Beyond needing help.

[Johnnyredd]

We have a predator.

We are down to about 6 fish in the tank.

Only thing I can say I have actively seen is a crab.

Grey body. DARK grey. red tipped pincers that look quite business like.

The pinchers may have a white stripe on them.

Quick as the dickens.

Burrows which makes it infinately harder to find and or grab. I am hoping that he has not made his way into the engineers tunnels yet.

We have tried a trap for almost a week with no results.

We can't ever get a straight shot on him with a fork. He is getting more and more skiddish which makes him harder to catch.

I am about to tear this tank down. Literally down to nothing to eradicate this thing because it's about driven me out of the hobby.

Any ideas, comments, suggestions, etc. GREATLY appreciated.

 

[Johnnyredd]

Oh, it's a 180 in case it matters, about a 2 inch sandbed. Rocks put down and then sand for the likes of the engineer and it's safety.

 

[Small triggers]

Well... Sounds like a bad crab...
Grab some tubs to put your rock and still living fish in ...
And tear that baby apart and find the perpetrator!

 

[Naiad]

What kind of trap are you using? Good luck getting the guy. I mean he has gotten through at least one tank break down already. They are crafty.

 

[mfinn]

I've had pretty good luck catching crabs using a small wide mouth jar and a small piece of shrimp.
I rubber band the piece of shrimp to a small rock and put it in the jar. Lean the jar up against your rock work at a 45 degree angle in the area you last saw the crab.
It may take a few attempts and you may catch every other crab you have in the tank first, but eventually this guy will take the bait.

 

[Johnnyredd]

I took a gatorade bottle and cut most of the top off at the crease. Left enough to keep it together, turned it around and jammed it in at an angle. That way the mouth can be on the bottom or elevated. I put it in with shrimp (with a tooth pick through it) in the back or bottom, which ever you prefer. He will get about half way in it and we have him so freaked out that when a fish swims by he dives back into the crevice he has holded up in.

I am debating the disassembly... I know where he is so that won't be too bad but the engineer's maze is in that area, also. More concerned with injuring the engineer than worried about crashing his crib.

 

[WhoKnew]

Is this just a hermit crab. Wow

 

[Dalmatia]

What did he do?

 

[mfinn]

I took a gatorade bottle and cut most of the top off at the crease. Left enough to keep it together, turned it around and jammed it in at an angle. That way the mouth can be on the bottom or elevated. I put it in with shrimp (with a tooth pick through it) in the back or bottom, which ever you prefer. He will get about half way in it and we have him so freaked out that when a fish swims by he dives back into the crevice he has holded up in.

I am debating the disassembly... I know where he is so that won't be too bad but the engineer's maze is in that area, also. More concerned with injuring the engineer than worried about crashing his crib.

Give it time.

 

[Johnnyredd]

Not a hermit.

As Bill Murray said in Ghostbusters... We came, we saw, we kicked ***!!! Had to pull a base rock that also served as a sleeping cave for the firefish and scissortails but... He's a 5 legged one claw sump dweller now.

What did it do? Since Thanksgiving we are missing:

Distal Anthea x 6

Engineer Goby

Cherub angel x 2

ignitus anthea

Royal Gramma Scissortail Firefish Blue/Green Chromis Blue/Green Chromis Blue/Green Chromis Blue/Green Chromis Orange Clown Flasher Wrasse All disappeared. No change in water quality.

 

[Dalmatia]

Do you have any anemones? Or your sure the crab is doing this? You know crabs are really scavengers, so it's unlikely that they would attack something unless they where dead or dying or really bigger than the prey?

 

[Johnnyredd]

No anemone.

Gorilla crab. Stone crab. Catch the prey when it's sleeping and make lunch of it. I bought an existing tank, no idea how long it has been in there but it's nothing uncommon to have a crab go rogue.

 

[mfinn]

Not a hermit.

. He's a 5 legged one claw sump dweller now.

I'm glad you got him.

Keeping him a sump dweller is more generous than I would have been.

 

[Small triggers]

Large crabs in our tanks become predators...since there are not readily available meals to them...they make easy meals where they can....

 

[Naiad]

Any pics?

 

[Johnnyredd]

I have a couple of pictures but... missing the second scissor tail this morning.

Looks like giving up may be the best answer.

 

[Naiad]

He may not have been the only thing in there. I would do a late night red light stake out

 

[Johnnyredd]

He may not have been the only thing in there. I would do a late night red light stake out

Only thing I do not have yet is a red light. Working nights and being 15 minutes from the house I make irregular runs through the week and creep in on it all weekend. Using a flashlight. Nada exept for this crab. Well, there was a little red mithrix that was moved to the carpet's tank a week ago but seriously there ain't nothing been seen moving.

 

[WhoKnew]

Truly a mystery?

 

[ryan803]

Had a stone crab in my 265 a few years back...2 actually. We caught the smaller one fairly easy but the bigger one was impossible. Very skittish and very fast...he didn't bother my fish from what I could see but did take expensive coral frags of their plugs and take them back to his "lair". Me and a buddy had to take ALL live rock out to capture him. Even found some of my zoa frags still alive in his cave.

Save yourself a lot of heartache and hassle and just take your rock out so you can get this fella out as soon as you can...