I might have a bad crab....soooo

[MikeP]

I saw a little crab under one of my SPS colonies after lights out. He is all black with kinda hairy legs and pointy pinchers. He's a little bigger than an acro crab (which I have many of). I attempted to catch him but failed :( He looks very much like this http://melevsreef.com/id/xanthid.jpg but after some googling I'm not so sure he is xanthid. Should I do everything possible to catch this guy? I have not noticed any damage to corals at all. Maybe he's not a danger or maybe just not big enough yet? I know the best bet is to catch and sump him. That's easier said than done. I'm hoping to hear from some people that have had experience with this type of crab. I'm not sure how stressed I should be about this :neutral:

Thanks!

[fooser]

I pulled out a 2.5" one of those black clawed hairy leggers last night when i noticed an overturned rock, picked up the rock and it was on the rock right next to my finger.. freaked me out and i pulled him out into a little bucket.
If you see him again on a piece of rock that can be taken out quickly without knocking anything down, do it! Before he gets big enough to do anything bad.. like eat your fish! haha. if you can grab the rock its on before it can scramble onto the next rock he will stay on the rock (the ones i catch never try to jump) and you will be able to get him out easily. I pulled out like 20 of those little buggers in one night one time when I was redoing my rockwork and saw 1, then i went through almost every rock I had to get more out.

[hillegom]

+1 take him out before he damages anything. Sump him and you could always then entice him with anthing to see if he will eat it. Sort of like testing him

[MikeP]

I almost had him last night when I first spotted him. I even pulled out one of the SPS colonies that I actually had epoxied down to get at him. Unfortunately I was close to getting him but not close enough :mad:. He ran under a ledge and sat there taunting me, like he knew there was no way for me to get him. I will keep trying though.

[BC564]

If you do catch him and dont want him....I will take him...I have a tank of just creatures like that....

[my2rotties]

I have a big hairy ugly gorilla crab you can have... I just live pretty far away from Chestermere.

If you do catch him and dont want him....I will take him...I have a tank of just creatures like that....

[Oxymoron]

I have one just like this in my tank too. He is about 1" and lives in a spot that I can't get to without pulling all the rock.
So far he hasn't damaged anything and i have only seen him out of his "den" once in 6 months.
I did read on RC that some had sucess with burying a small cup in the substrate next to his den with a piece of food in it. Kinda like a mini pit trap that he won't be able to get out of.
I've yet to try it but it might be worth a shot.