White Hairy Crab

[MMAX]

Found a white hairy crab in a hole of one of my rocks a while back. From what I've seen he usually doesn't venture too far from his hiding spot. I think he's more active when the lights go off. I have 2 ocellaris, 2 cleaner shrimps, several hermits, snails and slugs and 2 small coral frags. Are they in danger from this little guy? He's about the size of a penny right now and I try to keep his hunger satisfied with shrimp pellets which he'll sometimes take right out of my fingers. I kinda like him but if he's going to eat my other livestock I guess he'll have to go.

[dsaundry]

Picture?? How big are his claws in relation to his body?? Big claws are usually not good. He might be an anenome crab, They are white and harmless....

[MMAX]

It will be real hard to get a picture of him. He rarely comes out. From what I've seen, his claws are fairly small, he's mostly white with small brownish dots and he's very hairy. I've seen pictures of anemone crabs before and they didn't look to be hairy at all.

[dsaundry]

It's really tough with crabs, Usually the rule of thumb is if they have big claws they aren't too good. I would say if you aren't sure you should banish him to the sump, at least until he can be properly identified.

[MMAX]

I found a picture on a different site and he's almost identical to this. They called him a decorator crab.
CRAB!.jpg

[danny zubot]

I think they call them decorator crabs because that's about all they are good for...decorating your tank. I'd leave it in the tank if you like it.

[dsaundry]

Decorators crabs are fine..Kind of funny little crabs..No major issues in a reef tank....