big hairy crab

[LilBugger225]

I got some live rock from tampa bay and little did I know there was a big hairy crab hiding in it. Oh I thought he was kinda cool when I first saw him and didn't think he would do much. Then I purchased a small yellow tang to munch on some macro algae I had and he was all happy and then I turn my head and the big hairy SOB has the fish in his pinchers and was eating my new fish! I was pissed but I didn't want to kill him so after many tries I finally banished him to my empty 20 gal tank. Question is, does anyone know what kind of crab he is? He is about 5 inches wide now. I have since been feeding him pieces of shrimp and stuff and he seems to like that although it takes him forever to find them and when he has the pieces in his clutches he runs around like a freak like he doesn't know what the heck to do with it. Its kinda funny to watch and I don't see how he caught a fish that way. Follow the link to see the pic:
http://www.geocities.com/lilbugger225/crab.html

TIA

Erica

[ October 01, 2001: Message edited by: LilBugger225 ]

 

[Sea Critter]

Hi Erica,
I did not go to the site and look at the picture of the crab, but by "hairy" do mean it has short spikey hair like stuff on the shell? Does it have sort of large folded claws with black or purplish coloration on the tips of the claws? If so, and from what you describe, it is probably a baby stone crab which hitchhiked on your rock. If you haven't done so you might want to get it out of your tank. They can grow to pretty big size, and if it gets much bigger, it could seriously crunch your finger! Adult sized stone crabs have claws the size of a man's fist - but actually fresh stone crab claws are really yummy with melted butter and garlic.

Good luck!
Teresa
Sea Critters Home Page

 

[pupeluv]

Wow, that's a pretty crab. I'm sure if you took him to your lfs they'd sell him to somebody else. I don't know what kind it is. I think the fish must have blundered into the crab and he just took advantage of the opportunity.

 

[Jrsydevi1]

Hmm.. 5 inches wide you say?? Well, I can definitely identify this scoundrel.. Without any doubt, this is a member of the species Crustacius Twelvoclockus... and should be handled as such... get two pieces of bread, a pot of boiling water, some hot sauce, a beer, and, well, you can guess the rest... it's lunch... A 5 inch crab belongs in the supermarket, not a reef tank..

 

[Sea Critter]

Hi Erica,
Glad to hear you were able to catch the crab. When it gets bigger... well I have to agree with jrsydevil, fesh stone crab claws are, argh, have to go catch a delivery truck.
bye
Sea Critters

 

[LilBugger225]

Yeah he purple and spikey like Sea Critter described, and is now caught and in a 20 gal tank by himself and now a couple other crabs just like him but way smaller. He is 5 inches from tip of leg to tip of leg, his abdomen shell (whatever its called) is about 2.5 inches so he's not quite big enough to eat.... yet. He is quite aggressive however, I went to scrape the glass and he tried to attack the scraper, it was kinda funny. I sure did get alot of wierd crabs with my live rock shipment, some bright red ones as well. I have begun to eliminate all of them by catching them when I can and putting them all in that 20 gal tank. They can fight it out in there.

 

[Sea Critter]

Hi Erica,
I'm back, as I was saying, stone crab claws are delicious fresh from the ocean, but i don't about after having lived in an aquarium til they are big enough. The little red crabs are several species of small reef crabs that live on the live rock. You will probably see more of them over time, they hitch a ride when they are tiny and can hide in little holes in the rock. We see them on our aquacultured live rock also. They are omivorous, as most crab are, and will eat pretty much any food you put in the tank. If they are hungry enough they can start picking at things in the tank. The little stone crab guys are particularly fond of the silver tipped Xenia I have been propagating, the little ***####@ !
If you have a friend with a fish tank, or maybe your LFS would take them for fish food - puffers, triggers and wrasses love them.

Happy Reefkeeping,
Teresa www.sea-critters.com

 

[LilBugger225]

The stone crab is in my empty tank now, with some new friends, a small red crab, as well as a larger reddish crab that decided to munch on my open brain one night, I was so freakin mad! He ate like an inch down to the skeleton. Luckily my open brain is a really tough coral and within a week now the hole is patched up and you can hardly tell it happened. The kicker now is that, one of the small red crabs appeared to be pregnant a couple days ago and has since released her eggs. I saw a video once of a different kind of crab doing this. I haven't seen any babies yet, and I know at this point they would be awfully small and free swimming I would guess. We will see what happens. I guess this is the tank of crab banishment. It will be my little experiment because I have no life

Erica

 

[Sea Critter]

Hi Erica,
I would suggest ditching the crabs and finding a life, it would be much more fun

As for the baby crabs, I am not sure if they are released as a larval form, or just post-larval juveniles. It would make a difference for what kind of food source they will need to grow up,and whether your little tank could support that. At any rate, the bigger crab will probably eat the little ones, and solve that problem.

Teresa
www.sea-critters.com

 

[Sea Critter]

Oops, I did not notice that the little "gremlin" could stick his tongue out at you, sorry!
Teresa