emerald crab gone bad?

[bigchippa]

Have any of you ever had a rouge emerald crab you suspected of taking pieces out of lps? It seems to only be sampling for now. There is algea in the tank for him to eat, but evey 4-5 days I notice a new acan with small amounts of damage. Not always the same colony, the crabs are fairly new will this stop after he determines that they are not food or would you pull them? I really want them to eat the bubble algea not acans.

 

[Behrmon]

I had an emerald strip a beautiful 4" zoa rock clean of at least prob 100 polyps, I sent him to the sump.

 

[Andy V]

Is this like Girls Gone Wild for Reefs?

 

[Aquaman_68]

When they get larger they switch from vegetarian to carnivore.....That is why you should always get them small!!! Once they get the taste fro meat!!! Watch out!!

 

[Andy V]

Well that's good to know. I never heard that before. I will keep any eye on the 2 I have. They have stayed fairly small for a few months, so hopefully they will not get that large.

 

[Jim Tansey]

I have heard that also, and I believe it, even on the Cape here you find small green crabs among the algae but larger ones are in deeper water feeding off shellfish or whatever they can find.

Jim

 

[smithcreek]

I watched mine rip into an acan lord polyp once. I also watched him on many occasions snapping the very tips off my birdsnest colony and eat those.

 

[Sherri]

I have decided that the only crabs I will keep are hermits or porcelain. I still have 2 gorillas to catch but they know what happens if I see them! Spear time!

 

[Aquaman_68]

I have decided that the only crabs I will keep are hermits or porcelain. I still have 2 gorillas to catch but they know what happens if I see them! Spear time!

fork em... I wait till the lights go out to catch those type.... Put a glass in the tank tipped half way on an angle.. (with some fishing line tied around it) put a cube of frozen fish food & wait for them to dive in the glass to chow... Pull up the string & make the glass go upright...They can't get out & you can put neptunes fork in them!!!

 

[Sherri]

I just catch all of my hermits that way! I actually caught a bunch using the commercial mantis traps. Even with those I had to keep releasing the hermits! I have a collection of about 10 gorilla crab corpses courtesy of TBS rock! I caught all of my emeralds and gave them away. Not to mention the 4 mantis shrimp I also caught ... Just found a Duncan with gorilla crab damage ... got to catch those little ....

 

[Dave McReeferson]

There is one hermit crab in our 560 gallons of display, the only crab in the tank, and that was out of pity for the little guy. No type of crab is worth the risks and known costs when we have reasonable alternatives available to us (for me anyway).

 

[Reefried]

There is one hermit crab in our 560 gallons of display, the only crab in the tank, and that was out of pity for the little guy. No type of crab is worth the risks and known costs when we have reasonable alternatives available to us (for me anyway).

Dave what do you mean by alternatives??...

 

[Sherri]

I assume he means that you keep your water of such high quality that you have no algae therefore no need for a clean up crew. A level of water quality I can only aspire to!

 

[reefsmurf]

I have a unique large emerald crab that is pink/red in color. I've had him for a very long time and he's never harmed anything. However, I bought some tub's blues and lost all but one polyp last week. I thought it might have been my cherub angel, but he's never picked at any zoos. So who is it.. cherub angel or crab??

I moved the sole survivor to underneath the clowns. So far still alive but not too optimistic. Is the crab going to be a problem?

 

[afboundguy]

There is one hermit crab in our 560 gallons of display

WHAT?!?!?!?!?! And you haven't posted pics in your build thread?!?!?!