Huge red mithrax crab

[vetteguy53081]

I trust a politician more than I trust these guys. Excellent workers but they soon turn on coral

 

[katthereefer]

I know this is old, but I'm going to see if someone sees or answers it. I also have a massive mithrax crab. At least 2". He has swung his claws at me just for walking up to the tank, during feeding, and occasionally at other fish. Last night I was tube feeding my Mandarin some worms and he ran over and aggressively grabbed the end of the tube. He literally grabbed it with both claws and would NOT let go. He appeared to put it up to his mouth like a straw. But seriously, I couldn't get him to let the dang thing go for a good couple of minutes without ripping his arm off. Then he was not letting the Mandarin eat. He was being a complete aggressive jerk, acting almost "hyper" if you will. I feed him pellets for inverts but now I'm worried he is going to hurt someone.

I am missing a Diamond Goby this week but that could have been my Wrasse which is another issue/post.

 

[captain_jimmy]

Mine was swinging his claws at my wrasse as they swam by and I'm pretty sure he was chopping up corals.
I wound up putting him in my sump where he just continued to grow it was absurd.

Unfortunately I had to tear my tank apart when I moved interstate and I haven't been motivated to set it up again from scratch so that enormous mithrax is no more.

Put him in your sump, it won't hurt him and it'll save you heartache from losing fish.

 

[hllb]

I know this is old, but I'm going to see if someone sees or answers it. I also have a massive mithrax crab. At least 2". He has swung his claws at me just for walking up to the tank, during feeding, and occasionally at other fish. Last night I was tube feeding my Mandarin some worms and he ran over and aggressively grabbed the end of the tube. He literally grabbed it with both claws and would NOT let go. He appeared to put it up to his mouth like a straw. But seriously, I couldn't get him to let the dang thing go for a good couple of minutes without ripping his arm off. Then he was not letting the Mandarin eat. He was being a complete aggressive jerk, acting almost "hyper" if you will. I feed him pellets for inverts but now I'm worried he is going to hurt someone.

I am missing a Diamond Goby this week but that could have been my Wrasse which is another issue/post.

He sounds very hungry. Hungry crabs are bad crabs. My CUC loves algae wafers. I’d get some of those and feed him one each day and see if he calms down.

 

[bnord]

That is a monster and well done on catching it

i sex my crabs - males go to sump - females to display

am in the “no valonia except where the crabs cant reach“ crowd, and no eyewitness attacks on a zoa.

i too however do not trust the max sized males

 

[katthereefer]

Thank you. I had posted in another group I was in before he was gigantic about his behavior and they all insisted he was fine, but I'm going to try the wafers for interim, but think he's going to have to go back to the LFS. My sump already has a giant (cranky) rouge hermit.

 

[hllb]

Thank you. I had posted in another group I was in before he was gigantic about his behavior and they all insisted he was fine, but I'm going to try the wafers for interim, but think he's going to have to go back to the LFS. My sump already has a giant (cranky) rouge hermit.

I generally can hand a wafer to specific critters. I don't currently have any mithrax (though I like them) but do hand wafers to my shrimp, and on rare occasion, my strawberry crab will come out while I'm feeding and I'll hand her one too. Then I drop a few on the sand and my hermits literally swarm and fight over them. I have the Hikari brand now, but those are pretty big. I actually prefer these as they are a little smaller:

 

[katthereefer]

I generally can hand a wafer to specific critters. I don't currently have any mithrax (though I like them) but do hand wafers to my shrimp, and on rare occasion, my strawberry crab will come out while I'm feeding and I'll hand her one too. Then I drop a few on the sand and my hermits literally swarm and fight over them. I have the Hikari brand now, but those are pretty big. I actually prefer these as they are a little smaller:

Thanks for the tip. I ran out and grabbed some. I have a fire shrimp in my other tank. I usually toss pellets, but will use these to treat him as well. Would you suggest breaking them up if it's just for one shrimp?

 

[hllb]

Thanks for the tip. I ran out and grabbed some. I have a fire shrimp in my other tank. I usually toss pellets, but will use these to treat him as well. Would you suggest breaking them up if it's just for one shrimp?

No. My shrimp take an entire one and run away with it. Then they fight others if they didn't get one and steal from each other. It's pretty entertaining....

 

[hllb]

Thanks for the tip. I ran out and grabbed some. I have a fire shrimp in my other tank. I usually toss pellets, but will use these to treat him as well. Would you suggest breaking them up if it's just for one shrimp?

I'd say I generally only feed these a couple of times a week. But, if your crab is acting like that, I'd feed him daily and see if he calms down after a while.

 

[hllb]

So I dropped some wafers in this morning and this is how you can take a headcount of your clean up crew LOL.