Can Anybody Id This Crab Please

[GShorty1981]

Not the best picture but best i can get of him,just as i tried to take another the lil sh*t ran off back into the rock where he lives..havent seen him since.


His legs look a browny reddy colour wheras his top shell has a slight dark blue look to it but mainly dark brown,his claws are of equal proportion very close to his body and i would say they were 'scoop' shaped.

I cant see any hairs on him anywhere and he seems to have small indents on his shell in a pattern like this llll

 

[GShorty1981]

anybody?

 

[ben1987]

how big are its pincers?

 

[GShorty1981]

they are quite close to its body ,they are quite fat like scoop shaped,his eyes seem to be in holes in his shell,his legs have a reddy brown tinge and his shell has a blue tinge to it.

I keep finding new things since i changed my tank,just found a stomatella on my class to!...plus so many Nudibranchs that i cant count! grrrr

 

[ben1987]

if its in a shell its probably just another hermit

 

[GShorty1981]

No its definitley a crab it looks exactly like a Emarald with shorter arms and diffrent colour,look at the picture at the top,its faceing upwards on the base rock,you can see its pincers at the top,the shell is blue with 2 holes at the front where the eyes poke out of and legs coming out of the side.

If you look at the shell were its stripey indents are youll see one of his eye holes.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Its really hard to get an id on most small crabs for some reason so dont take it personally that nobody has answered, it's just that probably nobody knows what it is

Wish I could help but have no idea im afraid.

 

[ben1987]

yeah if its a normal crab ive no idea. If its got big pincers get it out. Better to be safe

 

[seffieuk]

I found a pretty pink crab in my tank this week, with fairly large pincers - I have taken it out! The emerald crad in Trods tank has caused chaos so I am not prepared to take the risk, even for a pink crab!

So, I say get the b****r out!

Seffie x

 

[GShorty1981]

I'm up to around 30Kg of LR in there now so it will be a nightmare catching him! i'm gonna keep a close eye on him i think....well i say eye,i haven't seen him since! lol

I'm just hoping he don't eat my hermts cos i like them! hopefully he will become a bit more confident and easier to catch soon.

 

[ben1987]

try a trap.
put a glass in at 45 degrees with some meaty food in it. He wont be able to climb out

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Yeah a glass trap is a good idea. I do have a few small crabs in my tank that have been there from the start and dont do any harm. However I did also have another crab in there that ate one of my clown fish a couple of snails and a few of the other hitchhiking crabs so a good idea to get them out if you can.

 

[GShorty1981]

i got a close look at him earlier..he only comes out when my main lights are off and i have my blue ones on...he looks the same as this but blue.

Traps been there for a day or 2 now..all i have caught is hermits

Apparantly its called a Xanthid and they are good algae grazers when small but can weaken rocks and kill other inverts like hermits and corals when bigger...

 

[Jonny967]

I've got loads of them in my tank, they are quite large too. When i purchased my last 30Kg of live rock there was at least 15 crabs in the bottom of the box which i picked up and chucked in the tank so god knows how many i have in total with over 120Kg of rock.
I think the whole purpose of a reef tank is to let it be a reef tank with whatever hitchhikers are present. I don't think it will cause any problems just keep an eye on the little bugger

 

[GShorty1981]

do you have any Hermits or Cleaner Shrimps with them?