Safe acro crab ??????

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i believe i have seen it somewhere and i don't think it's a safe one dood.

i hope someone has more info on them :)
 
These are often called strawberry crabs. Strawberry Crab, Liomera sp., is typically considered reef-safe. They are a hardy, colorful cleaner from Hawaii. Growing to a maximum of about one inch, its color ranges from a bright pink to a pastel red. The tips of the claws will characteristically have black tips. In its natural environment, it seeks shelter in the vast expanses of Acropora that exist in the waters surrounding the Hawaiian Islands. Tolerant of one another, more than one can be kept in the same aquarium. Typically shy initially, this crab is an effective scavenger that will feed on most any meaty food. Medications containing copper must never be used in the presence of Crabs (or of most hard-shelled crustaceans.) All Crabs require Live Rock or similar aquarium decoration to use for hiding, especially when molting. May eat fish smaller than itself when other food is not available. This is a rare occurrence. One can google the genus and learn quite a bit.

http://aquariumpros.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=9054
 
Cool. I have the same crab and it seems to mind it's own business. Sort of a cool addition in my opinion.
-chris
 
way to go Mike !!!:D
i thought they weren't reef safe but i guess i must be confusing it with another crab which looks sort of the same just different color (i think they were called teddy bear crab or something like that) :p.
 
IMO, this is not a Strawberry crab. I've seen these guys often in acros, and whether or not they are safe is debateable. I've seen lots of posts where folks claim they are bad (as opposed to the "bandit"/masked acro crabs). A few claim they don't bother the coral. I've never trusted these fuzzy blue/gray eyed acro crabs. I'm a bigger fan of the smooth shelled bandit or red acro crabs. Are any of your acro colonies suffering with these crabs?

I'll link to a few threads I found elsewhere, but first I'll link you to a project LeslieH is putting together on crabs....if you don't trust this crab, then you might consider donating it to Leslie's project.

Crabs wanted!

Acro crab

Acro Crab...OK?
 
Gabby, the Teddy Bear crabs are hairier and don't have these type black claws, plus the TB crabs are ALWAYS bad news. This type in Tracy's tank seems to be docile in most tanks. After a lot of googling, I found no specific witnessed reports of corals being eaten by this specie. As a rule though, the ONLY acro dwelling crab I would keep in my tank, is the smooth shell type with the black band across the eyes. OMHO.


Nicky, I agree. Do you have a specie or genus name that matches this type? Gorilla crab, (xanthid)?
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/swcrabidfaqs.htm
 
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I can't tell if the crabs damage the corals. I have about 15 or so acro crabs of both kind thru out the tank. I did have a coral RTN on me. It had two of them kind in it. I saved the crabs by moving them to another coral. The down side is the coral now has 3 crabs in it ( about a 7" coral ) should be enough room. I did see something that was cool. Two of my acro crabs are full of eggs ( bandit kind ). Found not much info on acro crabs. I did see the pinchers on the fuzzy ones are flat at the end. Don't know it that means anything. I will watch the coral and see if it gets damaged. The only picking I can see is on eachother.
PS anyone try to get them out of a coral :mad:. What a pain.
 
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There was a reason I asked about whether or not damage was caused to the coral. From what I've read, some are problematic, and others are not. You really have to look at each coral and decide if you see damage or not. The RTN may have been totally unrelated, or the crab could have been stressing out the coral, which didn't allow the coral to deal with another stressor in the tank leading to RTN. Its hard to say, and just a guess at best. I'll have a couple of quotes below concerning commensal crabs.

Herefishyfishy said:
Nicky, I agree. Do you have a specie or genus name that matches this type? Gorilla crab, (xanthid)?
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/swcrabidfaqs.htm
Click to expand...

Oh my, getting the species name would be impossible for me. You really need to know alot of the physical characteristics, along with a good identification key (bumps between the eyes, eye and pincer characteristics, what the underside of the crab looks like, etc.). I can't even be sure if the carapace shape of the crab is trapezoid in shape or round. Take a look at this article from Ron Shimek: Crabs. Scroll down in the article, and you will see various carapace shapes. Here are a few quotes:

Xanthid crabs are possibly the most commonly found hitchhiking crabs. The oval indicates the basic body shape, but it is only a guide. The edges of the oval will be often covered with short thick spines. The major characteristic of [SIZE=-1]xanthids[/SIZE] is the presence of claws that are large and black tipped. Xanthids are very destructive animals in any enclosed environment.
Click to expand...
Many of the small, and probably harmless, symbiotic crabs inhabiting branching corals are trapeziid crabs, a subgroup of xanthids.
Click to expand...
Coral crabs, such as the various species that are often found nestled among the branches of some corals are often considered to be commensal, causing no lasting damage to their host other than stealing an occasional meal. Nonetheless some of these crabs seem to capable of destroying and eating coral polyps, perhaps under conditions of starvation. With these little crabs, it is probably best to decide on a case-by-case basis whether or not you wish to keep them in your system.
Click to expand...
This one is from: Acro Disease FAQ on WWM:

