries in one entrance then a couple of his legs show up at the other entrance.

I want to introduce some more inverts to my display tank and I am concerned that I will simply be feeding this crab.

Since he will not come out for the bait I will have to go in after him. I am proposing to pull out that rock, squirt him with fresh water, and hopefully he will drop into an alternate bucket. After that I am not sure what I will do with him.

Maybe set up another tank?

I want to introduce some more inverts tomy display tankand I am concerned that I will simply be feeding this crab.

I have a home for him! He'd be living in my fuge with a room mate named Godzilla. Godzilla is a wonderful green creature, which would surely invite him to a dinner party, he does with all his other "guests"...

I think we could work something out. Let's see if can extract this guy.

Is the fresh water "squirt" likely to work?

It might, tough to say. It didn't on the guy I was trying to get out. Something you might want to try if you can, it fresh water pouring and poking him with a chop stick or something. Really **** him off to get him to move!

Do they respond to saying rude things about their mothers?

Most crab hitchhikers feel that their mothers failed to protect them from being kept in nature. They are bitter against their mothers for this.

After spending more time in captivity, they realize it was fate and their parents had nothing to do with their demise and they just start missing them. If this is the case, insulted his mother will work wonders.

Try to keep it simple,

"Your mothers actually a Lobster, you inbred little fool"
"Your mother's shell is so ugly, it scares Mantis Shrimp away"
"Your mother's so fat, a Titan Trigger choked on her"
"Your mother's so dumb, she thinks she is the Chicken of the Sea"

I've had success with all of the above.