teddy bear crabs?

look what i found next to my tube anemone. i believe its a teddy bear crab, do they molt? or is this the remains?

 

just looked at it with some tweezers .. and seen its a molt... next question is how do i catch it. and get it out of my tank? any tricks ?

 

Yes. Your Teddy Bear is molting. You could make a trap out of a plastic bottle or purchase one. The problem I had with trapping is I usually end up with every crab or snail being trapped but not the intended victim. Luckily I had a place to banish them until the target had been acquired. Traps take time and patience if they ever work at all. Finding which rock it is using and manually removing it may be your only option.:-/

 

I normally see them walking around the tank about an hour after lights have been out.

 

i think this came in on one of the last 2 corals i bought. since i have never seen a molt from him/her before. I'm guessing its living close to where the molt was found. hopefully i can find the rock its in. if not i will try the bottle trap.
i worry about the corals but not as much as i do my fish. I'm missing some sexy strip and wonder if this thing had any thing to do with it.

thanks i was just going to ask that question.

 

Try using a red or blue flashlight. It helps so they don't get spooked.

 

thanks i just got in ....this thing is still little i got the magnifier out and plan on looking for it. i don't have a red or blue flash light though
last time i had to catch a crab i seen what rock it was in, and removed the rock. i had to hit the rock with a hammer and split it to get to it. but i got it, and the coral on the rock made it. uuurrrgggghhhh
i have been reading some who say they havent had a problem with the teddy bear crabs. but i still want to gone. if the local fish store won't take it once i catch it , i will throw it in the sump deep sand bed rock area. hope to be able to catch it , tomorrow i will make the trap. I'm guessing i use a piece of shrimp from the local market?

 

QT all corals-inspect em good and DIP em!

 

Teddy-bear Crab, Polydectus cupulifer

 

got it! he/she is now a sump dweller. living in the deep sand bed rock area. since i seen where the molt was i had an idea of its area, and the new torch coral that i just added was right there. during one of my peaks i seen it popping out from between the torch branches. so i grabbed that coral in a container of water and dipped it. it didn't kill it but it seems to stun it enough were i could grab it.