Emerald Crabs, friend or foe?

[heuerfan]

My friend just lost two very expensive wrasses over the span of two weeks because of a big emerald crab. I've never had problems with emeralds and have 5 myself. The emerald was with the wrasses for a month in a 15 gallon. Can't believe the wrasses would let the emerald get them

What do you think, friend or foe?

 

[PalmTree]

I've never had a problem with them but others seem to have a diffrent story. I've never heard anything bad about scarlet crabs though. I'm going to sit on the fence with this one.

 

[deelucky]

i have to say that in some ways he is a friend and ways he is a foe.my thing is that i witnessed my small emerald rip off a xenia polyp right off,chew then spit it out i felt like smashing him but decided that it could of been a mistake.:scratchch .i feel each should be observed closely..jmo

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

I've never had a problem with them but others seem to have a diffrent story. I've never heard anything bad about scarlet crabs though. I'm going to sit on the fence with this one.

Hey it's helping you to proporgate the coral.:bablefish :tongue1:

 

[ming]

I never had a problem with them. Did your friend only see him eating the fish? Because I doubt they can catch the fish unless its on its way out already, then obviously he will go for it like any crab.

 

[DEEPWATER]

some say good some say bad ,,,only thing that bothers me is that these crab got power ,moving rocks and corals if they need to get under it

 

[Dmitry]

In my tank it was a foe. He decided to make him home where a Clown and his Colt Coral had previously been. And took a bite out of the Clown! Once day I saw a circular wound on the Clown and couldn't figure out what happened. I started looking and saw the emerald sitting right there. I pulled him and looked at his claws: which are flat and round. Exactly like the wound. The crab went into the sump, the Clown healed.

 

[ulmo]

In my case, they got two of my fish before I figured out that they were the culprits. I would say watch them closely!

 

[pecan2phat]

Wow Steven,
Did he get the Flame also?

 

[heuerfan]

Wow Steven,
Did he get the Flame also?

Yep

I told him to remove the crab after the first time but guess he forgot. He really believes the crab killed the wrasses. I asked him to test his water last night and i'm waiting to hear from him. I really think the wrasses were on their way out but who knows.......

 

[SaltWaterN00b]

I have 2 in my 55g tank and the one just molted and is huge! I read somewhere that they will try to catch fish if there is nothing to eat or not enough to eat so what I do is setup 2 clips for feeding (I use Seaweed select green marine algae) which one clip feeds my 2 crabs and the other high enough so the crab cant reach it for my Sailfin. Ive had the crabs since day 1 of my tank (almost 5 months ago) and they have never bothered a fish or that I have seen anyway.

I would try that maybe if you like em enough not to get rid of em. And I do this once a day. The next mroning those clips are empty. each strip i make about 2" thick and 3" long.

 

[scarf_ace1981]

if you can't trust them, foe!!!