Acropora animal question 9/20/05
<Hi, Adam J responding to you this evening>
I recently bought an Acropora sp. at one of my LFS. I placed in my tank and found a small brown looking "bear" on the coral.
<Even though your attached picture was a bit blurry you did a wonderful job at capturing the animal. It appears to be a common Acropora Crab, though identifying the exact species is much more difficult, but more than likely it is harmless.>
Is this safe to leave on the coral or should I try to remove it?
<I would not remove it yet, though I would closely monitor it. Most Acropora crabs are commensal, feeding off of the waist of the host coral. Furthermore they usually don’t get very big. (Dime sized is the biggest I have observed) However a few have been known to pick off/feed on the polyps, so I would still keep an eye on him. “If you are in doubt take him out.” By that I mean, if his behavior becomes suspicious (i.e. visible damage to polyps) I would remove the crab at earliest convenience.>
I'm including a picture of the animal; not the best quality picture.
<The picture was fine, glad to have helped, Adam J>
Click to expand...
This quote is from "Aquarium Corals" by Eric Borneman, page 395

Some commensal crabs have predatory mimics, and the exact determination of any such species found living amoung coral is advised. Of course, if associated crabs are actually predatory, it will become obvious over time as coral tissue disapears. Still, the sighting of a crab doesn't necessarily need to be a signal or panic.
Click to expand...
Not sure if you'll find your crab among these photos, but you can have a look anyway. The "bandit"/masked crabs are the trapeziid crabs (another link below): Database of Crustacea (decapods, Stomatopoda)

Tiny Trapeziid Crab Helps Prevent Coral Death
 
NaH20, Thanks a bunch. I will keep a close eye on the corals. I found that a coral can RTN over night. Why, who knows and the rest of the corals are growing like mad. I will have a hard time removing all the fuzzy crabs from my colonys. I will keep you guys/gals posted. What I do see is the crabs so far seems to be picking at them selfs. The RTNing of the coral could have been unrelated.
PS Anyone have a good way of removing them
 
I've had success removing acro crabs by chasing them a bit with long handled thumb forceps. Once the crab goes near the base of the coral, I can usually get a hold of it, and gently pull it off. I've only done this a few times with colonies in QT with redbugs, prior to their redbug treatment. I was successful in getting out the crabs, without killing them. Although, one did grip on pretty good to the base, and it lost a leg.
 
My experience with acro crabs is limited to the few times I've done this in QT. One colony died, and I placed the crab into a different colony never to be seen again. I'm not sure what happened there. The crabs survived time away from the colonies while the corals were in QT getting treated. I just put them in a separate container with some LR rubble to hide on. I didn't lose them in this way, but they were only away during the interceptor treatment. I'm not sure what the general consensus is with regards to acro crabs being kept away from their colonies for an extended period.....or even how happy they would be in a different colony than the one they are used to :confused:
 
Herefishyfishy said:
These are often called strawberry crabs. Strawberry Crab, Liomera sp., is typically considered reef-safe. They are a hardy, colorful cleaner from Hawaii. Growing to a maximum of about one inch, its color ranges from a bright pink to a pastel red. The tips of the claws will characteristically have black tips. In its natural environment, it seeks shelter in the vast expanses of Acropora that exist in the waters surrounding the Hawaiian Islands. Tolerant of one another, more than one can be kept in the same aquarium. Typically shy initially, this crab is an effective scavenger that will feed on most any meaty food. Medications containing copper must never be used in the presence of Crabs (or of most hard-shelled crustaceans.) All Crabs require Live Rock or similar aquarium decoration to use for hiding, especially when molting. May eat fish smaller than itself when other food is not available. This is a rare occurrence. One can google the genus and learn quite a bit.

http://aquariumpros.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=9054
Click to expand...

That not a strawberry crab.

Here is the best pic of a strawberry crab I can find currently...

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?dept_id=0&siteid=6&acatid=317&aid=858

That is a type of acro crab. I dont know what species it is, but it is one of the ones commonly thought of as being a pest. I would wait and see what happens to the tissue of the coral its being hosted in. If the area the crab frequents, begins to die off, (and its not being shaded or attacked by something else) then I would remove it. If nothing happens in a couple of months, I would monitor, but not worry. Any damage caused by the crab can be quickly regrown if the coral is healthy.

Nick
 
Not Reef Safe

That's called a gorilla crab and it is NOT reef safe. I got a couple on wild colonies that started off little, cute and fuzzy with blue eyes then they got big and caused a lot of devestation to my frags. See my original post. http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16113&page=2

That type of crab has blue eyes, black tips on it's pinchers is fuzzy (more noticable as it gets bigger) and can change it's color to blend in with the coral flesh it feeds on.

Brandy
 
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Τhese acro crabs were eating from mileppora and acro humilis polyps, stripping the whole branch!!!!!!!
Can they multiply in the tank?I kepp getting reports from other hobbists that they see juveniles without adding new corals to the tank!!
 
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