Am I a bad person?

[dexterie]

I don't even know if I should write this, but I need to "confess". Don't judge me too hard.

So... today I went to my LFS and, after checking my water and so, the guy encouraged me to get my first coral, a Xenia, in a small LR.
As a good student, got home and started the dip with Coral RX. Little thingies coming out of it, trying to survive. All normal. As I was inspecting the rock, I see LEGS.
There was a small crab, with hairy legs. As I read before, "hairy legs are a no go" so, I did my best to get the crab out. Blowing water, shaking, upside down, everything. I spent almost half an hour trying to get the guy out of the hole he was in. Nothing. I even tried tweezers. No success.

I couldn't wait more and I didn't want to take him in the tank so... I walled him with epoxy. The "cave" had no other exit and I couldn't think of anything else...and as the hole was in the area I needed to stick against my LR, I filled it with epoxy and that's all.

Thing is that now... I feel bad. Uffff...

Edit: from the google I did..might have been a gorilla crab. Not sure. It didn't look friendly at all.

 

[Captmcfly]

Some may think so but I'm not one of them .. I personally don't care if u pull the legs off one by one and cook him with a magnifying glass .. it's a crab not a cat or dog or a person that's just me... if ya ask me people are getting to soft in this world. Just this summer I had to sit through a meeting because someone was offended by me.. did what ya had to do bud. No shame in that

 

[dexterie]

Some may think so but I'm not one of them .. I personally don't care if u pull the legs off one by one and cook him with a magnifying glass .. it's a crab not a cat or dog or a person that's just me... if ya ask me people are getting to soft in this world. Just this summer I had to sit through a meeting because someone was offended by me.. did what ya had to do bud. No shame in that

Thanks.
I know I wasn't going to keep it anyway. I just wish I could have given it a quicker death.

 

[Captmcfly]

That would have been more humane but in the grand scheme of things you killed way more living creatures with that dip then that one little crab lol

 

[Katrina71]

I wish you'd come epoxy mine. Ever consider being a contract killer? Lol

 

[dexterie]

I wish you'd come epoxy mine. Ever consider being a contract killer? Lol

LOL

 

[jackson2424]

Nah have u seen nemo they are free now

 

[dexterie]

I had to move my tank this weekend and I have been trying to catch 3 damsels for months because they are mean and bite my arm when I put it in the tank.. so I managed to catch them all when the water was only an inch deep. So long story short I placed them in my toilet and flushed them. Am I a bad person ?

That's what we call a "damsel in distress"

 

[rockskimmerflow]

I had to move my tank this weekend and I have been trying to catch 3 damsels for months because they are mean and bite my arm when I put it in the tank.. so I managed to catch them all when the water was only an inch deep. So long story short I placed them in my toilet and flushed them. Am I a bad person ?

Call me soft, but I do this for a living and deal with dead fish on a regular basis, which means I see what they go through in transit just to make it here alive and through the wholesale process. On some occasions I unfortunately do have to euthanize fish that are too far gone to save. Many times I've encountered fish that I absolutely have to tear tanks apart to remove, but, despite how much I wanted to, I never once could stomach flushing away a perfectly healthy animal that somebody else may enjoy keeping. I always donate those fish to people who are willing to take them. A crab with double digit neuron count has never given me any qualms when compared to a much more complex and aware animal like a fish. Maybe next time try the LFS with a donation of the problem fish. Not my position to normally judge, but you did ask. I don't think you're a bad person, but maybe try some other options before you resort to the toilet next time.

 

[dexterie]

Call me soft, but I do this for a living and deal with dead fish on a regular basis, which means I see what they go through in transit just to make it here alive and through the wholesale process. On some occasions I unfortunately do have to euthanize fish that are too far gone to save. Many times I've encountered fish that I absolutely have to tear tanks apart to remove, but, despite how much I wanted to, I never once could stomach flushing away a perfectly healthy animal that somebody else may enjoy keeping. I always donate those fish to people who are willing to take them. A crab with double digit neuron count has never given me any qualms when compared to a much more complex and aware animal like a fish. Maybe next time try the LFS with a donation of the problem fish. Not my position to normally judge, but you did ask. I don't think you're a bad person, but maybe try some other options before you resort to the toilet next time.

I guess sometimes people act in despair... Should be something like this.
I felt so hopeless with the crab... After trying everything I could and remembered, "walling" it was the last resort. I felt bad, but now I see it as "I did all I could/knew and leaving it would possibly cause way more damage in the long term".
I never flushed a fish. Not even dead ones. They can host parasites and stuff that may end up in the water streams.
https://www.thespruce.com/dont-flush-that-fish-1378478

 

[Tahoe61]

The owners of Reef2Reef adhere to certain standards of ethical fish keeping. We believe that freshwater and saltwater aquarists are directly responsible for the health and well being of any aquatic animals in their care, be they fish or invertebrate. These responsibilities include providing a healthy aquatic environment, humane treatment, humane euthanasia (when required), as well as obtaining and disposing of aquatic animals in such a way that does not damage sensitive local ecosystems. Posts advocating the illegal collection of fish or invertebrates, inhumane treatment, flushing live animals down the toilet, or releasing them into the wild will be removed.

