Baby crab... Good or bad?

Luananeko · Nov 28, 2018

I found this little dude hanging out of a hole in my TBS live rock today. He's about the size of a pencil eraser. Can anyone ID him? I'm thinking maybe a baby gorilla crab, in which case catching him is gonna suck till he gets bigger... At least I know what hole he's hiding in now though!

Retro Reefer · Nov 28, 2018

Looks like a Gorilla crab, don’t sweat it he is to small to do any real damage and you can eventually catch them.. after a while they get comfortable and come out exploring then just scoop them up with net. I have caught a bunch of them from my fla rock.

Luananeko · Nov 28, 2018

Retro Reefer said:
Looks like a Gorilla crab, don’t sweat it he is to small to do any real damage and you can eventually catch them.. after a while they get comfortable and come out exploring then just scoop them up with net. I have caught a bunch of them from my fla rock.

Really? That's reassuring then. He's the 4th one I've found so far. The other 3 never made it into the tank since I caught them in the shipping bags first. I've been setting a pest trap for the last few days but it keeps getting emptied without catching anyone. Now that I see how tiny this guy is I'm guessing he and any friends he may have are the culprits... They're probably just walking right between the one way curtain tines

!

Geebs19 · Nov 28, 2018

Agreed with Gorilla Crab, you could put some food out as bait and then catch him once he wonders over to it.

fabutahoun · Nov 29, 2018

Any crab that is hairy usually is a bad crab, I had my fair share of bad crabs, now I don't let any crab enter my tank except Acro Crabs and few hermit crabs

Luananeko · Nov 29, 2018

fabutahoun said:
Any crab that is hairy usually is a bad crab, I had my fair share of bad crabs, now I don't let any crab enter my tank except Acro Crabs and few hermit crabs

Yeah, that's what I was afraid of... Sadly it seems the TBS rock has TONS of these little dudes hiding in every crevice. It seems impossible to find them all beforehand without risking killing the sponges in a freshwater/seltzer tip or holding it in the air while poking at every hole. Catching them after the fact when they get larger seems like the only option.