SPS eating crab

mojoreef · 05-06-2002, 08:14 PM

Well I noticed a new little acro crab in my purple acro the other day, it was a standard looking acro crab with white eyes and the usual body shape. THe only thing different was that its body and legs were covered in algae. I noticed a couple of white spots on the coral and decided to investagate, when I pulled the acro out all the stalks where the crab was living were bare of flesh on the stalks and the crab had acro tissue in its claw...Bas****. Pulle the little no good out of the acro and pinned it to the cabinat (as a sign to all other acro eating crabs).

I then thought I should get a pic to post, so I pulled the pin out and the cat caught the crab before it hit the floor. So keep an eye out for a white eyed comenseral looking crab that is covered in hair (or algae) that has an appitite for corals.

MIke

Spanky · 05-06-2002, 08:18 PM

and you're not worried about the cat?

hooked · 05-06-2002, 08:28 PM

Are you serious about your cat eating that thing

Could that hurt the cat in any way?

mojoreef · 05-06-2002, 08:33 PM

Me and the cat have a loveless relationship right now...and to tell you the truth its the first time in along time since I have seen the cat in the same room as the tank

lol

Mike

Doug1 · 05-06-2002, 10:19 PM

OMG Mike tell me that the crab came in on coral and not the live rock, Oh wait I have 4 new kittens, I can train them to be crab catchers

(disclaimer, no felines were harmed in replying to this post

)

Marco · 05-06-2002, 10:59 PM

Mojo, I too recently bought an A. Millepora colony that had a comensal crab, the safe ones. After a couple of days I decided to move the colony so I took it out and inspected it and noticed another tiny crab that was hairy or covered in algea with white eyes. I thought nothing of it, actually thought I was lucky for getting 2 crabs. That night the small crab moved to one of my largest frags A. Nana I think. He decided that was his own coral, and in a few days I noticed some bleached spots on my frag. They were caused by this little crab so I removed him and put him outside in the flowerbed where I like to keep my Mantis shrimp and the frag bounced back. So i am sure he was killing my coral.

Alice · 05-06-2002, 11:06 PM

I know that Frank just banished one to the sump too, Mike. Hairy little guy. (The crab, not Frank

) His bared a branch down to the skeleton in fairly short order.

Some of these crabs do "clear a space" for their home, to either harvest algae or give them some room. There are also "gall" crabs, that injure the coral and then a little pocket of tissue grows part way over them to protect them.

In a big colony in the open ocean, it wouldn't be a problem; in our tanks, it's a problem.

Alice

BROWN TROUT · 05-06-2002, 11:32 PM

Hey Mike, is this the same cat that took a tinkle on your corals during the tank transfer? We'd have a loveless relationship too if that was my cat.

platapus · 05-07-2002, 01:11 AM

Is this what the crab looks like?

http://www.reefland.com/cgi-bin/foru...&threadid=7266

FishDaddy · 05-07-2002, 08:43 AM

Mike,
Tom Wyatt sent me this a while back.......seems appropriate:

Subject: Tom's Goldfish

Little Tom was in the garden filling in a hole when his neighbor peered over the fence.
Interested in what the cheeky-faced youngster was up to, he politely asked, "What are you up to there, Tom?"
"My goldfish died," replied Tom tearfully, without looking up, "and I've just buried him.
The neighbor was concerned. "That's an awfully big hole for a goldfish, isn't it?"
Tom patted down the last heap of earth then replied, "that's because he's inside your cat."

Dick

Doug1 · 05-07-2002, 09:14 AM

Platapus, that is definatly one wierd lookin crab