Decorator crabs

[mushrommy]

hi, I've been recently fascinated by decorator crabs. The way they decorate themselves is so cute in my opinion. I was wondering if I could maybe use a spare 20 gallon tank to make an environment for one. Could I keep one with other fish and inverts? I know they have a tendency to cut coral up to wear but are there any coral that are safe for them?
Thanks

 

[BristleWormHater]

Fish and inverts are fine to house with a decorator crab. Decorators only really frag soft corals but soft corals tend to grow very fast anyways which means its not a huge issue if you have established colonies. Imo they would be ok in a normal reef as long as you give the corals a head start and add when once they are grown out.

 

[mushrommy]

Fish and inverts are fine to house with a decorator crab. Decorators only really frag soft corals but soft corals tend to grow very fast anyways which means its not a huge issue if you have established colonies. Imo they would be ok in a normal reef as long as you give the corals a head start and add when once they are grown out.

Ok, thanks!

 

[Mickle]

What species of decorator crab? I removed a Spongy Decorator Crab (Marcocoeloma trispinosum) from my tank recently because he would just tear up everything, would wear stuff only to replace it with the next thing he came across. Led to shredded pieces of coral all over my sandbed

 

[NancyT3]

hi, I've been recently fascinated by decorator crabs. The way they decorate themselves is so cute in my opinion. I was wondering if I could maybe use a spare 20 gallon tank to make an environment for one. Could I keep one with other fish and inverts? I know they have a tendency to cut coral up to wear but are there any coral that are safe for them?
Thanks

Hi there
I have a decorator crab - he has grown quickly - about four to five inches around now. I love him as he is comical - comes out and shows us how big he is. Snips off my fireworks polyp coral and wears it (and it lives on him) but today I saw with my own eyes him grab and catch and eat a healthy small flame angel newly introduced into my tank. She ventured into his cave and he grabbed her. He has also killed other inverts like one conch. I assumed it was because maybe they were ailing, but this fish was perfectly fine. Small - about a 1-1/2 to 2" fish. So I am not sure what to think. He is a cute, um, killer. Anyone else had this issue? If I get a larger sized fish in there will it prevent him from killing or is this now going to be the thing he does for fun and food? Appreciate advice.