Successful Crab trap and critter ID request

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Tieg

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 5, 2007
Messages
117
Location
Groton, CT
Brand new to the forum and FIRST POST...my wife and I invested in a 29 gal biocube to start out small until I am out of military housing and into my permanent house 3-6 years down the line Then I figure with the amount of knowledge I will have learned through my experiences as well as the reeftank community I can upgrade to something a little bigger.

Anyhow, back to the subject at hand. I had a couple of hitchiker crabs with the LR we got and was able to coax a crab out with some tweezers cause the hole he was in was not keep enough. We don't want them in there because we learned they can be fish killers and my wife wants fish. Anyhow, we IDed the crab through this website as a gorilla crab(the little guy with hairy legs). The next night we spotted another one and there was no getting this guy out. So I googled "crab traps in reef tanks" and this website popped up. I am not sure who it was that made the suggestion but the idea was from a member from this website (kudos to him). I got one of my bourbon tumbler glasses, submerged it with water and leaned it up against the rock where we had last seen the crab. I took a chunk of uncooked shrimp that we were going to use to cycle the tank and weighed it down with a hook and barrel sinker (yes I like to fish) and then left it overnight. Pic of the setup (critter has already been caught and is in the trap):
20992Crab_Trap.JPG

This morning I pulled out the glass and viola....one crab awaiting some sort of sentence. I suspect death as my buddy doesn't want him for his refugium so the toilet may be his ultimatum unless someone here has an idea and can post back a reply in time (and no...I prefer king crableg and snow crableg so that option will not be entertained )
Here is a pic of the condemned. If my id as a gorilla crab is wrong please correct:
20992Awaiting_Sentence.JPG

Now I also have 2 id requests:

The first one is a spongy type mass I found on the side of the rock that obviously was a hitchiker. Its a little bigger then a dime and the color in the photo is about right. Any ideas?
20992Sponge_question.JPG

The other request is for a bug like critter that was also a hitchiker with the LR. Its fast and has 2 appendages about where the pincers on a crab would be. It raises these 2 appendages above itself and on the ends are what I would describe as a pair of feather dusters which it is using to capture food as it will bring them to its mouth quite a bit. Sensative to light....I can bring the edge of the flash light onto it but direct light and I will have to wait till the next night to see it. I apologize for the poor pic quality but my camera wants to focus on the rock around it and not the actual critter itself. After about 25 different pictures...thank god for digital...this is what I got:
20992I_don_t_know.JPG

Anyone who contributes to this thread...thank you for your effort and your time...it is greatly appreciated.
 
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that last one looks like a porcelain anemone crab or something.

I had someone else tell me the same thing on another board but after googling an anemone crab it doesn't look like that. It doesn't have pinchers but rather a fan like appendages:
20992ID_Critter.JPG

And also it is segmented into 2 segments like a bug. Your thoughts?
 
I racant what I was saying. I got a good look at it a few minutes ago and it is indeed a type of crab. From what I have researched on Porcelain Crab it acts just like it. Using its attenae that has filter like fans on it to feed. I also noted it doesn't get very big...because it remains small does anyone believe it could be bad for fish?

Chalk up to being inexperienced ;)
 
I had a crab issue with my 125. Honestly the easiest way to get them out is to yank out the rock it is on when you see it. The crabs in my tank would only be out at night and I wasn't about to pull out all 110 lbs or so.....so I kept looking at night. Once they were on a top rock i would yank the rock out, put it in a bucket and spray the holes with fresh water. Eventually the crab would come out. The larger of the group pretty much jumped off the rock into the bucket making my life easy. In all I got out 4 crabs. The last two I got out on consecutive nights. Finally no more hitchikers. (knock on wood.)
 
Welcome to the board.

Your first crab is a fish eater. It needs to go.
The second unknown spongy mass appears to be a sponge...(really).
Your second crab is a porcelain crab that lost its claws. They are filter feeders, and if its blue with dark lines on its shell, its not an anemone type of porcelain crab. It will most likely need some sort of supplemental feeding in order to survive.

Nick
 
Thanks Nick...appreciate the input. I have done a lot of research on line and on other boards...I agree on the porcelain crab...actually it has really tiny claws....got a good look at it yesterday.
 
Hi to you and your wife! welcome to the board. I am sure your wife will be so happy when it is time to get a fish. (don't get a damsel)hehe.
 
Tieg-
They will regrow their claws if they loose them, so thats probably what happened. They are tiny when they start to regrow. Porcelain crabs are good crabs and you have nothing to worry about. I have three that hitchhiked on my rocks and they are awesome.

Your first crab is considered undesirable, so take em out.

Crabs in general get a bad rap I think. I have two or three crabs that people would say to get rid of, but I cant catch them. They have been in my tank for over a year and they havent eaten anything they werent supposed too.
 
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