Gotta love nature

deerhunter06 · Mar 14, 2023

Found this crab tonight, no idea what kind of crab it is, maybe a decorator ? He literally has macro algae coming off of him.

MERKEY · Mar 14, 2023

Super cool!

It does seem to be a decorator, but it's tiny lol

No large claws is a plus

Tired · Mar 23, 2023

Yep, that's a decorator! This particular species should stay pretty small, and is generally reef-safe. Once it gets to adult size, it may be able to snip and wear very small zoanthids, but other than that it's harmless.

Cool find! Gulf rock?

deerhunter06 · Mar 23, 2023

Tired said:
Yep, that's a decorator! This particular species should stay pretty small, and is generally reef-safe. Once it gets to adult size, it may be able to snip and wear very small zoanthids, but other than that it's harmless.

Cool find! Gulf rock?

Yep I have found a couple more since I posted this. Those guys are crazy camouflaged!

diverjm · Mar 23, 2023

deerhunter06 said:
Found this crab tonight, no idea what kind of crab it is, maybe a decorator ? He literally has macro algae coming off of him.

Any chance you could post a pic? I can’t view the video.

Bucs20fan · Mar 23, 2023

Now that is one cool crab. Jelly for sure. I want one.

fish farmer · Mar 23, 2023

deerhunter06 said:
Yep I have found a couple more since I posted this. Those guys are crazy camouflaged!

Just keep an eye on them. I had one that was about twice as big as that one. It started to snip at some gorgonians I had and was able to snip and wear colt corals and zoa's.

It will want a new hat eventually.

deerhunter06 · Mar 23, 2023

diverjm said:
Any chance you could post a pic? I can’t view the video.

Got a new macro lens coming this weekend I’ll see if I can get a pic. He’s hard to see in a picture. Video makes it a little easier.

deerhunter06 · Mar 23, 2023

diverjm said:
Any chance you could post a pic? I can’t view the video.

Here’s a different one I found couple days ago.

Tired · Mar 23, 2023

Ah, yeah, I did have one experimentally snip a few paly tentacles once. They're not completely unable to do damage, but because they're small, not trying to eat anything, and generally only go after soft corals, they don't do any lasting harm. Just make sure you put any sort of ultra-valuable single-polyp micro-zoa frag up on a frag rack where they can't reach, and you're good.