My emerald crab

DashTrash400 · 11/01/2011, 09:55 PM

Well to start off I know that people say don't get these crabs because their appetite can change and they will swallow all of your coral. Well for at least two months I have had mine. He had done fine eating bubble algae that I have hanging around the tank. I know the best answer to the problem is to get to the root of it not fine something that eats it but I also liked him. Well I saw an exo skeleton maybe a month ago and noticed he grew a bit. Recently noticed another and thought he had died this time because it looked different then the last including ligaments and what not. Well I spotted him today and he is MASSIVE. he still hasn't munched on any corals but after having invested so much in corals should he just go to the sump? Also to add tonight I turned on the night lights to take a quick look at the tank and he was sitting in the middle of my finger leather as though it were a bed. No chunck missing. Advice? Sorry for the post length.

Mike

Southreef · 11/01/2011, 10:20 PM

If you haven't seen him actually eating corals I wouldn't worry too much. I have four of them in my 90 and I haven't seen them move from their original self selected spots when I introduced them about a year ago. Occasionally I will see one of them spar with my yellow goby but nothing worse than that. And you're not dash trash... It's a fine airplane!

DashTrash400 · 11/01/2011, 10:25 PM

Thanks for the input. Funny you knew what it meant. Pilot? It kind of made me nervous seeing him laying in my leather lol.

Mike

Ron Reefman · 11/02/2011, 06:11 AM

DT400, I have several in both of my DT's. They never bother any corals. And all of mine have been wild caught by me in the Keys (2 of them are red mithrax) I have seen one climb up on a rock, reach out and grab some nori that was hanging from a clip. He pulled himself up and rode on the clip, eating nori for about 15 minutes. Good luck.

Southreef · 11/02/2011, 06:16 AM

Yep... I'm a pilot too.

My initial reaction used to be to yank anything I saw that was out of what I considered to be "ordinary" and lately I've taken a much more organic approach to it. For example, there are a couple of gorilla crabs in my tank that I just cannot catch without going crazy and tearing the rock out. I have indeed removed about 6 of these in the life of the tank (about 1 year now) with extreme measures but have decided to ease my roll for the reason that my fish and corals are all accounted for and seem to be fine. I used to run carbon and GFO and have a really expensive fuge light... now I don't run any of that stuff, just skim and grow chaeto with a cheap home depot light and my tank is doing better for it. All of the overthinking that I was doing was boiled down to a simple solution for me in that I try as much as possible to rely on nature to help me recreate nature in my living room.

My rambling point is that I would definitely keep an eye on him as he can go to the dark side, but as long as there is no evidence to prove that he is bad, he should be a productive addition to the clean up crew.

DashTrash400 · 11/02/2011, 07:22 AM

Well to the both of you thanks. And in response to the last post your set up is exactly like mine. Nothing crazy a skinner and fuge with chateo.

Mike.

sqwat · 11/02/2011, 08:48 AM

when emeralds are seen eating fish or corals 99% percent of the time they were sick and injured reef fish are swift and quick even at night.i love my emeralds they get close and personal cleaning right up to the polyp.if you find one eating a coral its most likly injured or rotting wich is good because they eat all the dead flesh off and dont eat the living he is cuc.and most likly the first on the seen wich make people think they did.this all good only if you are not starving him crabs are opratunstic that is how you have to be in the wild ans survival is every thing you should not over stock them.emeralds do a great job in my tank i love the way they can scurry around the rocks.keep iodide level in tanks with crabs so they can shed and grow if to low they can die cause they can shed shell

DashTrash400 · 11/02/2011, 08:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sqwat

when emeralds are seen eating fish or corals 99% percent of the time they were sick and injured reef fish are swift and quick even at night.i love my emeralds they get close and personal cleaning right up to the polyp.if you find one eating a coral its most likly injured or rotting wich is good because they eat all the dead flesh off and dont eat the living he is cuc.and most likly the first on the seen wich make people think they did.this all good only if you are not starving him crabs are opratunstic that is how you have to be in the wild ans survival is every thing you should not over stock them.emeralds do a great job in my tank i love the way they can scurry around the rocks.keep iodide level in tanks with crabs so they can shed and grow if to low they can die cause they can shed shell

Thanks again. It's reassuring hearing these stories vouching for the crabs be UAE I know there are many other people on here who say no crabs ing my tanks and some others who say all they do it eat their corrals. I like him as well and I don't particularly check levels for iodine but I know at least every month he sheds his exo skeleton looks shinny and gets huge.

sqwat · 11/03/2011, 08:21 AM

no problem i have grown up crabbing keeping them in tanks diving snorkling and all around with crabs and i rarly if ever seen them take a healthy live animal.not to say that a algea eating crab wont eat a fish cause they will all crabs are oprotunistic but most likly will only eats sick dead or dying corals and or fish.they also get close and personal .i have saved many bubble corals using emeralds cause they can get to a damaged septa and get the algea off better then me using a toothbrush and stressing the coral all out.my spelling sux.i like towatch my corals get cleaned by them and my mexican turbos the corals like it to.i think.also feed the little guy some times if you dont have much algea they can starve to death.one time back in the day about 1998 i got a fragged elegance .put it in my tank and at night i saw my emerald had flourecent green all over his face fromm diggin in the elegance.i took a look at the elegance and saw hit had a light start to brown jelly and the emerald was eating the infected flesh.he whent back in after i turned the flashlight off and ate the end off the elegance .the next day a noticed no brown jelly and the elegance started to heal over the next month till i sold him.now someone could have said they found the crab eating the elegance and got rid of him and hatted them for all there reefing time even though he was just doing his job.i have had them in all my tanks since i crab per 25 gallons of water roughly

