ID This Crab?
 

I found this molt in my tank last night, until now I did not know I had any crabs in my tank.

Can someone ID this critter or direct me to a web page to assist in the ID?

Thanks in advance.

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h.../DSC_3543s.jpg

try http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/reefs/guami...dae/index.html
or
http://www.chucksaddiction.com/ on the left hand menu, go to hitchhikers, crabs

Thanks. I think there are too many crab possibilities to be confident of what I have.

Any crab with pincers like yours is bad news. Sumpify it or feed it to your friendly neighbourhood triggerfish.

I would have to catch this guy first. Can one lure a crab into a fish trap?

put a juice glass or jar in the tank so it's on it's side with the rim slightly elevated and some food in the bottom. You should have yourself a crab in the morning.

The glass trick works very well.

Unless you have hermits in your tank like I do then you end up with a bunch of ****ed off hermits in a ball at the bottom of the glass like I did :mrgreen:.

Just hunt through your tank late at night with a flashlight ( would be better if the flashlight had a red lense on it ) and grab him if you see him. Thats how I caught my little guy.

Good luck

Yes the hermit thing will be an issue. I may have to try this over a series of nights until I get the right guy. I have a flashlight with a red lense but I have not spotted him yet.

What did you do with your crab?

Pop bottle with holes in the sump or refugium works well if you want to keep him thats what I do.

I could throw him into the refugium I suppose. The refugium in my AIO tank is vertical ~1 G with a live sand bottom. Not sure that he would have enough to eat there.

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.

Okay...who's been drinking in the middle of the day? lol

Sounds reasonable just insert "teenager" and "mall" in the appropriate location and it all makes sense.

I will try to prod this guy out over the weekend.

Phillybean: Caught him! Still interested? I am passing through Kelowna the next couple of days, or anyone in Vernon? I will be up there on Thursday.