Who keeps a emerald crab?

[authentic]

I have some bubble algae,not much just a few here and there.I know if I put a emerald in my tank I'll never get it out.sps,clams,etc.who keeps one and has there been a y problems?is it worth it?

 

[Michael Cronmiller]

Great cleaners for algae, but beware...once it's gone they are opportunistic and can go after some corals...mine did..wrecked a chalice, and started chopping away at my green eyed monster

 

[Justin Hartmann]

I have two, I will say that they took care of my algae in two to four days. I put a new acan frag in the tank and did not have it glued down for a day. Now I cannot say for sure as I did not see it happen but I am pretty sure that one of them drug the frag off the rock and it suffered some damage. My gf said that she saw him picking at the acan. Since I have popped it off the pug and glued it down I have not noticed any problems. Just my experience.

 

[Justin Hartmann]

I am told that when the algae runs out you can supplement their food, not sure if it keeps them at bay or not though.

 

[authentic]

Has anyone removed them?

 

[Michael Cronmiller]

Ya plucked him out with a long pair of stainless steel tweezers..lol

 

[cjd]

I have captured many ..... I use them to do their job and then back to the fish store they go. I like to use a plastic bottle cut in half trick. Place the half that has the end cap piece without the top , fishing line tied to the cut side through a pierced hole , place its favorite frag that it picks on inside the bottle on the sand bed. Lurk in the shadows and wait for it , it cant resist , when the crab goes in for a snack pull up on the line and bring it in ! Usually you only have to worry about the big ones so you shouldn't have to modify the top end where the cap goes . if you are catching a smaller one that would slide through the cap opening you can just drill some small holes in the cap and leave it on the bottle. This works with shrimp too , but they are a lot smarter so it may take more than one try ;Bookworm.

 

[MagisterDamask]

I keep one in my refugium. If I need him I pull him out and put him in the display for a few days and then put him back.

 

[Xephic]

I had one when I first started my tank. Molted twice in a month and a half. She would knock frags over while she was cleaning them, and she always cleaned every new frag which was nice. With all that said she just got to big and diminished the algae. Once that happened she turned to sleeping fish. Had to take her to the LFS.

 

[joshbrinzo]

Mine just munches on algae on the rocks, that's about it. Haven't noticed any other problems with it. I like mine, he just cleans all day and hangs out in different spots in the tank throughout the day.

 

[xjiang7]

I had one that attacked soft corals

 

[d2mini]

I've got several emeralds and mithrax. Always munching away on something.
And with a little patience, I never have a problem pulling out a crab, as long as he is somewhere I can reach.

 

[Adam113]

I keep the bigger of mine happy with a little piece of seaweed every day or two. He attacks it like it owed him money. Worst I've seen mine do is knock a coral over just by crawling underneath the plug.

 

[cmcoker]

I have had them, the wife wants another but I don't have the algae to sustain it just yet.
When I had to remove them in the past, I did it like I fished for crawdads as a kid.. use my tongs, dangle some bait and the crabs would usually lock onto it, then just pull them up and net it. I try to lure them out to the sandbed so they can't grip the rock and break the bait.
Also, I read the males get bigger and are more problematic, so I sex them at the lfs and only get females.
It's actually pretty easy to sex them but your lfs employee may look at you funny when you ask to see there belly through the glass before bagging, haha

 

[Gweeds1980]

I've got one in my DT somewhere... never see him during daylight but occasionally at night. I thought it'd died tbh until I saw it about 4 months later! Seems not to be harming anything and algae is kept down so guess he's eating something sensible...

 

[cdmckinzie]

I have had them, the wife wants another but I don't have the algae to sustain it just yet.
When I had to remove them in the past, I did it like I fished for crawdads as a kid.. use my tongs, dangle some bait and the crabs would usually lock onto it, then just pull them up and net it. I try to lure them out to the sandbed so they can't grip the rock and break the bait.
Also, I read the males get bigger and are more problematic, so I sex them at the lfs and only get females.
It's actually pretty easy to sex them but your lfs employee may look at you funny when you ask to see there belly through the glass before bagging, haha

So how do you tell?

 

[ReeferMaddness843]

Aside from being a bulldozer at times my 2 in my 80 are great bubble algae eaters. When that's gone, I make sure they get a little snack when feeding fish. Had one nip my Duncan once, but a few chopstick whacks later and he hasn't gone back.

 

[cmcoker]

So how do you tell?

Images borrowed from nanoreef post

https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/102993-sexing-emerald-crabs/

 

[Flatlandreefer]

I have two. I wouldn't put complete faith in an emerald as a solution for a bubble algae problem, I have an acan frag that came with a little bubble algae and neither crab has ever touched the bubble algae. For the most part mine are well behaved but I have seen one perched on top of my frog spawn once so you definitely need to keep an eye on them as you would any other crab. They are neat creatures to watch, I hope I never have serious issues with mine that would force me to get rid of them.

 

[Reef man 89]

I had one for a Gha problem and after he took care of that he started eating my purple monster zoas even after puting dryer seaweed in for him. So I had to take him back to the lfs.