Is there such a thing as captive breed acro crabs

[Yevoc]

So my reefkeeping career spans what I would refer to as the earlier years and the modern era.

My first stint was 2003 to 2009. Then 2014 to today.

While there many noticeable changes to the hobby in that time I would like to point out one of them.


In ye olde times. We use to buy SPS colonies directly from the wild. It was a crap-show (there no cursing for Rev.).

Well some good some bad. You got full colonies for the price of modern frags. They were all turd brown straight from the importer and man did they ever have pests. You new guys... gorilla crabs lol.

An introduction to coral crabs, good and bad | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog

There is surprisingly little information specifically about coral crabs in aquaria. Every now and then some hitchhikers arrive on our aquacultured and wild corals and we are able to gain a bit more…

reefbuilders.com

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but....

The one thing I am missing from back in the day was the friendly acro crabs. Has anyone figured out how to re-add these to our tank raised modern acros? I really enjoyed the relationship between the crabs and the coral.

 

[ichthyogeek]

To the best of my knowledge, they haven’t been cultured in captivity yet. Although I should add them to my list....

 

[flampton]

There always in the Divers Den. Here...

https://www.liveaquaria.com/divers-den/product/526090/trapezia-pocillopora-acropora-crab

 

[Yevoc]

There always in the Divers Den. Here...

https://www.liveaquaria.com/divers-den/product/526090/trapezia-pocillopora-acropora-crab

Yeah I really wouldn't want to have them pulled out of the wild.

 

[flampton]

Yeah I really wouldn't want to have them pulled out of the wild.

From what I understand they come in on the acropora they import. So they're coming here as a hitchhiker and thus you're not driving the industry to collect more from the environment as they don't care about collecting them.

Does that make sense?

Also I understand as well your sentiment, so unfortunately I don't think you'll find a CB acropora crab

 

[Opes]

I just picked up a maricultured ORA Mauve Acro frag (good size) and when I got home realized there was an acro crab in it. I couldn't bring myself to dip the coral with him in there and couldn't safely get him off the acro. In the tank they both went. It is already fun to watch.

 

[samnaz]

I just picked up a maricultured ORA Mauve Acro frag (good size) and when I got home realized there was an acro crab in it. I couldn't bring myself to dip the coral with him in there and couldn't safely get him off the acro. In the tank they both went. It is already fun to watch.

Awesome!

 

[Opes]

You can barely make him out in this pic

 

[Tired]

Oh, cool! I guess he came in on a wild colony at some point and moved over. No need to worry about him, he's harmless, and may even be beneficial.

I don't think captive-bred acro crabs will be a thing for a long time, if ever. The trouble is, there's very little demand, so very little monetary incentive to try to breed them.

How do you feel about... what are they called, ocean-aquacultured corals? The type where they take small frags from wild corals, put them on racks in the ocean to grow out, then send them into the hobby. Those might have some acro crabs. And they're actually a good thing to have- aside from being more sustainable than harvesting whole colonies, putting monetary value on a local patch of ecosystem (like a reef) increases its chances of being protected. In many areas, it also helps people who need money to buy food.

 

[Opes]

Oh, cool! I guess he came in on a wild colony at some point and moved over. No need to worry about him, he's harmless, and may even be beneficial.

I don't think captive-bred acro crabs will be a thing for a long time, if ever. The trouble is, there's very little demand, so very little monetary incentive to try to breed them.

How do you feel about... what are they called, ocean-aquacultured corals? The type where they take small frags from wild corals, put them on racks in the ocean to grow out, then send them into the hobby. Those might have some acro crabs. And they're actually a good thing to have- aside from being more sustainable than harvesting whole colonies, putting monetary value on a local patch of ecosystem (like a reef) increases its chances of being protected. In many areas, it also helps people who need money to buy food.

That is exactly what this acro is. It was grown at an ORA farm in the ocean I believe. Looks like they cleaned the frag plug really well before shipping.

I was excited to see it! I had an acro crab back in the early 2000's in a previous tank. It came on a wild colony and I always really liked having it. I realize the benefit of our more modern methods such as dry rock and aquaculture corals but I sure do miss some of the small critters that would hitchhike in. Many of them I do not miss.

 

[Tired]

Ah, right! "Maricultured" is the word I was looking for. This is probably the best way to get acro crabs into aquariums. They ought to keep an eye out for the little guys, and specifically advertise corals as containing acro crabs- I know some people really like them. Easy to see why, acro crabs are adorable.

I see why people avoid wild-caught corals, and I'm certainly all for reducing pest intake and impact on wild reefs. But I think a tank suffers when wild-caught rock, so to speak, isn't involved in its making. There's no better way, or even any passing way, to get that amount of biodiversity into a tank. The best anyone can do is try to seed it other ways. I'll always advocate for some ocean live rock in a tank, even if it's just a pound or two. Hard to get many bad pests in on a pound of rock, but it'll get at least some good stuff in there.

 

[cmoresps]

Back in the day (2006) I had about 30 cultured acro pieces. Overtime I noted declining color, it was crazy, they started turning more white but not bleached. I was speaking to a friend of mind and he mention AEFW. what the heck was AEFW? He said dip a piece in fresh water and see what happens, and sure enough the *(&&*^*^& were everywhere, except for one brightly shining red cultured acro (think it was a milli), it was the only one that had an acro crab. Im not saying that they can totally defend against AEFW, but they most certainly are a deterrent! Hopefully someone soon will figure out how to culture them