First decorator crab......Reef safe?

[fishfarmer]

So last night I bought a decorator crab from LFS. Guy said that he had one in his reef tank and loved it. He said it was completely safe in my tank and wouldn’t bother anything.

Sooo........got home with my new pet (and $35 sun coral), dropped him in and shortly after wondering around for a sec he found my little purple flowers (don’t know what they are). He immediately snatched them up and I thought he was gonna put them on his back only to see him rip the clump in half and start EATING IT!!! I panicked and took the rest of them away from him. Will he destroy everything?! >>
>>
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! Should I get rid of it?!

[fishfarmer]

These are the flowers it ate......

[HD Fatboy®]

You have a pic of the crab?...One LFS I use the owner has a crab in his tank he will no longer sell. He sold it four times, and four times it was returned to the store cause he was a bulldozer in the tanks.

[fishfarmer]

It is orange and triangular shaped. Will try to post pic tonight or tomorrow.

[fishfarmer]

so I came home after to work today only to find that my new decorator crab, that I purchased last night, had RIPPED 2 of my rics off their rocks and stuck them on his back!!!! One of the rics was a single that took me over a month to get it to attach to something.....luckily the LFS took it back for trade. Long story short...SAY NO TO DECORATOR CRABS!

almost forgot....little SOB ate the rest of my flowers

[Geoff]

do not trust any crabs with pointy pinchers. heck do not trust any crabs period.

G~

[fishfarmer]

Well the saga continues but on a good note.....
So when I took back the crab to the LFS they did give me 100% credit but didnt have anything I wanted. The guy working was the closing manager so he said I could just come back when they get another shipment and pick something (no paper work...just word of mouth). I was skeptical about it but took the risk.
1st wk - crappy order didnt get anything i wanted
2nd wk - same
3rd wk - got in some cool fish and corals!

So I bought myself and my GF a bright orange metalic mushroom(39/shroom). Then they had 1 great colored false purc that looked in between false & true(kinda cool). after telling his boss over the phone how the crab ripped 2 of my yumas off their rock and 1 died he let me bring in 1 of my clowns and then sold me the cool 1 for $10
and if that isnt awesome yet.....................
HE ACTUALLY LET ME TRADE THAT $20 CRAB FOR AN AWESOME CORAL BEAUTY!!

BTW, when the crab ripped my yuma off its rock it actully left 2 pieces of its foot intact that is a little smaller than a BB. The 2 pieces have turned into RICS!! so long story short

Bought demon crab for $20
lost very small blue flowers
lost 1 ric yuma but gained 2
traded a false perc for a bigger 1 so they would pair up(and they did)
got a FREE Coral beauty

I'm giving LFS

[Neuticle]

Nice bud, lucky you have a cool shop!

[fishfarmer]

here is a pic of my new rics. Its with night lights so u can only see 2 bright spots but when I look at them I can actually see little bubbles around the blobs.

[Fly Guy]

Originally Posted by Geoff

do not trust any crabs with pointy pinchers. heck do not trust any crabs period.

G~

+1


unless commensal...crabs suck. The degree in which they suck is directly proportionate to how big they are typically

[fishfarmer]

Originally Posted by Fly Guy

+1


unless commensal...crabs suck. The degree in which they suck is directly proportionate to how big they are typically

to bad I had to learn the hard way but I think I still came out ahead

[Loverotties]

Originally Posted by fishfarmer

to bad I had to learn the hard way but I think I still came out ahead

But it's good to talk about it here and hope to help someone else.