Red Crab?

[Picasso Clown]

Ordered new live rock from Florida, and found this little red crab. Can anybody ID him and tell me of reef safe or not? Thanks y’all!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Emerald crab and they do come in red

 

[Casket_Case]

Emerald crab and they do come in red

Lol a Ruby Crab

 

[Picasso Clown]

Emerald crab 100%? I’m scared to put him in a fully mixed reef tank cause I’ll never be able to get him out

 

[vetteguy53081]

Emerald crab 100%? I’m scared to put him in a fully mixed reef tank cause I’ll never be able to get him out

To be exact- Red clinging crab (emerald cousin)

The red / orange clinging crab is from the same genus as the popular Emerald green crab (Mithraculas sculptas), they're also both very similar in shape and behavior and make good clean up crew in marine aquariums. Mithraculas forceps is usually found in deep red to burnt orange color morphs.

The red clinging crab will eat nuisance hair algae and bubble algae so can be considered very useful. What's more they don't harm marine fish or other marine inverts, they will however move small coral frags if they're not fixed, like most other scavengers this is done in the search for food.

 

[Picasso Clown]

Thank god, okay sorry I’m really scared to add anything in there since I just put in a new clam and I know that a lot of critters thing clams are tasty

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thank god, okay sorry I’m really scared to add anything in there since I just put in a new clam and I know that a lot of critters thing clams are tasty

Always be cautious. . . . best to ask as you did.

 

[CindyKz]

I have 4 of them that hitchiked, also on Florida live rock. No issues in my mixed reef. They're actually pretty cool.

 

[Perthegallon]

NOT SAFE NOT SAFE PLEASE TAKE MY WARNING yes it may not eat your corals but will definitely eat your snails or fish

 

[Picasso Clown]

NOT SAFE NOT SAFE PLEASE TAKE MY WARNING yes it may not eat your corals but will definitely eat your snails or fish

???? Okay officially terrified again, I have sexy shrimp I hold near and dear to my heart

 

[Perthegallon]

???? Okay officially terrified again, I have sexy shrimp I hold near and dear to my heart

Okay so they say to keep them well fed and nothing will happen but for me I didn’t feed them since I thought they would just eat the hair alage and other stuff and it killed my turbo snails and then when it was done with those killed my cleaner shrimp. Again though everything can be a exception to a rule for me it’s not worth risking

 

[Perthegallon]

I did have no issue with the corals though

 

[Perthegallon]

Cleaned 8 of these out
I doubted at first but then watched one grab one and open it up as it tried to run away

 

[Picasso Clown]

Okay, I’ll put it in a tank with only sps, and like 4 hermits so no big losses with that. I’m putting in some damsels today so he’ll get food leftovers from them. Plan sound good y’all?

 

[Mr_Knightley]

@Perthegallon you most likely don't have the same crab then, yours sound like a different thing entirely. Do you have pictures?

 

[jeffrey750750]

I've had issues with emerald crabs, I wont have them in my mixed reef

 

[Casket_Case]

NOT SAFE NOT SAFE PLEASE TAKE MY WARNING yes it may not eat your corals but will definitely eat your snails or fish

Mine squeezed a Zoanthid so I banished him. Depends on the individual crab I think

 

[Picasso Clown]

Mine squeezed a Zoanthid so I banished him. Depends on the individual crab I think

Like, squished it to death?

 

[Casket_Case]

Like, squished it to death?

Yeah he started squeezing at one of the polyps so I dived in and plucked him out. It was definitely an emerald.

 

[Spieg]

I had a large emerald crab absolutely destroy a montipora. He lives in my sump now as I don't trust in the display tank.