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fishyman19 
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Joined: September 05 2012
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 Topic: Catching A Problem Emerald Crab
Posted: September 08 2015 at 11:44am |
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I picked up 3 of these guys last Friday to add to my clean up crew. Got them in the tank and the next day I noticed one of my Setosa Corals was missing some tissue, up around the top and a few spots on the branches and such. I have been battling with my doser on ALK for the last few days(Doser decided to stop working) and figured that was the reason for the tissue loss up top, but the tissue loss on the branches was weird. So I thought maybe one of my Angels started to take a liking for them or one of the new crabs. So after the lights went out I watched the area and sure enough one of the larger Emeralds that I bought climbed right up the rock onto it and started picking at polyps and the tissue. Then he moved over to my jedi mind trick and started doing the same thing. So needless to say he needs to go. I tried to grab him but he took off before I could. I have seen people use the trap method and when I have put those in in the past my other snails and hermits just go to town on that. Anyone know of any other methods they've used to pull these guys out?
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90 Gallon mixed reef. Wife's 12 gallon nano cube mixed reef!
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aceofspadeskb
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Posted: September 08 2015 at 12:32pm |
Algae clip. Once they grab on they don't let go and you can pull it out that way. You also don't have to worry about your other critters getting trapped...just fed.
Disclaimer: I've heard this works...I've never had to try.
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Marcoss
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Posted: September 08 2015 at 12:33pm |
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Those are a beast to catch. I have one that is about the size of a golfball. He's super fat. I had to lure him out of the sump once. I simply dropped frozen food near him, but had the net behind the frozen food. He walked right into the trap. I think my crab came out because he is morbidly obese and hungry so that may not work with a leaner and quicker crab.
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RedSea Max S400 - 90G Rimless Frag Tanks x2 - 185 Lookdown Bin
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fishyman19
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Posted: September 08 2015 at 2:31pm |
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So Ace I'm assuming that you would just put the algae clip on the sand bed then? And Marcoss yeah they are, this is the last time I will be using these guys. Don't want to lose coral over a guy that wants a polyp snack or two.
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90 Gallon mixed reef. Wife's 12 gallon nano cube mixed reef!
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aceofspadeskb
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Posted: September 08 2015 at 2:50pm |
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That would be my best guess.
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Softplan
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Posted: September 08 2015 at 4:04pm |
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I had to catch one once. Get a glass cup put it upright and have it touching some rock. Get a piece of shrimp and rubber band it to a rock to keep it at the bottom of the glass. Leave it over night and pull the cup out with the crab in it. I've done it a few times with different crabs. Works like a champ.
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Will Spencer
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Posted: September 08 2015 at 5:11pm |
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I agree with Softplan's method. Used it several times myself.
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: September 10 2015 at 7:01pm |
I agree, the tipped glass jar trap works slick as a whistle, usually overnight.  Place it, with bait at the bottom, at a sharp angle against the rock where the crab spends most of it's time. Mythrax (Emerald) Crabs are primarily used to control Bubble Algae(Valonia), though they may sometimes eat other Macroalgae. Having used these for over 15 years without incident, my best guess is that there was not enough Valonia for them to eat. It's also possible that the big one was big because it had switched to meaty foods because of a lack of algae as it sat in holding tanks or perhaps it was not actually an herbivorous Mythrax Crab.
Aloha, Mark  |
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