good, bad, ugly

[trentruf]

i have a crab in one of my tanks that i've given up trying to capture. it's very secretive and really only comes out when it's dark. it's dark bluish gray, almost purple. it has bright red eyes and a segmented carapace. it looks similar to a hand grenade. everytime i get my camera it disappears. i've tried trapping it,skewering it, removing it's favorite rock all to no avail. it hasn't gotten my goby or percula but my cleaner shrimps have gone m.i.a. usually when i see it it is using fat claws to eat algae off of rocks. coral all seems to be o.k. but i would like to know exactly what this 2"-2 1/2" critter is.

[CSeaSee]

It's really tough to tell w/o a picture- can you maybe get a google image if you can't get a photo yourself?

[trentruf]

i don't know how to transfer the picture, but i finally found one on wet web media crab id page. the culprit is still unknown, but is under the title Crab ID 1/5/05.

[trentruf]

also, now that i think about it about a week before i discovered this crab my beautiful mettalic green star polyps detiorated and died. it seems like less of them would open everyday, and the mat would slowly deteriorate. my water perameters were fine, and all i.d.ed creatures reef safe. if someone could help me i.d. this crab, i might have a better idea of how to remove it.

[zhenya]

Hi trentruf,

It is almost impossible to identify crabs to exact species even with the picture, there are lots of them and some similarly looking crabs could be totally different species. Anyways, taxonomy isn't the issue here. As I understand you you just want to know if it safe to leave it in the tank or ot needs to be removed. Personally, any crab that is roughly 2 inches in size and with large claws don;t get any trust from me.
Seriously, though, here's a link for you with some pictures of crabs. Browse through it and see if any of them match your critter.
Crabs

[trentruf]

none of them are the booger in my tank. it's a very distinct looking crab, and the only two pics i've found are people in other forums trying to identify it. any advice on removing it. i've had success in the past with more aggressive carnivorous crabs, but this one has been in there for aout a year now.

[zhenya]

If bait don't get him I don;t know what else you can do but remove the rock he's living in. You can then try removing it in a different container with seawater and see if you can convince him that he's got to go. I've heard people pouring carbonated water in the holes where crabs live, over a bucket or some other container and some time they bail out. I never had to deal with the crabs, lucky for me, so I'm no expert at their removal. Hopefully someone with more experience with this buggers will chime in.

[A Pirate I Be]

get a driming glass and lean it up against his fav rock. put a piece of shrimp in the bottom and wait for him to crawl in he should not be able to get out then take the cup out with him in and do with him what you wish.