Crab

Neil H

Neil H

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Hi All

I have noticed with dismay how of all my corals, I have extreme difficulty getting Zoa's to thrive, yet all my other corals and inmates have shown really significant growth ...... I think last night i found the cause ..... after lights out i was wondering around the lounge and had a tourch close at hand, i shone the tourch into the tank and the first thing i saw was a crab..... not a small one either ... i am talking the size of two R5 coins together and snow white ..... naturally when i reaached for the camera it was gone .......

so my questions are as follows ......

1. could this be the cause of the demise of the Zoa's???

2. Assuming he is the cause how do i catch him? Put a glass in the tank leaning on some rock with a tasty morsel there ..... What stops one of my shrimp falling into the glass and the crab injuring them, or woulf they be able to get out ???? what tasty morsel would best invite a zoa eating crab into the glass

3. If i manage to catch him does anyone want him??
 
neil, i will take him :)

yes the glass trick or jam jar works well
 
can use shrimp, i have some frozen shrimp if u need
 
PUt him in the sump. I don't trust strange crabs
 
I would say no, I see a lot of crabs walking over zoas at low tides, only thing that happens is that the zoas closes up for a while. But in my tank it is a different story. I have local zoas, some opens up fully, yet some does not, and they are from the same batch. But what I have found is the ones lower down (under the shade of some soft coral) does not want to open up as well as the ones that does not get enough flow, yet the ones on top in the tank as well as the ones at the bottom that gets enough flow and no shade, are doing extremely well. Again, I cannot think of any crabs that prefers to eat zoas
 
thanks for the feedback guys ...

All the same i think i will try catch the little critter and Dallas assuming i am successfull she is yours .... still looking for an answer on those clowns hey!

If i bait the jar with some lance fish do you think it will work??

Also i am worried that one of my shrimps will get caught in the jar or do you think that they will be able to swim out ???
 
More than correct Sean! Neil - the only "critter" that I have heard of that can "eat" zoanthids, is a certain nudibranch....

No crab will eat the zoanthid - it has some toxins to protect itself....
 
would the crab pose any thret to the rest of the corals i have ?
 
It could possible start eating your leather corals. BUT, this only really starts happening when the crab reaches HUGE proportions. I have had a red legged hermit crab (the HUGE ones) that started eating away at my leather coral. I then sumped him! And traded the hermit after a while. The hermit was as big as my hand.
 
would love them see my nano thread
 
Neil H said:
Also i am worried that one of my shrimps will get caught in the jar or do you think that they will be able to swim out ???
Click to expand...

Yes Neil, they can swim out ;)

They are cleaner shrimps right?
 
one is a boxer the other one a fire shrimp
 
Neil H said:
one is a boxer the other one a fire shrimp
Click to expand...

OOO, don't know if they can swim as well as the common cleaners :p

wait for the guys who know if they can to comment ;)
 
try it at night, just after lights off, that way u can watch what happens, most crab are nocturnal
 
Neil H said:
one is a boxer the other one a fire shrimp
Click to expand...

The fire shrimp is a really good swimmer, but not the boxing. But the boxing probably wouldn't get stuck as he has really long "arms" unlike a crab.
 
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