Emerald Crab go Bye Bye....

[stevenp]

Welp,
After waking up each morning and seeing empty snail shells and hermit crab limbs strewn thoughout the tank I figured it was time....

I wanted to re-do my rocks anyway....

Once they ran out of algae they turned into some mean lil' bastards..

Steve

 

[Fatal Morgana]

Don't you wish someone warned you about this "potential" problem before you buy that SOB? I lost several baby T. maxima due to the same type of crab, and they were some of the prettiest clam I can ever get...

 

[stevenp]

What really ticks me off is that the LFS's around here sell them in thier "cleanup crew" packages..... Maybe it's a plot to sell more livestock?

I know some people love them and don't have any problems, and I can respect that. However, be forewarned, I wish I would have been.

Steve

 

[Juck]

These things suck IMO,,, I don't care how many times I hear "aww I've never had a problem with them in my tank" ,, I lost a firefish and several damsels to one.

 

[Anonymous]

I have had 0 luck with crabs all-together.

 

[Fozza]

Best damn cleaner I have in my tanks, but as they are scavengers, they will take the opportunity to eat some nice fresh meaty foods given the chance.

 

[stevenp]

alfbennett,

Even hermits? I have some of these but I'm not concerned as they're pretty easy to catch.

Fozza,
They are indeed some serious cleaners!!

Steve

 

[Anonymous]

My hermits ate my feather dusters. I still have one, but only because he survived a one fish killing machine's stay, and I'm attached too him.

If I had to start over, I would just deal with algea blooms differently.

My personal favorite janitors are my nassarius snails. They are detravores, but whenever I drop in meaty food they pop out of the sand like something from night of the living dead They have also spawned a couple of times in the tank, so they are self-replacing. Other than that I have some turbos snails. Now that the major algea problems are gone, and I fixed the flow to take care of a constant cyno bloom, I am prety care free.

 

[Fatal Morgana]

(actually, hermit crab is closer to a shrimp than crab, but that's does not make them any more innocent)

 

[ZooKeeper1]

they are also related to insects, but who cares??

 

[reefdood]

I HATE Emerald crabs with a passion.

 

[Fatal Morgana]

>...they are also related to insects, but who cares?? ...

I know quite a bit about phylogeny, so I do care... not that you care about that.

 

[dodo99]

I have three in my tank, two of them stowaways. I think I saw a smaller one with what looked like eggs on the stomach area. Should I be umm worried? How do you get rid of them? Well laid traps?

 

[hillbilly]

I HATE Emerald crabs with a passion.

I hate crabs period in a reef tank! I have 3 stony tanks running right now, and I can find only 1 snail between all three. LOL! I think they may have starved! I never keep crabs of any kind.

 

[Anonymous]

>...they are also related to insects, but who cares?? ...

I know quite a bit about phylogeny, so I do care... not that you care about that.

I care enough to look up "phylogeny" :lol: