Emerald Crabs, opinions

[SJLord]

I just wondered what your opinion was about the amount of these wonderful little guys. I have the wonderful bubble algae that is becoming harder and harder to get rid of, so I have some all over the place. My solution for this right now is some emerald crabs, I have put 4 into my tank, 2 small and 2 medium. I have (1day after introduction) already noticed one of the mediums eating at the bubble algae, so I am happy with the solution so far. I was just wondering what everyone thought of these guys in the long run. Should I try and catch a couple of these once I am happy with the control of my bubble algae??? or should I just see, I dont want things eaten in my tank that they should not eat, and I dont have to worry about that for a while. So, 4 emeralds in a 46 Gal Reef with 100lbs of LR and 105lbs of LS, 2 maroon clowns, and 2 cardinals, too much??????


TIA
Steven

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Steven, once you get the valonia under control you may want to remove the less hungry ones and keep the best one. A solitary mithrax might be ok, but they have a spotty record for being safe for other reef inhabitants, they are opportunist feeders by nature. I haven't had to resort to using them
yet, but I don't think I would keep more than one in my 75, but thats just me

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[BA]

I've got one fairly large one in my 37 gal tank and I've never seen it do anything I'd disapprove of.

Best,
BA

[Brooke]

Steven-
You may have to still remove the larger bubbles yourself. Mine would only eat the really little ones. With that many crabs in the tank they should keep any new growth in check UNLESS they develop a taste for something more exciting. At a LFS that I often visit she feeds her emeralds sheets of nori. They tear into it. You might need to feed them nori to keep them from going hungry (after the bubble algae is gone). I hope they do the trick. My advice to you is get those rocks out of the tank asap and pluck and scrub them really good. It doesn't take very long for those beautiful reef pest to take over the rock.

Good luck-
Brooke

[BurnNSpy]

I lub my Emerald Crab and he hasnt hurt a thing in my tank. I havent had bubble algae, I just want the most bio-diversity I can get. He's great. You may only need 1 though.

BurnNSpy

[FishDaddy]

Steven,
It seems that Mithrax sculptus often have different personalities and appetites. This could be due to slight species variations or who knows what but according to my own observations and reading others posts, some do behave differently.
I put one in my 55 last summer to control Valonia (Valonia aegogropila, the sausage-shaped clusters) and he virtually ignored it. Two weeks later, I put another in the tank that went to work and eliminated them in another two weeks. After the Valonia was gone they went to other available food, such as polyps and coralline, though damage to polyps was slight. My large population of tiny featherdusters disappeared but that could have been due to the rock crab I discovered at about the same time. (Rock crab now lives in a 2 gal. "species tank". http://www.thereeftank.com/ubb/biggrin.gif I never saw any of the crabs actually bothering the dusters but disappear they did! http://www.thereeftank.com/ubb/frown.gif One of these eventually died and the other one is still in the tank. For now, he seems satisfied and I haven't seen any more damage.
I kinda like the critter, especially when he comes to the front of the tank and does stretching exercises!
Dick http://www.thereeftank.com/ubb/smile.gif

[Kinesthesia]

I had three in my 75 gallon, and now in my 120 gallon and I love'em. But I've never been able to have more than three at a time, everytime I add more, I still end up with three in a day or two.
I've heard that they are territorial, I guess there's only enough territory for three...

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I was sure that anything this expensive and addicting was illegal... I keep waiting for the ATF to kick my door down and grab my protein skimmer...

[Raszagil]

I just recently bought one...I have no less then *three* different species of bubble algae, all of them spreading in scary, scary ways. The crab I have has really gone to town on the solitary bubbles, but the "sausage" type ones he's more reluctant to eat. I watch him carefully when I see him, and so far he's not causeing any damage.

Still, four seems like alot...I'd get rid of two once the bubble algae's been taken care of.

2 cents...

Raz