The alien in my tank....

[Picasso]

I've got an alien in my tank. For the past couple of weeks we've had glimpses of him. Basically, all we can see is a little stick with a thin claw at the end of it. The claw is always reaching around from behind a rock or something and we can't get a good look at it. Today, I went to my LFS to get a nice new coral. Something that loved light and high water flow and not too aggressive. I ended up with a couple of new snails, a cleaner shrimp, some more seaweed (love that stuff!) and a pretty little birds nest coral. While I was putting everything in, my rocks crashed. I re-built my stack and then noticed that a little hermit crab had gotten stuck in the cup for my HOB protein skimmer. So, I unstacked everything and pulled my skimmer apart and saved him. Anyway, in the process, I figured the alien had disappeared. So tonight, after hand feeding my shrimp (love to do that!) and wondering why my water is so cloudy, the alien made an appearance. Basically, it's a really skinny, lanky crab. Not a hermit crab shape the other kind, the ones that walk sideways. He stayed tucked in a crevice so I couldn't make out much but his legs are long and very skinny, he's dark colored and there may be strips on his back legs. The front two legs are long thin sticks that have slender claws on them. He's just bigger than a quarter. I looked in my invertebrates book and the closest thing I saw was a Sally-light-foot crab but that one had different coloring (it was all dark brown) and the shape was round whereas the alien in my tank looked lighter and had the stripes on it's back legs and it was pointer in shape. I tried to shoot it but if I turned on my light or a flashlight the thing took off. Any ideas as to what it might be?

thanks,
Catherine

 

[yote]

Just a guess,but it could be a stone crab.
Next time you see it,look at the claws close.If they have sharp points,then the crab is more of a predator.If the tips are more cup shaped,then its more of an algae eater.

 

[Rcpilot]

Usually, not always, but usually crabs with hairy legs are BAD. One exception to that is the emerald crab.... a harmless vegetarian. There may be other exceptions to that. Black or brown crabs with hairy legs--kill em quick!

Crab ID:
http://www.melevsreef.com/id/crabs.html

 

[dustin_P74]

did it look like this?

if so its an arrow crab

 

[Keaton]

Long skinny legs reminds me of an Arrow crab maybe. I dunno though not much of a crab expert :)

 

[Keaton]

You beat me dustin :( but ya thats the first thing I thought of too.

 

[Bifferwine]

I also immediately thought of either an arrow crab or sally lightfoot. I wouldn't want either one of those in my tank. Me and Sally's go way back. We used to be BFFs. Until Sally's started killing my fish.

 

[Picasso]

Dustin, what a cool beast! nope, that's not mine, wish the little bugger would show itself so I could shoot a picture. This is the closest picture I can find: http://www.reeftopia.com/sallycrab.jpg but that's not really what mine looks like. Mine does have the banding on it's back legs but the body is solid brown and the front legs, the one with the claws, are really, really thin and solid brown colored. It was tucked up under a ledge and would only come out with my actenic lights on so I didn't get a really good look, but I'm thinking this is a beast I don't want in my tank. That leads me to my next question, how do I capture this critter so I can move it to another tank?

Catherine

 

[daugherty]

here is one that change since it puts things from you tank on itself to camoflauge it self to its surroundings.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+501+627&pcatid=627

 

[Picasso]

here is one that change since it puts things from you tank on itself to camoflauge it self to its surroundings.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+501+627&pcatid=627

Boy, that would be nice if he was one of those! Short of pulling all my rocks out of my tank, I have no idea how I'm going to get a good look at this beast! If he is going to eat up my corals or fish, I want to know so I can place him elsewhere where he won't do expensive damage! Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[dustin_P74]

Dustin, what a cool beast!

its cool until it starts killing everything

 

[freshreef]

sounds just like a stone crab i just got in my tank. he is brown with brown hairy striped legs and long skinny arms and dark brown claws. took out the LR he was hidding in and put it in my quarantine tank so i can kill him.