White crab eating my zoa's

Hi there, I already have this thread listed under inverts, but thought I'd put it here as well. I found this little bastard eating my zoa's (I wondered why the colony was looking kinda bare). So obviously it's not reef safe, but I would like to know what kind of crab it is so I know what else might be in danger in my tank. Thanks guys

 

Really???? no ideas at all? WOW! This is the first time I've posted on here and gotten so few responses, even on the same thread in the inverts forum. Either it's cuz of it being easter weekend or this is some really weird crab.

 

Easter weekend.
Take a look around here.

 

I haven't seen any crab that looks exactly like that. I usually go to this site...Melev's Reef - Visual Identification...for visual ID's but he doesn't happen to have this particular crab listed. Dump it in your refugium .

 

Thanks for the info, what a great link I don't have a refugium, he's going in my QT for now since it's empty, until I figure out what to do permanently. I gotta figure out what he is so I can find out what he eats.

 

Looks like a Xanthid crab species (there are a few) NONE are reef safe... no crab except a few hermits are reef safe in my opinion! If you find any crab, or anything for that matter, in your reef that you 100% don't know what it is... get rid of it! I have found 3 of these Xanthid crabs and a Mythrax crab in my live rock a long time ago before starting to add any coral. I flushed all of em! Crabs+reefs= no good! You have to keep in mind that ALL crabs are actually omnivores... so even the crabs like the emerald sold at LFS as "algea eaters" will eventually catch on to that there are tasty polyps around to eat instead. It's just a matter of time. Good Luck.

 

I have a decent sized emerald crab in my tank that isn't causing any problems. You have to remember the pointed claws = no good, and a more rounded claw = algae eater

 

That is just a "rule of thumb" I have had a couple of my friends that had emerald crabs. One had his for about 2 months before he noticed some of his softies being eaten. He caught him and removed him and the softies healed. My other friend had her's for actually quite a number of years when out of the blue, same thing... softies started getting eaten. She caught it and removed it too and the problem was solved. Like I said all crabs are omnivores, so they can switch from plant matter to meat any time! There is always a chance of any kind of crab switching like that. I have dwarf red legs and dwarf blue legs and a hawaiian reef hermit and I always keep a close eye on them and make sure they get enough to eat because you never know! I am warry when it comes to crabs because I know so much about them. They can go from helping little reef cleaners to deadly polyp predetor for no reason. don't get me wrong, crabs can be very helpful and benificial!

 

Ditto on the Xanthid Crab. Nasty lil buggers, kind a cute though