How do I catch crabs?

[smidoid]

Yeah, I know all the stock answers about toilet seats, really I do

But how do you trap the little beggars. The one I got <big, black, ugly blighter> hitched in and burried itself under a pile of LR. Since then I have consistently failed to find it and right now it's eating the caulerpa I was growing for the fuge (it's not lit - yet, the fuge that is).

I have to agree with Mike (Poseiden) on this one... they are a bane!

Much as I love hermits, I think I'll have to put some in a separate tank because I'm not risking those baby corals I got either.

[Poseidon]

LOL! Finally, someone that agrees with me on CRABS! You know I was going to give you some smart answer, but I see you have that covered for me!

Anyway, I have sharpened a piece of a coat hangar using a rotary tool, and then SKEWERED the little blighters right in their holes!

As far as a live trap, there are lots on the market that are supposed to work...

[smidoid]

As a creature, I'm really quite fond of them, hermits in particular; but as a practical addition in a reef they're about as a much use as dose of copper sulphate!

The skewer's a god idea - but I got to catch it first (preferably wiithout digging out the whole tank) so I'll try looking for a live trap. Then feed it to the cat!

[firefox]

i am not sure i can agree with killing them we draged them out out of a nice warm ocean may be a little nano reef with all the other not so nice bits.
however i love watching them picking bits and eating them , though i do suspect the death of a wrase when it was asleep in the sand ,
Firefox

[Penguin]

smidoid,

Here's a thread on how I caught an unwanted crab:

Operation Crabtrap

[smidoid]

Dude! That's great. I'm going to study that now.

Firefox mate: hi from a fellow brit! While I prefer to keep my livestock alive, I have to put the majority of the livestock first. Crabs will survive better than most having evolved as omnivores, which means that ones like this can decimate my micro environment. I'm a crab lover - hermits in particular, but this guy has already started to eat stuff I want to keep. I can't even trust it in the fuge since it will most likley devour any detrivores that get in there.

[FishieNut]

Smidoid, try this:
Get

[FishieNut]

Smidoid, try this:
Get a jelly glass, put a piece of shrimp or whatever the c

[FishieNut]

Smidoid, try this:
Get a jelly glass, put a piece of shrimp or whatever the crab "loves" to eat, in the bottom,

[FishieNut]

Smidoid, try this:
Get a jelly glass, put a piece of shrimp or whatever the crab "loves" to eat, in the bottom, secured to a rock so he has to go into the glass. If the sides are high

[FishieNut]

continuing...
high enough, he won't be able to get out.
Try it, you'll like it (if he really smart, he'll get the shrimp and get out of the glass, but it's an easy way and it worked for me.

[The R/C Man]

Are you feeding specifically for the little guys?

[smidoid]

Greg: no mate. Just leaving to it starve so it comes out when I put some bait in... (see next reply!)

Fishienut: that's an idea. I'll give that a go in a couple of days - as it took the bait last night and ran away with it when my back was turned. It's one of those ones that lives in the substrate so it'll be interesting to see how its mountaineering skills are.

[captain Jim]

You could always try the true and tried method of laying down a tiny tiny noose on the tank floor and when it comes by, snag the little guys leg!
Just kidding! Im with penguin on this one!

[smidoid]

I got him! Had to sacrifce the LR and pop it in the fuge, but I got him. Actually, I think that might be a *second* crab but I'll have to bait some prawn to be sure.

[smidoid]

Right. I got one of them (I MAY have two) and I'm preeeeety sure it's a Xanthid of some sort (Gorilla crab). Only a little one, but he can rot in my fuge for now.

I also found this natty little piece of DIY - a model of which I'll be making soon!

http://www.tampabaysaltwater.com/the...mages/trap.gif