Help id this crab

[inverttank]

K

Can anyone help me id this crab? And is it safe for small fish? It came with the live rocks that I put in my tank

 

[Connie]

I'd at least put him in the sump until you know for sure. He doesn't look like an emerald crab. His pincers have sharp edges.

 

[MistaOrange]

Looks like same family of the gorilla crab so don't think it should be in the DT so sump it...

 

[inverttank]

My tank is sumpless so I'd have to take it somewhere else, thank you anyway

 

[Intricateart]

Here in florida we call them rock crabs.There are different types all about the same except for their attitude.One or two of ours seem to be reef safe and shy.We also had one just like that with the stripe on the face that plucked out our freshly fed Duncan coral heads.We collected all our rock locally so we will never be rid of them,but its sort of a good thing.We smash the large ones and feed to fish which they love.

 

[inverttank]

I see, so would it be a problem for the fish in my tank, or its better to hoise it in another tank to be safe?

 

[Mike&Terry]

Definitely appears to be a rock crab. I would need to see a better picture to be sure, but looks like Pachygrapsus plicatus or perhaps another species in the Pachygrapsus genus.

 

[inverttank]

Here is the bottom photo
And

The face

 

[loonasea]

fish safe yes reef safe no.

 

[Intricateart]

They can't seem to do anything to the fish.Even clown gobies.But if they decide they like your corals they won't hesitate.It took months before we had an incident.We seem to have them breeding in our tank, every few days a female will release thousands of eggs into the current.Like we said we just smash the big ones and feed to the tank.The tank goes into a feeding frenzy when they breed.So,if you keep them in check,I think they are actually a good thing.

 

[inverttank]

I won't be putting corals in the tank, I was only concerned on it taking out fish after cycling the tank as it was about 2" in size so I guess it is safe to return him in the tank?

 

[Intricateart]

They can't take a fish down and I don't think they want to if they could. Our larger ones will throw their arms up defensively when fish swim too close. I'm not even sure they actually want to eat the coral,they just smell that mysis inside the coral after you feed and will do anything to get to it.Like I said before we actually have a sustainable breeding population in our 150.They feed our tank every couple of nights.Our six line wrass and pygmy angel prowl the reef looking for the little ones in the rock.I don't think they have ever bothered zoas other than bumping into them since they aren't fed meaty foods.