Some sort of crab

[strout]

I have a crab of some sort in the tank. I have only seen bits a pieces of him in the tank and at this time I know where he is at, he is under a piece of live rock where he has a made a home. I have limited access to this area, which means I can get to the tunnel but he backs up into it where I can't get to him. I want him gone, and I was wondering if anyone knows of a clever way for me to catch him without taking all the live rock out of the tank. He really isn't hurting anything that I have noticed, but I would rather get rid of him before he causes me any problems. He got into my tank I am guessing, by being in a hole in some of my live rock when I bought the rock. Any ideas?

 

[Lorna]

crabs are common live rock hitchhikers. All are not bad nor all beneficial. I would make a trap out of a small plastic water bottle. Cut the bottle top off at the shoulder of the bottle. Turn this around and insert this part into the bottle with the neck deep in the bottle. bait the trap with a tasty bit of shrimp or food and place it at night in the tank near the little guys lair....he will go in for the food and not be able to get out....good luck.

 

[strout]

Well, I asked for clever and thats what I got, lol. I will let you know how it turns out. I just don't want him getting into and hurting my polyps and zoas.

 

[quaddity]

Yeah do it now. If it has pointy black claw tips it's a predator. I let one get big in my tank until a couple fish disappeared and it ate quite a few corals. I used a glass jar with a piece of shrimp in it and it worked great.

 

[strout]

The crab trap is made and were going crabbing tonight.

 

[strout]

I put the trap in the tank, and when the white T5 lights went off and just the blue T5s were on he came out and went into the front of the trap but not into the trap, hopefuly he will be in there in the mornig, I will take a pic if we catch him. He looks to be about the size of a quater maybe a tad bigger.

 

[strout]

Well, he got the bait without getting into the trap. I will make me another trap and try again tonight.

 

[Lorna]

perseverance is the ticket. I have heard of the jar trick but haven't tried it. I have a smallish white crab that has been in my tank for 3 years....occasionally I will see him at night when the lights are out. He has never eaten anything and he is nicknamed Hairy the Crab.....I haven't seen him in a while though. I would rather a crab than some giant bristle worm that would totally creep me out.

 

[quaddity]

I still have couple crabs in my tank but watching them at night I've not seem them mess with anything. I'll probably need to catch them too at some point. I used a big salsa jar to catch my bad crab.