@dexterie, you are by no means a bad person. Personally I rehome even crabs but that is just me. Cut your self some slack.

To those flushing live fish please review the TOS regarding posting of inhumane treatment by flushing live animals down a toilet.

 

[Grey Guy]

I don't even know if I should write this, but I need to "confess". Don't judge me too hard.

So... today I went to my LFS and, after checking my water and so, the guy encouraged me to get my first coral, a Xenia, in a small LR.
As a good student, got home and started the dip with Coral RX. Little thingies coming out of it, trying to survive. All normal. As I was inspecting the rock, I see LEGS.
There was a small crab, with hairy legs. As I read before, "hairy legs are a no go" so, I did my best to get the crab out. Blowing water, shaking, upside down, everything. I spent almost half an hour trying to get the guy out of the hole he was in. Nothing. I even tried tweezers. No success.

I couldn't wait more and I didn't want to take him in the tank so... I walled him with epoxy. The "cave" had no other exit and I couldn't think of anything else...and as the hole was in the area I needed to stick against my LR, I filled it with epoxy and that's all.

Thing is that now... I feel bad. Uffff...

Edit: from the google I did..might have been a gorilla crab. Not sure. It didn't look friendly at all.

I would feel the same way. But you solved the problem. The very nature of this hobby means that we are going to unwillingly kill all kinds of creatures. Yet, we still go on and encourage others to do the same. To me, that's why it feels better to buy tank raised animals, and not risk killing things from the wild. I know this sounds ridiculous to some, be we all feel what we feel. ELE "Everybody Love Everybody" LOL

 

[Quah]

Some animals in this hobby are downright catastrophic to have in your tank, is a gorilla crab one - maybe, but what I'm getting at is, unfortunately, you have to cull things and I don't think it comes down to how "advanced" a creature is. It's simply a utilitarian decision the most "good" with the least amount of "bad". You have other creatures to think about, other livestock investments you have to protect. I killed a bunch of monti's due to MEN. It was unfortunate but I made the choice to cull large colonies so I could better manage their frags. Was it right? I don't know - it served my purpose, but I didn't feel good about it. It just had to be done and I think that's sometimes what you have to do. Triage, basically.

 

[kilgoretrout]

I think you are being too hard on yourself, however, I am somewhat the same way. I have found some crabs before that were suspect, so they live in my sump. I have had some for a couple of years that just live down there. Once a week I'll drop in some food and they are growing. I am certain they are bad, but I am just waiting for them to die without me having to kill them. But I do dip, and when something bad dies, I feel good about it. I am torn about the whole thing, but if you are in doubt, and its a crab, dump it into the sump.

 

[kingdog22]

That would have been more humane but in the grand scheme of things you killed way more living creatures with that dip then that one little crab lol

Lol so true!

 

[Katrina71]

Caught him. Where's the epoxy? Just kidding. He is in crab jail.

 

[kattz]

I once had a beautiful Desdjardini sailfin tang for several years. He was great... right until he ate the heads off of one of my Jason Fox corals. And he didn't stop there. He started treating my tank like a fat man at an all-you-can-eat pasta and bread diner.

I ultimately got so mad that I was chasing him around the tank with a dental explorer. Finally got him out and gifted him to another reefer with no money and a FOWLR reef. Didn't hurt him, but I woulda stabbed him to death if I could've caught him.

So no, nice to see you have a conscience. You did all right.

 

[jason2459]

so... I walled him

....

By chance are you an Edgar Allan Poe fan?

 

[Aaron4890]

Don't worry about it... four months from now your fish will start disappearing and you'll realize that that crab tunneled his way through the rock and is alive and fat and happy from eating your most prized fish hahaha

 

[Orm Embar]

I had a bunch of gorilla crabs that I spent a ton of time catching . . . traps would catch hermits and snails but not them; they seemed to know exactly what the trap was. If and when I did catch one (mostly by seeing one, being lucky, and being able to grab it with tweezers), I put it in the sump and gave it to my LFS. They promptly fed it to the triggerfish.

You sound like you tried all of the reasonable options; the only thing I can think of is to pour seltzer water into the hole/over the rock (mobile critters hate that stuff, so they come running out). Obviously, do this over a sink so the bad critter doesn't get away . . . one got on my carpet at one point and was trying to make a run for it