Choose the Crab!

[7rabbit]

I have a 5 gallon window aquarium that gets full sun. It's been running for about 5 months with nothing but live sand and some red macro. I recently added Frank the Florida cucumber who I very much irritated when removing him from a different tank, seems to be doing just fine now after I added a few pieces of live rock to hide in. Don't mind the cyano, I've ignored this tank for a while just to see how it would do being blasted with full sun all day. It will be filled with mostly macros, some palys, zoas, and maybe rock nems. Easy, hands off tank, with water changes weekly.

Aside from some snails, what would you put in here? I'm looking for a single inhabitant that doesn't need much attention other than feeding once in a while.
No fish! No sexy shrimp, I want them for the pink tank.
Emerald Crab
Pom Pom Crab
Porcelain Crab and rock nems
Something else I can't think of right now?

 

[bubbgee]

having owned all of it, here's my take

Emerald Crab -- Great for macroalgae and hair algae control.
Pom Pom Crab -- Fun to look at but only comes out at night. Eats leftovers for the most part. Entertaining
Porcelain Crab and rock nems -- Porcelains are great to look at because they are stationary around the anemone. It does not host rock nems (at least for me), it hosts any BTA immediately.

Something else I can't think of right now? -- Why not Sexy shrimp? They're for a small tank! I plan to get six of them for my nem/softie tank, along with one pom pm and one porcelain crab.

I read a post about strawberry crabs. I am curious but I dont know where to get them.
Staghorn -- amazing crab that do NOT last long in a tank.. sigh..

Lots of ideas here too:
https://www.reefcleaners.org/aquarium-store/other-inverts

 

[bluemon]

Arrow Crab!

Always wanted one but wasn’t too reef safe due to grabbing fish sometimes

 

[7rabbit]

having owned all of it, here's my take

Emerald Crab -- Great for macroalgae and hair algae control.
Pom Pom Crab -- Fun to look at but only comes out at night. Eats leftovers for the most part. Entertaining
Porcelain Crab and rock nems -- Porcelains are great to look at because they are stationary around the anemone. It does not host rock nems (at least for me), it hosts any BTA immediately.

Something else I can't think of right now? -- Why not Sexy shrimp? They're for a small tank! I plan to get six of them for my nem/softie tank, along with one pom pm and one porcelain crab.

I read a post about strawberry crabs. I am curious but I dont know where to get them.
Staghorn -- amazing crab that do NOT last long in a tank.. sigh..

Lots of ideas here too:
https://www.reefcleaners.org/aquarium-store/other-inverts

I love sexy shrimp but I want them for another smaller 4 gallon cube with all pink corals, a tank that will have much more attention.

 

[bubbgee]

I love sexy shrimp but I want them for another smaller 4 gallon cube with all pink corals, a tank that will have much more attention.

You can never have enough sexy shrimp, I'd say.. lol

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Depends on what you want the crab for! I like emeralds as they are great algae eaters.

 

[Everclear]

I voted other. Pitho crab ftw. Cleaned my 10 gallon of nusiance algae in a little over a week. Very entertaining little buggers as well!

 

[Crabs+Shrimps-69]

Arrow Crab!

Always wanted one but wasn’t too reef safe due to grabbing fish sometimes

Probably a little big for a pico

 

[Crabs+Shrimps-69]

Pom pom and porcelain crabs are more colourful than emerald crabs, plus pom pom crabs have their anemones they carry around and porcelain crabs have their cool filter feeding hands.

I've heard pom pom crabs can be quite cryptic though, although it likely won't matter as it's a small tank.