crab help

i would like to know if anyone can help, or ever encountered a problem i am having.
i have a few emerald crabs in my reef. i don't have many corals, as i am just starting out. i've got a frag of waving hands, and a mushroom i just purchased, yesturday.
the crabs are eating my waving hands!!! i've seen the little bastard pulling them apart! the look like stumps!!!
also, the green mushroom i purchased yesturday has much of the green polops missing now!. i can only assume the crab is eating them also.
are emeralds known for things like this, or could it be a hitchiker crab, from the live rock? please help.
if i could catch them all, i'd take them out, but how am i supposed to get them?

 

Its a crab and all crabs are omnivores Nore are totaly reef safe

 

so what should i do? will the polops on the mushroom come back?

 

To biggy back on what tangster said, the only crabs that I know of that has left alone my corals are hermit crabs. I have had emeralds before and I never noticed them eating any corals, at least in my tank. As for catching them, get a small container with a string, put some silver sides in it and wait. In no time,they will be all over it and lift up the container.

 

Same here, I had emerald that reeked havoc on my zoa's......

 

Repost from: Emerald crab dangers? (lillys Grandad - 04-01-2008, 08:34 PM)

How I finally ended up doing it after many, many tries with various reported methods...

 

I have never had any problems with my Emerald attacking my corals. Often times if that is in fact what it looks like your crab is doing, it may be just trying to capture food surrounding your corals.
But again as mentioed above by tangster, they are omnivores.

 

i've literally seen the crab pull the stalk of the waving hands, and with the other claw pull it apart and eat it! the stalks have bite marks all up and down them, with the hand parts on top totally gone!
can they repair themselves?

 

If by "Waving hands" you mean zenia...heck, you might just want to keep crab around to keep in check before corals spread all over tank.

May be some members here that would like to have a crab that did that.

Might even be able to trade for another coral or something...



:

 

have'nt gotten to the point where i know the technical names for things yet, sorry;D