Unknown Small Crab 1.5" (3.81cm) Across In Size

[FONT=&quot]Hello 3Reefers,

I am back after a brief hiatus. ;D
This time I need help identifying a hitchhiker that I found last night in my aquarium.

I recently moved my established 26-gallon aquarium inhabitants to a new tank. In the new aquarium, I placed cycled live sand and cured live rock that I purchased at a local aquarium store.

Once everything was in place, I noticed a crab searching for cover in the back of the tank. The crab is not too big but I caught it and separated it from the main aquarium.

I am wondering if anyone knows what this little fellow is. The crab's legs are maroon colored and it has a dark back speckled with iridescent-like colored light spots. My little brother calls it a flat mushroom, because it is round and flat.

The little fellow is cute and I don't wish to cut its life short simply because "crabs are the most evil of creatures" to some hobbyists. But I also do not want to put my previous tank's inhabitants (a Coral Beauty Angelfish, Candy Cane Coral, and Star Polyps) in danger.

I don't know if the crab came in one of the pieces of live rock I bought or if it was already in my tank's live rock. I feel I could have noticed it when I inspected the live rock pieces prior to purchasing at the store. I did notice a tiny green crab peering out of a crevice in one of the pieces, so I feel this specific crab would not be hard to miss.

I am including photographs to aid you in your identification process.

Thank you 3Reefers.

Sincerely,

Diana[/FONT]

 

Tell us more about the claws. They look pretty heavy duty to me.

If you have a sump I would put the crab in there.

 

Not sure on the species, but it does not look reef safe to me. It looks like it's left claw is serrated, usually for crushing other crabs and snails.

It is a very pretty crab however. Hopefully Papajoe will chime in. Resident expert and all.

 

i think that looks like a sally lightfoot crab - imo all crabs become an issue at some point (other than hermit)

 

2in10, the claws are small. But as jonjonwells stated, the left claw does appear a bit serrated.

 

jonjonwells: I agree that the crab is beautiful. I do hope to get further information on the crab. (^_^) If the fellow is a bad crab, I may be able to turn an empty 5 gallon into a temporary home for it (I really do not believe in killing the unknown).

I hope to hear more ideas on this crab.

 

Take a look at the claws of an Emerald crab, if the claws don't look like the tips of the Emerald then it is generally not reef safe.

 

Does it look like anyone of these crabs?

http://www.chucksaddiction.com/hitchcrabs.html

 

Biocube, I already reviewed that article prior to posting on the forum.
But thank you. (^_^)

 

good on you, if you dont have a sump where to house it take it back