How do I kill a crab?

[hdtran]

Got some good crabs (porcelain crabs) with my LR, got some not-so-good ones (decorator & unidentified, not porcelain, not mithrax, not sally lightfoot). The not-so-good crabs are out of my tank, and in a Cool Whip tub, with some salt water. They're alive & kicking. The porcelain crabs are back in the tank.

How do I mercifully kill the not-so-good ones? I'm pretty squeamish, actually (please, no suggestions of using hammers, or boiling water). These guys' only mistake was to hitchhike with the LR, and (a) being trapped, and (b) getting identified as being undesirable reef denizens. I don't want to wake up with nightmares about crab ghosts...

Thanks!

 

[shy07guy]

Sorry I can not really help you out with an non violent way to kill the crabs unless you just take them to the LFS to see if they want them or you could just "forget" about them. I also wanted to ask you a question I have two hitchhiker crabs in my tank and they are not porclin crabs but somethign else I am assuming bad. They are grayish green in color and their legs are a little fuzzy anyway I wanted to know how you got your crabs off your rock I have tried so many things and they just wont leave. I have tried a fresh water dip and a few others. if you can let me know what worked for you. Thanks a bunch
Sincerely
Derek

 

[Expos Forever]

Hy

I have seen several decorator crabs offered for sale. Your LFS would probably take them. Please try to ID your unknown crabs. Is your sump an option? If you REALLY have no ther choice... I can't think of a more merciful way than a hammer. If you really don't have the (guts) some people will simply place the container in the freezer. This would at least be a more humane solution than "forgetting" about them. You're responsable for these creature being out of the ocean, please do ther right thing.



Derek

If you know what rock your crab is in soda water should flush him out. Please read the above

 

[bond007069]

step on him, man

 

[shy07guy]

Sorry for the forgetting about him comment. If you freeze him you may beable to use him as food later on. I know someone who freezes the mantis shrimp they find in their tank then feed them to the triggers.
Sincerely
Derek

 

[hdtran]

I put the LR in an empty rubbermaid container. The water drips down, the crab says "hey, it's dry!" Crabs crawl down & get off the LR. It takes patience (need to wait about 20-30 minutes, in a dimly lit room). Then, lift the rock, and presto! Crabs are in water puddles.

I also have a homemade crab trap in the tank (water bottle cut in half with top reversed; see this link for a photo http://mywebpages.comcast.net/htran39/m ... uarium.htm), but that hasn't caught anything yet. (I'll also eventually post photos of the non-porcelain crabs; go to the Corals/Sand/Hitchhikers forum for a photo of the porcelain crabs). I am fairly sure I have a pistol shrimp that hitchhiked with my sand. Haven't seen any signs of the dreaded mantis shrimp.

I am sumpless (weighing pros & cons, decided to go sumpless), so the sump is not an option.

I'll take the crabs to the owner of my LFS & give them to him. Good suggestion, thanks! (Don't want store credit. If he sells them, good for him! If he uses it to feed his triggers, at least, it's off my conscience, I think...)


Hy

 

[hdtran]

I've posted a picture of the unidentified crab over in the hitchhiker forum.

He (it?), its sibling, and the decorator are going to the LFS tomorrow.

If you can identify this invertebrate, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks!

 

[teevee]

Find someone with a sump who will take them. Hitchhiker crabs have already proven that they're pretty much bulletproof... they could live in an overflow, between baffles, just about anywhere.

The other thing to remember - all crabs are really just opportunists. "Good" and "bad" are useless concepts, really. I would personally leave them in the tank. The chance that they cause problems is in my opinion small. I doubt very many people have concrete evidence hitchhiking crabs caused problems in their tank. They're just a convenient scapegoat.

 

[esmithiii]

I have utilized the toilet before. As for being "humane" that is not really high on my list of important things to worry about when it comes to crabs- There is nothing "humane" about how they process alaskan king crabs, and I eat them without remorse.

I find it interesting that the folks who clamor about doing the "right thing" have no problem with squishing a spider in their den.

Ernie

 

[Anonymous]

Hy,
It's unlikely that anyone here can ID the species based on a photograph.

teevee,
that's a pretty good point. I had a HH crab in my tank for a year, and I can't even blame anything on it. I've heard quite a few stories of ones that get big, though, and catch fish or shrimp.