Rock Crab?

[mpgken]

I have looked in the faq and through the 28 pages of this forum and can't find anything about this kind of crab.

I got some LR and several months later found I had a small crab living in one of them. It doesn't like movement or the lights. I have never been able to see the entire crab but I was luckyenough to see about half of it before it saw me and instantly disappeared into the rock.

It's body is about the size of a nickle and it's legs are maybe an inch and a half long. The claw I saw is blunt tipped and it seemed to be picking at the rock. He is a cream color and his claw is a darker tan color.

I have not had any fisk or other animals disappear during the past 4 months. He doesn't seem interested in any of the hermit crabs or snails when they come close to his holes.

So I assume he is just eating the rock since he was picking at it and he has built a nice pile of sand at the base of the rock where one of his holes are.

He is so secretive and fast I don't think I could ever get a picture.

Is he okay to keep or should I get rid of him? If I sould get rid of him How?

Thanks for any help.

Ken

 

[TZL]

is the crab hairy?

 

[mpgken]

The crab is not hairy. It looks smooth.

 

[mpgken]

Okay, I caught the SOB grabbing one of my Blue leg hermits and start to tear him apart. So he is now out of there.

I tried high salt content salt water to flush him out of the rock and that didn't work so I got some club soda from the store and within 10 seconds he came out.

Club soda is the way to go.

It turns out he was slightly hairy. Because he was never out for very long and his color was so light it was impossible to see the hairs.

My hermits are safe till my next batch of rock gets here on Friday!

For those who need to exterminate a bad crab or mantis try club soda. I rinses the rock with fresh salt water after the club soda just to be safe.

Ken

 

[TZL]

good to hear you caught his before he ate something expensive....

very few crabs are good....the only truely harmless ones i know of are porcelin crabs...they just filter feed....

Okay, I caught the SOB grabbing one of my Blue leg hermits and start to tear him apart. So he is now out of there.

I tried high salt content salt water to flush him out of the rock and that didn't work so I got some club soda from the store and within 10 seconds he came out.

Club soda is the way to go.

It turns out he was slightly hairy. Because he was never out for very long and his color was so light it was impossible to see the hairs.

My hermits are safe till my next batch of rock gets here on Friday!

For those who need to exterminate a bad crab or mantis try club soda. I rinses the rock with fresh salt water after the club soda just to be safe.

Ken