Crabs - Do we need to get rid of them?

[keithtty]

Wanted to ask, other than the irritation of knocking stuff over, what bad things do they do? I have many, and I sometimes see their claws moving over my SPS. Not sure whether they are trying to catch something, or bite the SPS. Anyone got some info on them?

[keithtty]

anyone got info?

[Golden Tooth]

I'll only remove them dead or alive once they start toppling things over.

[Kelmen]

they are generally known to snack on small invertebrate (shrimps, snails etc) and small fishs.

as whether would eat coral, that's dunno. Probably certain specises will favor certain type of coral.

[tineng]

i did notice 1 or 2 of the smaller hairy crab seemsly tearing out tissues of my acro....after taking them out, the acro recovers so i assume those guys are no no.....

surprisingly the gaint hairy crab you guys saw in my place doesn't seems to like the taste of corals....unfortunately, i think it just took one of my yellow warrase as snack .....hope i can trap it out soon....

[AlfaRomeo]

Small hairy crab with blue eyes? KILL THEM ALL!!!!! hehehe those will scrap the flesh from the acros and leave you with nice sparkling clean SPS skeletons!...

[keithtty]

Small hairy crab with blue eyes? KILL THEM ALL!!!!! hehehe those will scrap the flesh from the acros and leave you with nice sparkling clean SPS skeletons!...

Hmmm...observed the same thing from the type of crab you described. Now to catch them.

[bluezing]

i just nuke finish my lr...

those damn crabs! grrr

[Mr CRABS]

For a second i thought you getting rid of me...

[bluezing]

For a second i thought you getting rid of me...

[May&Bruce]

even little crabs can eat fish much bigger. Have lost a few fire gobies and anthias in my old tank due to those little crabby dudes. They are bad news alright!

Even had a sally lightfoot crab stalking a long nose hawkfish night after night. Finally my son caught the SLF crab and threw him into my crustacean prison tank with a big hermit crab that used to bowl over corals and clams. The hermit ate the sally lightfoot! Maybe just rewards...........

Some crabs are good - e.g. pom pom crabs, anemone crabs

But the others? get rid of them at any cost (except you of course, Mr CRABS - you're OK).

[keithtty]

Small hairy crab with blue eyes? KILL THEM ALL!!!!! hehehe those will scrap the flesh from the acros and leave you with nice sparkling clean SPS skeletons!...

Aaaarrrgh! It's happening to me. The blue eyed ones. My blur milli got some banches sparkling white.

How do I get rid of them??? Try to skewer them, but they are inside the milli colony, not fast enough. ANy better suggestions?

[bluezing]

wow..after reading the replies...im glad i nuked my lr...

now free of crabs and other dreaded hitchhikers~

[Mr CRABS]

Free of CRABS.....mmm...sounds familiar...YOU NUKED ME??? AND YOU called me dreaded hitchhikers~...just kiddin

[dominik]

wow..after reading the replies...im glad i nuked my lr...

now free of crabs and other dreaded hitchhikers~

how you nuke the LR?

[XPeriment 626]

there were some hairy crabs in my tank killing my snails one by one.... this big crab we nicknamed the "gorilla" had a favourite hiding spot... outside that spot there was a graveyard full of empty snail shells!!

one method i use to catch crabs is to put an empty chicken essence bottle next to the rocks. at night when crabs wander around, if one crawls inside, they can't crawl out again. caught many crabs this way, but needs some patience.

[tineng]

still can catch my giant hairy crab...........guess the reason he could get so big was my failure to catch it while it was still a 1/2 inch baby.....can't even get it out into the open.....everytime see a stick approaching it would dash into a rock.....

btw, its shell is dam hard......not too sure if the needle is strong enough to skewer it....

[cyclop]

I got rid of my crabs with a dottyback. The thread below might be helpful.

http://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=39775&st=0&#entry464038

[RAV-65]

KILL THEM ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Mr CRABS]

You might be wrong....you will never KILL me... muhahahaha

[strat]

Get an octopus! Sure can hunt down your crabs!

[keithtty]

Get an octopus! Sure can hunt down your crabs!

Is getting an octopus the correct approach? What about other potential problems the octopus can cause?

For chicken essence bottle method, can it lure does buggers who sit contentedly inside the acro, muching away?

[Tigger]

I have tried chicken essessce bottle method. It does not work for me.

[Mr CRABS]

How about using vacuum cleaners..take the rock out and suck it out...

try using the car type..small...easy to dispose

[SBS_Transit]

Tried that before also never work, wat i did if possible take out the rock with the crab and leave it out in the open on top of some newspaper than the next day i sure find a few crabs out. If u dont mind killing the rock