11/01/2011, 09:55 PM	#1
DashTrash400 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Alvin TX Posts: 171	My emerald crab Well to start off I know that people say don't get these crabs because their appetite can change and they will swallow all of your coral. Well for at least two months I have had mine. He had done fine eating bubble algae that I have hanging around the tank. I know the best answer to the problem is to get to the root of it not fine something that eats it but I also liked him. Well I saw an exo skeleton maybe a month ago and noticed he grew a bit. Recently noticed another and thought he had died this time because it looked different then the last including ligaments and what not. Well I spotted him today and he is MASSIVE. he still hasn't munched on any corals but after having invested so much in corals should he just go to the sump? Also to add tonight I turned on the night lights to take a quick look at the tank and he was sitting in the middle of my finger leather as though it were a bed. No chunck missing. Advice? Sorry for the post length. Mike __________________ Mike Current Tank Info: 270g inprogress

11/01/2011, 10:25 PM	#3
DashTrash400 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Alvin TX Posts: 171	Thanks for the input. Funny you knew what it meant. Pilot? It kind of made me nervous seeing him laying in my leather lol. Mike __________________ Mike Current Tank Info: 270g inprogress

11/02/2011, 06:11 AM	#4
Ron Reefman Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Cape Coral, FL Posts: 10,431	DT400, I have several in both of my DT's. They never bother any corals. And all of mine have been wild caught by me in the Keys (2 of them are red mithrax) I have seen one climb up on a rock, reach out and grab some nori that was hanging from a clip. He pulled himself up and rode on the clip, eating nori for about 15 minutes. Good luck. __________________ The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it. (Neil deGrasse Tyson) Visit my build thread http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2593017

11/02/2011, 07:22 AM	#6
DashTrash400 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Alvin TX Posts: 171	Well to the both of you thanks. And in response to the last post your set up is exactly like mine. Nothing crazy a skinner and fuge with chateo. Mike. __________________ Mike Current Tank Info: 270g inprogress

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11/01/2011, 10:20 PM	#2
Southreef Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Lake Worth, FL Posts: 188	If you haven't seen him actually eating corals I wouldn't worry too much. I have four of them in my 90 and I haven't seen them move from their original self selected spots when I introduced them about a year ago. Occasionally I will see one of them spar with my yellow goby but nothing worse than that. And you're not dash trash... It's a fine airplane!

11/02/2011, 06:16 AM	#5
Southreef Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Lake Worth, FL Posts: 188	Yep... I'm a pilot too. My initial reaction used to be to yank anything I saw that was out of what I considered to be "ordinary" and lately I've taken a much more organic approach to it. For example, there are a couple of gorilla crabs in my tank that I just cannot catch without going crazy and tearing the rock out. I have indeed removed about 6 of these in the life of the tank (about 1 year now) with extreme measures but have decided to ease my roll for the reason that my fish and corals are all accounted for and seem to be fine. I used to run carbon and GFO and have a really expensive fuge light... now I don't run any of that stuff, just skim and grow chaeto with a cheap home depot light and my tank is doing better for it. All of the overthinking that I was doing was boiled down to a simple solution for me in that I try as much as possible to rely on nature to help me recreate nature in my living room. My rambling point is that I would definitely keep an eye on him as he can go to the dark side, but as long as there is no evidence to prove that he is bad, he should be a productive addition to the clean up crew.

11/02/2011, 08:48 AM	#7
sqwat Registered Member. Join Date: Oct 2011 Posts: 653	when emeralds are seen eating fish or corals 99% percent of the time they were sick and injured reef fish are swift and quick even at night.i love my emeralds they get close and personal cleaning right up to the polyp.if you find one eating a coral its most likly injured or rotting wich is good because they eat all the dead flesh off and dont eat the living he is cuc.and most likly the first on the seen wich make people think they did.this all good only if you are not starving him crabs are opratunstic that is how you have to be in the wild ans survival is every thing you should not over stock them.emeralds do a great job in my tank i love the way they can scurry around the rocks.keep iodide level in tanks with crabs so they can shed and grow if to low they can die cause they can shed shell

11/03/2011, 08:21 AM	#9
sqwat Registered Member. Join Date: Oct 2011 Posts: 653	no problem i have grown up crabbing keeping them in tanks diving snorkling and all around with crabs and i rarly if ever seen them take a healthy live animal.not to say that a algea eating crab wont eat a fish cause they will all crabs are oprotunistic but most likly will only eats sick dead or dying corals and or fish.they also get close and personal .i have saved many bubble corals using emeralds cause they can get to a damaged septa and get the algea off better then me using a toothbrush and stressing the coral all out.my spelling sux.i like towatch my corals get cleaned by them and my mexican turbos the corals like it to.i think.also feed the little guy some times if you dont have much algea they can starve to death.one time back in the day about 1998 i got a fragged elegance .put it in my tank and at night i saw my emerald had flourecent green all over his face fromm diggin in the elegance.i took a look at the elegance and saw hit had a light start to brown jelly and the emerald was eating the infected flesh.he whent back in after i turned the flashlight off and ate the end off the elegance .the next day a noticed no brown jelly and the elegance started to heal over the next month till i sold him.now someone could have said they found the crab eating the elegance and got rid of him and hatted them for all there reefing time even though he was just doing his job.i have had them in all my tanks since i crab per 25 gallons of water roughly