Possible Gorilla Crab: How to Remove?

[W@tchm@n]

Hi All,


Hopefully someone can help me out with this.

About 2 weeks ago or so when the lights were out I spotted something in my rocks… shone a torch on it and it looked like some sort of crab but disappeared pretty quickly. Thought I may have been seeing things so left it.

Then about a week later, I see the same thing again… this time I managed to get a torch on it and looks like what I now assume is a gorilla after some research.. didn’t manage to get a pic of the bugger in my tank.

Also, I think this little bugger is the reason my GSP has wilted away over the space of a a few months or so…is that possible?? All my parameters are fine and all my corals look OK so far but the GSP has wilted away down to bare rock now. I could never understand how that happened as from all my reading, it seems that nothing but a stick of dynamite gets rid of GSP.. especially since all my levels checked out. So I’m blaming this bugger for that... is that a valid assumption, can i pin this on him??

Now, how do I get this sucker out??
I have researched on here and found people using a shrimp in a mason jar angled against the rockwork… tried that for four nights in a row and nothing! Not even a hermit!! And I definitely have hermits in there… they come out day and night so I see them and know they are there.

I have bought shrimp from the store… is that good enough? Left it in the tank overnight. I do not have the option of taking the rocks out… tank is 5x2x2 and has 2 islands of rockwork. On the 2 occasions that I have seen this guy, he has been on either side of the islands… so I don’t actually know where he lives. I had hoped that the shrimp would attract him from wherever he was.

I’ve also tried camping out at night with a red light torch in the hope that I could see him and then spear him as per other suggestions on here….

Anyone know what else I can do…
Is there a certain shrimp or other bait is should be using for this to work??

Thanks all…

 

[Retro Reefer]

I also have one that just comes out long enough to taunt me.. I have tried a couple different traps with no luck but I do know what rock he lives in so I may pull it and chase him out with carbonated water.

 

[alton]

I caught my G crabs with bottle traps with shrimp as bait along with a mantis shrimp. I never lost any coral/fish due to either till I caught them either? Was your NO3 and PO was very low/non-existent? If so that may have been your GSP demise

 

[W@tchm@n]

I caught my G crabs with bottle traps with shrimp as bait along with a mantis shrimp. I never lost any coral/fish due to either till I caught them either? Was your NO3 and PO was very low/non-existent? If so that may have been your GSP demise

What sort of shrimp did u use and how long did it take... Days or just in one night?

Also, I don't think my gsp died cos of my parameters.. They have been stable, although low, for months and it was thriving.... Plus I have another patch of gsp which is fine and even growing, at the the same time that the other one started receding.... So basically one patch receded while the other is growing (on 2 separate rocks)... So by this I assume its not water parameter...

Now worried that this guy may find my second patch of gsp and munch down on it

 

[alton]

Table shrimp, the gorilla I caught fairly quickly, the mantis took a couple days. Was the one patch of GSP by the water return from the sump?

 

[W@tchm@n]

Table shrimp, the gorilla I caught fairly quickly, the mantis took a couple days. Was the one patch of GSP by the water return from the sump?

Thanks.. Will stick with the shrimp and hopefully he falls for it eventually...

Nope... Gsp was nowhere near the return.
Was doing great for months on the same spot it's always been and suddenly started receding