heavily armored crab.

[icyuod2]

crab i.d.

i saw this crab in my aquarium a few months back. i lost track of him for a while, but in the new set up i once again found his layer.

i know 99.9 % of crabs are bad news, but this guy seems quite passive. i've been keeping an eye on him the last week or so. the fish in my aquarium swim very close to his cave. unlike all the other crabs i've removed from my system i've never seen this guy raise his claws when fish swim by. i also have a very very small anemone shrimp that likes to hang out with the crab. yesterday when i looked into the aquarium, my anemone shrimp was sitting ontop of the crab. i figured friendly or not, it was time to go.

i have a bottle i use for just such an event. i've drilled 2 small holes into the bottom of the bottle.
i've used the bottle trick to catch most of my hitchikers, but it wasnt until i drilled the small holes before i really experianced success with the bottle trap.

the holes seem to allow enough water movement into the bottle to move the scent of the food in the trap to the critter your trying to catch.

i set the bottle up last night and once again it didnt let me down. 3 hermitts an one little monster
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f382/icyuod2/IMG_2386.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f382/icyuod2/IMG_2385.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f382/icyuod2/IMG_2406.jpg

the crab's kinda wierd. its very heavily armoured. the inside of his legs and claws are perfectly flat.when threatened he curls up into a ball. the flat sides of the legs and claws fit the rest of the body perfectly and you have a hard time telling where the body ends and the legs and claws begin. when curled up he just looks like a stone.

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f382/icyuod2/IMG_2404.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f382/icyuod2/IMG_2399.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f382/icyuod2/IMG_2397.jpg
even after throwing him on the counter/handling him, he made no effort to show any signs of aggression. no lifting of claws etc.

could i have this guy figured wrong? or is he just waiting for the correct time to strike.

i havent seen him damage anything in the aqaurium, but thats not to say he hasn't.
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f382/icyuod2/IMG_2402.jpg

anybody got a positive i'd?

[3VoL]

I have the same crab in my tank. I'v only kept him because he makes really cool tunnels in the rocks. Dont get me wrong they are bad but only when they get bigger or as big as your fish from what I have read.

[Sea MunnKey]

Leigh,

That second last picture of the 'Crabby' staring straight at you...is Evil looking :hihi:
That's a cool Crab collection ...in fact I picked out a Hitch hiker crab (methinks it's Atlantic region) and it has Red and White patches with Black line accent to it's shell. I've decided that he's going into my new Refugium tank sitting next to my display tank ...for all to see..:angel:
Will try to take some close up picture of the little fella...

[Sea MunnKey]

Rocky Balboa crab!! :lolol:

[3VoL]

I think its in the Etisus utilis family of crabs?

[icyuod2]

oh yes, very evil looking. guess he's heading to the sump. :)

[kgolem]

Rocky Balboa crab!! :lolol:

AKA Boxer crab, not reef safe. Note the sharp point on the ends of the claws, designed for ripping flesh. Compare to an emerald crab that is reef safe and has pads on the ends of the pincers designed for ripping vegetation and algae.

[icyuod2]

he sure likes to dig/tunnel. he does a better job than my pistols when it comes to making caves. thanks for the id