Emerald Crabs & Sally Lightfoot crabs

[Playdope]

Do you all who have Emerald Crabs find that they are reefsafe? Any problems with them bothering other fish, corals, shrimp, etc..?

Also wondering the same thing for Sally Lightfoot crabs.

Thanks,
Jon

 

[zibnata]

I have had no problems with emeralds,but sally lightfoots are mean.They get big and they are aggresive towards fish.I also saw mine trying to get at my squamosa.

 

[ElMonoCalvo]

I used to have an emerald crab and it never bothered the fish. However, I never saw it actually happen but it was the primary culprit in the disappearance of a colony of star polyps.

 

[Mouse]

Emerald crabs and LPS is a bad combination, i've had sally lightfoots before and they seemed to be fine.

 

[Anonymous]

I've had both in mixed tanks with LPS, SPS, Softies, no problems.

The emerald annoying, he woudl sit under a rock and reach up and pick at algae, or coral or fish or whatever was right above him with blind grabs, not enough to damage, but it would irritate the coral

 

[Anonymous]

Have a few Emeralds in a mixed reef. Some are pretty big. See 'em wave a claw menacingly at shrimp, but no problems what so ever.

They are the primary culprit in making all my bubble algae dissapear!

 

[Playdope]

Wow so many mixed opinions. ... I guess thats normal in this hobby though.

Could anyone provide some more info on the Sally Lightfoots?

jon

 

[sawyerc]

I had emeralds for my hair algae and they never touched the stuff. Any one have any success with them and hair algae?

 

[Anonymous]

Not as much w/ the hair algae

 

[shawnz28]

I have never really cared for Sally's but they are usually fine. I am a huge fan of emeralds and have them in ever tank I keep. Like many things there are exceptions to every rule, remeber these are live animals with their own personalities, but most are just fine model reef inhabitants

 

[Anonymous]

IMO crabs are not to be trusted. I find they are like flame angels....occasionally reefsafe, not always. I had a sally lightfoot that kept snipping the fish tails. The crab lasted a month.

 

[Anonymous]

Yes, crabs are not always to be trusted, they will basically eat what will fit in their pinchers, which could be good thing. And I agree with the Flame Angel comment, seems that opinions on how things behave in a tank seem to change constantly, like brittle stars used to be perfectly good, then a few people saw them catch fish.

I have a Sally in my tank, atleast I think I do... put it this way I put one in, but he's so flat and hides all the time just don't know if he's alive anymore. Of course I do not have any sort of algae problem, so can't say how good they are for cleaning that up, although from what I understand they aren't too bad.

Might be worth a shot, although IMHO not a visible member of the tank to entertain you.