hairy crab

i found this hairy looking crab in my tank and not sure if hes friend or foe

i have read alot of things saying hairy crabs are bad, but theres also alot of argument saying its not true.
will he eat all my corals?
my tank is pretty small and so are some of the corals that i'd really like to keep growing, but he's also quite small and i'm not sure if he's doing any damage yet or not :-/
i dont want to kill him but havent got another tank or sump to put him in

 

Hi,
Would advise you to give him to your LFS so that it could go into a species tank. Crabs may not be a direct threat to your corals. It may just damage them when it crawls over it. Thus opening up secondary infection issues to your coral collection. If you are attached to the cute guy then put him in your sump or use a in tank containment container or such.

 

That said, the crab seems to have some pretty big claws. I wouldn't trust it
Crabs are opportunists a little hermit can't doo much damage, but bigger crabs certianly can if they decide to.

 

From what it looks like you've got yourself a stoney crab, and IME they are nasty little guys. I accidently got one and he ate a few chromis and some of my mushrooms I cudnt bealive it but I took him back to my lfs n they were like oh that's no good, they are pretty aggressive imo tho so id say take him back if u don't want to lose any livestock

 

thanks for the replys everyone!
he probably wasnt going to do very well in a bucket with some rubble and no circulation, your ideas sound much better.
fresh out of in tank containment devices, but i do have a drill and a food container.
does this look like it will do??


hes probably not much bigger than my thumbnail so probably wouldnt be eating my clown just yet, but he does sound unpleasant so this seems best for everyone
to put him in perspective the pipe next to him is 1/2" and hes in that little container with 2 pieces of rubble and room to spare lol
the zoas near where he was living did seem a little stressed and i guess he could have tried my little snails if he was eager.

will see if the LFS will take him next weekend ;D

thanks again! you may have just saved a mean little crabs life (for at least another week)

 

That container looks like it will work well. I've used a mason jar on the sandbed to hold them. They can't swim out or climb the glass.

 

Thanks, your confidence is reassuring

i was worried someone might look at it and say 'oh no, those thing leech all kinds of bad into the water!' or 'those holes wont be enough' lol
it was a food grade container tho so my guess was it couldnt be tooo bad

 

A rule I've been told (don't know how accurate it is): Hairy and large pointy claws, most always = bad.