Crab ID
Printed From: Utah Reefs
Category: Specialized Discussion
Forum Name: Invertebrates
Forum Description: This is the place to ask questions about invertebrates.
URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=72321
Printed Date: June 07 2026 at 11:28am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.03 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Crab ID
Posted By: Fish Mama
Subject: Crab ID
Date Posted: July 27 2014 at 10:30am
What type of crab is this? Would it have been responsible for eating my zoanthids? Thanks.
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Replies:
Posted By: Mike Savage
Date Posted: July 27 2014 at 12:58pm
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It looks like a Left-handed Hermit Crab to me. -------------  |
Posted By: Fish Mama
Date Posted: July 27 2014 at 3:03pm
| Something has eaten my zoas. I thought it might have been this crab, but I took a rock out last night that has a crab in it with brown and white striped legs. Any ideas? |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: July 27 2014 at 8:17pm
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Aloha Barbara, The crab you found in a rock was not in a snail shell, right? It lives in a hole in the rock and comes in to our tanks as a hitchhiker in Live Rock. That's why we call it a Rock Crab. I'll bet your Zoanthids will be just fine now. Hermit Crabs in shells, in fact all crabs in general typically don't start eating coral unless they are really hungry. In a new tank like yours they can get hungry enough to start eating coral, so it's a good idea to keep only a few hermits. It's fortunate you got that Rock Crab out. In existing large displays, where the rock is not easily removed, there are two ways to handle it; 1) jab into the hole with a thin stick to kill the Rock Crab or 2) place a baited glass jar next to the rock on a 60 degree angle. When the crab goes after the bait that night, it can't climb back out of the jar. Aloha  ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member 
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