new post new problem....

[Lifeguard50020042005]

so i buy and arrow crab and an emrald crap...to see who will do the job...well i saw the arrow crab eat one of the bristle worms..yea!!!! well now here is the damn problem....so i have 3 dragonetts...they have been in my tank for the past 7 months...and they are well fed. well teh last 3 nights i have lost one...first two nights i have seen one dead and i had no clue but the emral crab was eating it...i figured that he was just collecting the dead...well last night i saw him fall off the rock onto my last dragenett...well and before i could save him the crab got his claws inside of it...wich now i am less one more dragonett....anybody ever have the same problem??? my local fish store says this is impossible because emerald crabs are veggie eaters...humm

[jerryc]

my local fish store says this is impossible because emerald crabs are veggie eaters...humm


Nope that is the main resiny some on line stores list them as reef safe with caution :shock:

[Lifeguard50020042005]

is there anything i can do to get them to stop eating my fish??? like feed them something??

[jerryc]

Feeding may help. don't no iv never tried keeping them because of whit iv read
about them

[Tom McKenna]

Emerald Crabs will just about eat anything they can crab sorry to hear your news

[Lifeguard50020042005]

SO WHAT WOULD YOU GUYS RECOMMEND I DO? IS THERE A POSSIBILITY THAT HE WILL EAT MY HERMET CRABS, CORAL, MUSHROOMS, ARROWHEAD CRAB? IS THERE LIKE CRAB FOOD THAT WILL MAKE HIM HAPPY? OR SHOULD I TAKE HIM BACK TO THE LFS...THOUGH I AM NOT SURE ABOUT THEM GIVING ME ANY CREDIT FOR HIM....

[Whoyah]

I had a emerald start munching on my yellow polyps. I moved him into the fuge.

I would either pitch him or find new home if his eating fish. He will be eating other stuff, like corals, soon.

[Reef_Angel]

Jerryc is right, and some will argue the fact about emerald crabs. I've seen them in action, and suspected them of the certain deaths of fish that we'd had for a long time. Many will argue the point about them being only herbivores. Not true at all! There are like 7 different types of emeralds, and only 1 of them is actually a true herbivore. I wish the few that we have in our tank would disappear, but I think they've been ok. I personally would never get one again. :fart:
Lifegaurd.....how do you like your Arrow Crab? :lol: We had one when we first started our 55g reef. Dave & I thought he was a hoot! We sat and watched him in exploring and happy to see him cleaning the tank. Our son Josh stopped by the house for something, and of course we had to have him see the newbie. His comment, "OMG....it's a big frickin' spider! That turned out to be his name, but we soon had a few new ones for him as well. He had one weakness though...hermits! He stayed in his corner for quite awhile that night, and then all of the sudden he came barreling out from that corner all the way to the front of the tank! :blob: He snatched up a blue legger in one arm, grabbed it by its feet and started yanking it to get it out of the shell. That hermit held on for quite a while! It happened so fast, we laughed our sides off! A few minutes after he won that battle, he walked around holding the now empty hermit shell like a trophy and wouldn't put it down. He spots another blue legger and again snags that one up, and the tug of war was another loss for the hermit crew. Now he had 2 shells :peace: and was strutting his stuff or better yet, staggering like a "drunken Fratboy" across the tank back to his corner. He wouldn't put those shells down for anything...until he got hungry again. Thankfully he adjusted to our feeding schedule and didn't bother another hermit...we think. I just wanted to share this with you since you are one of the first members who've gotten an Arrow Crab. Keep an eye on your guy! I hope yours is as animated as ours was. He lived peacefully in our tank for almost a year, but didn't get along with our Coral Banded Shrimp. :smt075 They would get into some nasty fights over territory more than anything, and he lost the last fight. We were sorry to see him gone. He looked like a crumpled pile of twigs when we found him. :smt118 Anyway, just thought I'd share that with you!
Good luck with everything, and keep us posted! .....Angel :angel2:

[Lifeguard50020042005]

ANY ADVICE ON HOW TO CAUTCH MY LITTEL EVIL EMERALD CRAB!!!

[Reef_Angel]

Wait til the lights are out for awhile, then get out your trusty flashlight and look for him. The night action in your tank is is the best time for the predators to really do some damage. Be ready with your net cause they are pretty quick & slippery little buggers. They'll head back for the rock, and then you'll be lucky if you see him again tonight. Depends how greedy he is! Good luck!

[Lifeguard50020042005]

ha ha so i caught him!!! yea! well i did what you said turned my light off and waited and out he came...he tried to get a bight out of my mushrooms....ha ha so i got him..but not before he did some real damage to my poor little shrooms......grrr....and they were so expensive........as i was taking him to his new home in the fish bowel...well something catches my eye in my tank...there was another emerald crab!!!!! a little smaller then the first...but another one??? OK i only bought 1 not 2...so i lay out a piece of bait....a dead feeder fish...ha ha and i...missed!!! ahhh...well this little dude was mighty greedy cause as soon as i took my hand out of the tank...away he went again....but this time i was smart and put the bait in a clear class cup...and he couldn't get himself out....ha ha that's what you get.....but after my nice little story.......well here is what my old clean up crew used to be.....1 emerald crab, 15 hermit crabs, 3 snails, 1 orange starfish, 2 dragonnetts, 1 blenny..........now i have 1 arrow crab, 1 orange starfish, and 3 snails....

as you can see i need a new clean up crew.... any advice on what i should get in there to replace the emerald crab...who will eat my bubble algae??? and who would you recommend to put in there with my current, but small clean up crew??