I thought the surprises in my 3-month-old 12 gallon nano reef were over but I still find new animals! A month ago, I moved an Emerald mithrax crab out of there and put him in a 3 gallon tank because the star polyps were always closed while he picked at them. Today, I got home and WHAT? A CRAB was on the polyps! Where did that thing come from? It's some 3/4 of an inch long with legs more spindly than the mithrax I already have. It's got hairy legs and internet photos most closely match the gorilla crab. I jabbed tweezers in among the purple parts of my star polyps probably 20 times but each time the crab moved fast enough to not be grabbed and went out of reach. I used the tweezers to remove the other crab last month and almost yanked his leg off! This guy is just too fast! I guess now I know why the star polyps sometimes close up for some 5 days straight with no obvious hermit crabs or snails on them. This new crab hangs underneath them (the star polyps have built little bridges over themselves so animals can hide among them) and irritates them so they stay shut. I'm going to try a glass jar in there tonight with some frozen saltwater food of some sort. I'm sure if I catch anything, it will be one of my hermit crabs.
Any other ideas on how to get this guy? I plan to put him in with my other crab. Will they fight to the death? This crab gives me the creeps! Of course, the hitchhiker stomatella snail does too but he's good at least. I also found I think a little sea squirt and now have a few balls of bubble algae (ironically what that crab I bought was supposed to prevent).
I can't believe that this new crab was so good at hiding that it took me months to find him! I've wasted too many hours staring at that tank finding new animals, mostly strange worms. I'm betting this "new" crab came in as a tiny baby and is now getting big from all my excess feeding.
Any other ideas on how to get this guy? I plan to put him in with my other crab. Will they fight to the death? This crab gives me the creeps! Of course, the hitchhiker stomatella snail does too but he's good at least. I also found I think a little sea squirt and now have a few balls of bubble algae (ironically what that crab I bought was supposed to prevent).
I can't believe that this new crab was so good at hiding that it took me months to find him! I've wasted too many hours staring at that tank finding new animals, mostly strange worms. I'm betting this "new" crab came in as a tiny baby and is now getting big from all my excess feeding.
