Hitchhiker Crab - Can't Catch Him! :(

[daveo_irl]

Hey everyone,
Some of you may already know about my setup, but I have had a small hitchhiker crab in my system from almost day one (came on my first live rock!). I haven't been able to ID it, but I don't think he is good - especially after seeing him try to grab one of my snails a week ago.

I have put down numerous traps for him, which only seem to catch my hermits - and I am getting to the point now where I don't think I will ever catch it!
It is also getting far more brazen. At the beginning you would rarely ever see it, but now it is coming out a lot more and it definitely getting more and more brave.

Last night I saw him in one his favourite holes. He was edging out of it and my Halloween Hermit was nearby. I watched as it tried to grab one of the legs of my Halloween, even though it is about 3/4 times bigger than him! So I grabbed my long algae scrapper rod and tried to scare it away - and he grab the rod (with great speed!) and so we started a tug of war! lol.
I couldn't believe the strength of the little thing. Anyway, I managed to sort of pull him almost fulling out of his cave, and got a much better look at him.

It's quite small, his carapice is only about 1cm across (hard to tell with the Orca tank, as the curviture of the front magnifies everything), is a pale cream color with brown mottling. He has thin, hairy legs right at the back of the carapice and his main claws are very large compared to the rest of his body.

So basically, has anyone any ideas on how to catch this critter? I have tried the glass trick many times, but to know avail.

Thanks!
Dave

 

[Truck]

take a coke bottle...cut the top part off and invert it and insert it into the other part so the opening is facing inwards...bait it and leave it in...once hes in hes not coming back out.

 

[daveo_irl]

take a coke bottle...cut the top part off and invert it and insert it into the other part so the opening is facing inwards...bait it and leave it in...once hes in hes not coming back out.

I was thinking of that also, might give that a try tonight. I used some white fish as bait for the glass, I wonder should I try something different now.

 

[TigerIssey]

I ended up having to extract the piece of live rock mine was living in. I poured RO water into the hole. This did not work, it was gripping inside like no tomorrow. I ended up heating some RO (not to boiling but hot) and pouring this into the hole and he then fell out.

This is the last resort really asI hhad to humanley destroy the crab afterwards. It did have missing legs and was not up to much by that point.

 

[daveo_irl]

I ended up having to extract the piece of live rock mine was living in. I poured RO water into the hole. This did not work, it was gripping inside like no tomorrow. I ended up heating some RO (not to boiling but hot) and pouring this into the hole and he then fell out.

This is the last resort really asI hhad to humanley destroy the crab afterwards. It did have missing legs and was not up to much by that point.

Mine is kind of living underneath some live rock, in a hollow. It is actually the most awkward spot it could have chosen as home!!

I wonder could I lure him out with some bait tied to a string. We used to catch crabs this way from piers on holidays!

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Might be worth a try. I tried loads of ways to get rid of an unwanted crab in my orca. I ended up having to take out every single bit of rock in there to get him

 

[daveo_irl]

Might be worth a try. I tried loads of ways to get rid of an unwanted crab in my orca. I ended up having to take out every single bit of rock in there to get him

Crap, I hope I don't have to resort to that!

 

[youngfisher]

Hows it going, any luck?

YF

 

[daveo_irl]

Hows it going, any luck?

YF

Nope, the little **** just won't go into the glass.
My Hermits keep getting trapped though!! If he moves to another cave it might be easier, as right now it is very hard to angle a glass near his current home.

 

[Musho3210]

Hows it going, any luck?

YF

Nope, the little **** just won't go into the glass.
My Hermits keep getting trapped though!! If he moves to another cave it might be easier, as right now it is very hard to angle a glass near his current home.

Call in a SWAT team of mantis shrimp, they'll shred him to pieces, but then they will shred your hermits to pieces, and eventually each other to pieces....

But at least you got rid of the crab right?

Good luck with everything.

 

[daveo_irl]

lol....good thinking! I could add a mantis to get rid of the crab, and then add a barracuda to get rid of the mantis, and then add a seal to get rid of the barracuda, and then add an orca to get rid of the seal....and then..........dynamite?

 

[youngfisher]

I think even the baracuda would have a problem with the mantis shrimp lol.

YF

 

[daveo_irl]

I think even the baracuda would have a problem with the mantis shrimp lol.

YF

lol...probably!
As a side note, I went down last night with the red torch to see if I could see the crab and there were dozens of glowing eyes darting around the tank. It looks like they tiny shrimp and the red light was reflecting of their eyes! (At least I presume it was their eyes!)