anyone have luck w/arrow crabs?

[farmgirl]

ok, does anyone keep arrow crabs in their reef tanks? w/out them tearing everything up?

[Doug1]

They are death on bristleworms and being crabs may predate something else if their prefered food is not available
I dont feel they are good reef candidates

[Geoff]

i agree with Doug. i have had a couple in my time, when they were used to get rid of bristleworm. that was a loooong time ago. they would also eat my tube worms. i would not get one again.

G~

[Mushroom Boy]

I agree with Geoff and Doug. It is a shame, though, arrow crabs are WAY cool. They will decimate your beneficial worm population, however .

[farmgirl]

ok, that is what i thought you guys would say, but i wanted to keep some sort of crab, shrimp,etc. I have had 2 cleaner shrimp, & they both bit the dust-1 pepper. shrimp that just disappeared-what do you suggest? is there any kind of invert. that is ok?

[Geoff]

crabs are pretty opportunistic. so any of them you run the risk of them nabbing something as it goes by. the safer of the bunch seems to be the sally lightfoots. they tend to pick at the rocks much more than go after passing dinner. this is not to say that some do turn aggressive when they get big, but generally they seemed fairly well behaved, as far as crabs go.

G~

[Doug1]

Arrow crabs, camel shrimp, choclate chip stars and a few other neat things like that but arent safe might be kinda kewl in like a 29 non reef invert tank.
Actually I have come to the point I grit my teeth when using the term reef safe, since its all food on the reef the term reef friendly would prolly be more accurate. The trick when keeping a captive environment like this you have to compromise between animal and organisms with attraction vs organisms that benefit the environment, but are not as attractive or May prey on desirable animals

[Ray1214]

Yupper, I have not have had a problem with emerald crabs but I have a tank with Hanibal Lector Hermit crabs, hairy hitchikers, etc.
Ray

[farmgirl]

well, thanks for the info. I guess i will stay where i am, & not chance losing any more inverts. & $!

[PaintGuru]

This is the problem I have...one of the neatest parts of marine stuff are the inverts, and many of them are turning into a pain to keep (cleaners), or are not safe for the micro-critters. The other thing about shrimp (at least in my tank) is they NEVER come out, they are always under a rock or something. It's like, what's the point?!? Assuming you have a big enough tank, urchins are somewhat neat to watch.

[thefatman]

my pep is always hiding. but he does come out at feeding time!!

and the instant the lights go out, he comes out and does his shrimp shimmy around the tank, till lights on. thinking of adding a few more.

my emerald was great, but he did go on a killing rampage and devoured the porcelain crab.

i'm thinking of using my 20l refugium in the new stand, as an invert tank. since it's too short for seahorses. i'll just use it for calurpa and other harvestable algaes, and then throw in some inverts that can live well together. just something to make that tank interesting to look at, and see the life in it

[Ray1214]

Jay,

That is kinda what I did with my 20 l. I have a fist sized hermit, one about 3/4 as large, one scarlet hermit that is the size of quarter or so. Two Hairy Hitchiker crabs that came from a fellow reefers tank, 1 Black Hitchiiker crab that seemed to go after sps. This is in a tank with 2 Green spotted Puffers, and one figure eight puffer and a new resident, an evil domino damsel that got himself captured. All of the hermits started out small but as they grew into bigger and bigger shells, they started knocking over rock work and/or in the case of the scarlet, he decided he liked snails way more than I did. It started as just a dwarf puffer tank with live rock about 2 years ago, however the critters tend to add up I guess. I figure if the puffers leave the crabs alone, let em live.

Ray

[farmgirl]

paintGuru,
are urchins easy to keep? I have never had one.

[PaintGuru]

farmgirl/Laura,

Well all they do is cruise around and munch on algae mostly. What size tank do you have? The biggest "complaint" about urchins are that they eat coralline algae, but I could care less about that. There is a big debate if they perhaps promote coralline growth. Be sure you get an appropriate type, as I believe such species and Pencil urchins are not good (I think they eat more than just algae). The urchin of choice, it seems, for most reef keepers is the royal or tuxedo urchin. Very pretty blue, and seems to be more careful when it comes to running things over. They run about $10-15 at LFS.

[farmgirl]

thanks-i'll check into it. i have a 72gal bowfront-good coralline algae growth on the back glass. i think i just saw one @ the lfs yesterday, i'll have to call & check.