Crab ID thread

[94Roarge]

I have been collecting all the crabs I find on live rock at my work and saving them in their own little tank until my 125g is up and running, then they can all live happily with no little fish to potentially harm.

Every reefer's nightmare right?

I love them! I have some photos of a few I found today, and the rest will get photos when they are moved to the 125.

Here they are, if you can ID the species, go for it! Otherwise just enjoy

 

[94Roarge]

#1

 

[94Roarge]

#2

 

[94Roarge]

#3

 

[94Roarge]

@lionfishlair you should probably like this

 

[SBlisters]

#3

I'm pretty sure I've got #3 as a hitchiker in my tank as well. I've been curious what type of crab it is.

 

[Roboson]

#2-3 are xanthid (rock) crabs. They're not reef safe, as they'll eat anything. Drop them in your sump if you have one, they'll live off any gunk that ends up in there.

#1 I'll have to look into a bit. I've not seen one so bright yellow before.

 

[Roboson]

Where is your live rock from?

 

[MaddyP]

#3 is predatory on zoanthids. I found this out by experience recently. Crab would hide under zoanthid rock and as soon as lights went out, it would scamper out and pinch off an entire polyp.

 

[94Roarge]

#2-3 are xanthid (rock) crabs. They're not reef safe, as they'll eat anything. Drop them in your sump if you have one, they'll live off any gunk that ends up in there.

#1 I'll have to look into a bit. I've not seen one so bright yellow before.

Just going to point out they are going into a non reef tank with fish that are more likely to eat the crabs than ever get bothered by them [emoji14]

And #1 is green, the photo doesn't do it justice aha. I read about it recently, and have forgotten :/

My live rock is from Cairns in Queensland, Australia

 

[94Roarge]

#3 is predatory on zoanthids. I found this out by experience recently. Crab would hide under zoanthid rock and as soon as lights went out, it would scamper out and pinch off an entire polyp.

Well no zoas for this tank then! Thanks and did you get the crab out or leave it in? [emoji14]

 

[MaddyP]

Well no zoas for this tank then! Thanks and did you get the crab out or leave it in? [emoji14]

He snuck into my tank on a coral colony but when not spotted in the colony I assumed he died. Since he was smooth skinned and the sps colony looked in great health, I assumed he was an acro crab. He was in my tank for a few weeks as I watched zoa colonies slowly decline. I couldn't figure out why polyps were disappearing until one night after lights out I saw the little rascal in action. He was removed immediately...

 

[94Roarge]

He snuck into my tank on a coral colony but when not spotted in the colony I assumed he died. Since he was smooth skinned and the sps colony looked in great health, I assumed he was an acro crab. He was in my tank for a few weeks as I watched zoa colonies slowly decline. I couldn't figure out why polyps were disappearing until one night after lights out I saw the little rascal in action. He was removed immediately...

And put in the sump?

 

[MaddyP]

And put in the sump?

I wasn't quite that kind. Let just say, my nem was nicely fed that week...

 

[Rob Lion]

#1 (the yellow one) looks like a crinoid squat lobster to me, it looks like its holding its tail under its thorax (as they do) in the 2nd pic.
In the reef tank, without a crinoid to sit on and float about for food, they normally find a safe place to sit and wave their claws about to catch food.

These come in all sorts of colours and with and without stripes.

 

[94Roarge]

#1 (the yellow one) looks like a crinoid squat lobster to me, it looks like its holding its tail under its thorax (as they do) in the 2nd pic.
In the reef tank, without a crinoid to sit on and float about for food, they normally find a safe place to sit and wave their claws about to catch food.

These come in all sorts of colours and with and without stripes.

It came in an algae tuft [emoji14] I don't think it is a squat lobster, I already have 2 of them and a nice crinoid they seem to share

 

[SBlisters]

I finally got a better look at my crabs. One showed up dead and the other was so distracted eating my snail that just died. The dead one is an orangey pink. The live one is reddish.

 

[94Roarge]

I finally got a better look at my crabs. One showed up dead and the other was so distracted eating my snail that just died. The dead one is an orangey pink. The live one is reddish.

They look really nice! Well, to me at least...

 

[JAWS 32]

what a great idea for your tank! I love all the crabs too! I had a big black crab with red eyes living in my fuge for 3 years... he had to go down there because he tried to catch my fish... i would feed him chucks of clam and shrimp every day... i also had a semi fuzzy zebra patterned crab living in my DT for a few years, that never bothered any fish.. he would stick his claws out of his rock when I fed the tank and I made sure he got a couple of mysis shrimp everytime... crabs are very fascinating! make sure to post pics!

 

[94Roarge]

Good to hear there are more crab loving people! I have one extra cool one that is growing super quickly compared to the rest, I may have to take it out early for a photoshoot soon