Can anyone ID this crab please???

theboywiggans · 04/06/2013, 04:00 PM

Having kept my reef tank for over 3 years and always wondering why every time I added some chromis they would disapear 1 by 1 my new lfs man said without hesitation, "you've got a gorilla crab!!". Not believing him I set a trap and on the 3rd night gave up, only to notice a few days later in broad daylight.............a massive gorilla crab!!!
Obviously having been well fed on the latest chromis' he was now hungry for more and was actively hunting in daylight. That night I set the trap and in the morning had said crab who (having fed him probably 100 quids worth of chromis at various points over the years) was humanly destroyed.........

Anyway, after all that I bought a lovely coral garden from a shop near relatives we were visiting some 4 hours drive away. After the drive home the garden was left in the bag on a very slow drip feed overnight while I caught up on my beauty sleep. I came down in the morning all excited about my new purchase and found a crab even bigger than the gorilla sat looking up at me from the garden. I've done some research rather than just destroy him but am at a loose end......

Am I right in thinking this is a red mithrax? That is suppose to be reef safe??
If that's the case then this has slightly hairy legs, hairy is suppose to be bad???
His claws are pointy so that meens bad too????

Oh its too much........I just wish I knew exactly what it is........is it ok to put in the reef or not??.....if I put him in the refugium is it gonna eat all my copepods and worms???

So many questions.........what would you do?

theboywiggans · 04/06/2013, 05:30 PM

Is it an emerald??

MARINECRITTERS · 04/06/2013, 05:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theboywiggans

Is it an emerald??

not an emerald

MARINECRITTERS · 04/06/2013, 05:54 PM

Could be a species of xanthidae Crab, whatever it is I would say it is not reef safe.

theboywiggans · 04/06/2013, 06:04 PM

Yeah I thought it was possibly a xanthid when I first started trying to find it on google.
I think it's going to have to go

Shame as it was free lol

bearpeidog · 04/06/2013, 06:17 PM

Looks like a red Mithrax to me. I have a couple - so far no damage but does seem to reach out for any and everything....might move it to the sump.

ACBlinky · 04/06/2013, 06:22 PM

Looks like a red Mithrax. IME not reef-safe when large (had one years back, and it ate everything once it reached adulthood). Even green Mithrax crabs aren't 'reef safe' all the time -- I just evicted mine to the sump after catching him (again, a large male) with a zoanthid polyp in his claws, on its way to his mouth. I lost a LOT of coral before I figured out who was causing the damage, and the losses stopped immediately when I evicted The Hulk. Mithrax crabs are really interesting creatures, but mine will be a permanent sump-dweller from this point forward.

devimik · 04/06/2013, 06:32 PM

Does look like a Red Mithrax. The claws don't look pointy, they look flattened like my Emerald Crab's claws and the Emerald has hairy legs too, but doesn't do any damage, except to algae. I think I'd at least keep him in the sump.

04/06/2013, 06:22 PM	#7
ACBlinky Premium Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Peterborough, ON, Canada Posts: 4,954 Blog Entries: 20	Looks like a red Mithrax. IME not reef-safe when large (had one years back, and it ate everything once it reached adulthood). Even green Mithrax crabs aren't 'reef safe' all the time -- I just evicted mine to the sump after catching him (again, a large male) with a zoanthid polyp in his claws, on its way to his mouth. I lost a LOT of coral before I figured out who was causing the damage, and the losses stopped immediately when I evicted The Hulk. Mithrax crabs are really interesting creatures, but mine will be a permanent sump-dweller from this point forward. __________________ "The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears, or the sea." - Isak Dinesen Current Tank Info: 150g mixed reef, 30g sump/refugium, LED lighting, 100lbs LR, coral beauty, flame angel, blue & yellow tangs, gobies, damsels, 6-line wrasse, lawnmower blenny, dottyback, clown pair, rabbitfish, shrimp, crabs, CUC.

04/06/2013, 06:32 PM	#8
devimik Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: KC, KS Posts: 637	Does look like a Red Mithrax. The claws don't look pointy, they look flattened like my Emerald Crab's claws and the Emerald has hairy legs too, but doesn't do any damage, except to algae. I think I'd at least keep him in the sump. __________________ Mike D Coral Beauty, Green Filefish, One Spot Foxface, Springeri Dottyback, 2 Ocellaris Clowns, Yellow Watchman Goby, Flame Hawkfish, Spotted Mandarin Current Tank Info: 90g Softie Reef, 150# live rock, 30g sump w/refugium, Tunze Osmolator 3155 ATO, Octopus NWB 150 Skimmer, Mag 950 return, Maxspect 120w Razor 10K LED light X2, BRS Phosphate Reactor; Apex Lite

04/06/2013, 05:30 PM	#2
theboywiggans Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Llanboidy, Wales, UK Posts: 13	Is it an emerald??

04/06/2013, 05:54 PM	#4
MARINECRITTERS Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2012 Posts: 1,525	Could be a species of xanthidae Crab, whatever it is I would say it is not reef safe.

04/06/2013, 06:04 PM	#5
theboywiggans Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Llanboidy, Wales, UK Posts: 13	Yeah I thought it was possibly a xanthid when I first started trying to find it on google. I think it's going to have to go Shame as it was free lol

04/06/2013, 06:17 PM	#6
bearpeidog Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Milton, Vermont Posts: 560	Looks like a red Mithrax to me. I have a couple - so far no damage but does seem to reach out for any and everything....might move it to the sump.