Hawaiian boxing crab safe with snails and?...

Any of you have a boxing crab without anemones? I'm thinking of getting one, but I don't want it to kill and eat my snails and all the baby snails they are having. I made the mistake with getting an emerald crab years ago in my old tank. It killed and ate every snail. Also, will the boxing crab pester my LPS until they regurgitate their food?

 

Are you sure your emerald killed your snails?I have mixed Emeralds with snails for many years without a problem. Seeing a crab eating a dead or dieing snail can be very misleading. IME most cuc's eventually starve in reef tanks.
Boxing crabs actually carry two small anemones in there claws for defence so it would probably hide a lot.:-/
I don't really trust most crabs but emeralds have never been a problem in my systems.

 

Yup, I had a 10 gal nano a few years back with tons of happy, healthy abalone like snails. The emerald crab hunted them ALL down, killed them and ate them. I could never get the crab out. I first noticed a pile of shells under the coral he liked to hangout under; then saw that when a healthy snail came by. Bam! He would attack it. Seriously, the shells piled up next to him like someone eating peanuts.

 

I've never heard of a boxer crab and looked it up. Very cool looking crab! My guess is that it somehow is not reef safe lol

 

They are and you can get them without the anemones.

 

FYI, according to those that sell them, so are skunk cleaner and peppermint shrimp, sally lightfoot and emerald crabs, and purple reef lobsters. In my tanks however, they've all found something they liked to kill and eat. :-/