Please help us identify this!

[Lyn Clements]

It is tiny. Maybe 1/4" across

 

[Maritimer]

I agree with GHSaltie - decorator crabs are fairly cool critters, but they are crabs, and therefore likely to be fairly opportunistic feeders. Sort of ... scavengers for the most part, but won't pass up easy protein in whatever form it comes.

The other thing to be aware of is their decorating - they'll pick up whatever they find and stick it to their carapace. (They've got some fuzz up there that works a bit like Velcro.) Could be algae today, might be your favorite sponge tomorrow.

Not bad as crabs go ... but still a crab. Got a refugium?

~Bruce

 

[Lyn Clements]

I agree with GHSaltie - decorator crabs are fairly cool critters, but they are crabs, and therefore likely to be fairly opportunistic feeders. Sort of ... scavengers for the most part, but won't pass up easy protein in whatever form it comes.

The other thing to be aware of is their decorating - they'll pick up whatever they find and stick it to their carapace. (They've got some fuzz up there that works a bit like Velcro.) Could be algae today, might be your favorite sponge tomorrow.

Not bad as crabs go ... but still a crab. Got a refugium?

~Bruce

We don't have a refugium set up. We were seeing crabs of various types in there. Even a few gorilla crabs. We pulled the live rock out today, broke out the tweezers and plucked twelve assorted ones out. I don't want anybody who might eat the corals we plan to have. We even found two juvenile shrimp. We think they were mantis shrimp, based on what we saw online. We are still hearing clicking in the tank. Grrrrrr.

 

[Maritimer]

You might have a pistol or two as well, which are much less unpleasant than the "thumbsplitter" mantis.

I'm told that mantis clicks are often rapid-fire bursts, while pistols are single-shot. Which are you hearing?

~Bruce

 

[GHsaltie]

I've still got about 2-4 hitchhiker pistol shrimp in my tank and they do the rapid fire clicking. Sometimes they really get at it, those events are fondly referred to as the old west shoot out . Occasionally I'll spot one at night and it's pretty cool watching them meander around with the occasional click.

 

[Lyn Clements]

You might have a pistol or two as well, which are much less unpleasant than the "thumbsplitter" mantis.

I'm told that mantis clicks are often rapid-fire bursts, while pistols are single-shot. Which are you hearing?

~Bruce

Single clicks. I feel much better thinking they might "just" be pistols. We will wait a bit and repeat the process of removing the live rock and hunting for more bad guys. The down side to live rock, I guess, is nasty hitchhikers. We did gain a nice finger sponge, a few tunicates, some coralline algae and other stuff, but I worry about opportunistic critters when we want to add lovely, expensive corals.

 

[Lyn Clements]

Just love checking out the neon colors of stuff under the moonlight phase of lighting in the BioCube. Cannot wait to see how gorgeous this becomes once it's cycled and we can add stuff.