miss identified reef safe hitch hiker

[Goaway]

All of us who buys live rock, often times we run into something we haven't seen before. We post on forums, ask the lfs "hey what's this thing?" And all of a sudden we are given the wrong ID. "yup It's safe, leave it alone." Or "That thing is deadly and will destroy your corals!"

 

[mrlavalamp]

got a gorilla crab on piece of live rock once. The rock had a couple small clams some zoas and a mushroom attached so I kept it wet on the way home and never dipped it or anything because I wasn't sure how to handle it.

LFS told me it was a mithrax when I showed them pics.

I caught it eating my zoas and clove polyps more than once before I was able to catch it.

I dont go to that LFS anymore though, too many problems and too much bad advice early on.

 

[Jekyl]

I still stand on ceremony that no hitchhiker outweighs the benefits of mature rock.

 

[Benjammin]

I was sold a sundial snail instead of a trochus. Couldn’t see it in the bag. Store denied everything.

 

[Gtinnel]

got a gorilla crab on piece of live rock once. The rock had a couple small clams some zoas and a mushroom attached so I kept it wet on the way home and never dipped it or anything because I wasn't sure how to handle it.

LFS told me it was a mithrax when I showed them pics.

I caught it eating my zoas and clove polyps more than once before I was able to catch it.

I dont go to that LFS anymore though, too many problems and too much bad advice early on.

Just eating zoas and clove polyps doesn't mean it's not a mithrax. My emerald crab got a taste for clove polyps.

 

[Goaway]

I still stand on ceremony that no hitchhiker outweighs the benefits of mature rock.

Nothing replaces mature rock. But, some of us have strange stories behind hitch hikers and the advice we receive.

 

[Goaway]

Just eating zoas and clove polyps doesn't mean it's not a mithrax. My emerald crab got a taste for clove polyps.

This is true. But if his crab had black pointed tips on the claws, would really be a gorilla. Only he would remember.

 

[Gtinnel]

This is true. But if his crab had black pointed tips on the claws, would really be a gorilla. Only he would remember.

I'm not saying it wasn't a gorilla crab just pointing out that eating those corals doesn't rule out mithrax. I'm sure he is probably right and it was a gorilla crab.

 

[Goaway]

I'm not saying it wasn't a gorilla crab just pointing out that eating those corals doesn't rule out mithrax. I'm sure he is probably right and it was a gorilla crab.

I agree with you. We wont know because we never got to see the crab in question.
I had an emerald crab eating my paly's. They say the males are most likely to eat corals, females remain more safe to trust.
Crabs are definitely the most controversial of reef safe inverts.

 

[mrlavalamp]

he had the black points. Ill see if I can find the pics somewhere but it was a while ago now.

When I first saw it, it was pretty small, body a little bigger than a quarter. started seeing zoas disappear slowly here and there, but couldn't be sure they were being ate and not just receding because of something else.

by the time I caught him he was easily twice that size. I had a small zoa garden that got decimated over the course of three days, and I caught it one night perched right in the middle of what used to be the garden, picking at the few tiny zoas left.

From that day on the hunt was on. I tried the cup trap several times with no success.

When it finally moved on to the clove polyps near the top of my rockwork, I was able to pull the entire rock I caught him on because it was near the top of the tank. Dropped the rock in a empty bucket and waited for him to scurry out. He never did, I ended up having to stab into his hole with chopsticks to smash him, then pick him out piece by piece with chopsticks and then a shishkebab skewer. I'm sure I missed a few pieces, I bet the bristle worms enjoyed those lol.

 

[Goaway]

Yuh, that's one heck of a story. They can really hold onto the rocks. There is no just pulling out a gorilla crab. I have removed many emeralds and red crabs from rocks. Nothing that involves killing them.