Shellback crab?

[nawilson89]

A friend of mine has a few of these special little crabs and I was thinking about brining one home. They're small and cute and don't look dangerous at all, but what do I know, I've never had one. He has them in their own little cubicles of his shop so he hasnt had experience with them on their own.

Here's a pic taken off google (good thing it has a nice watermark. so we know whose it is!)

 

[Baby Ray]

I have no idea but I am following :D

 

[Shep]

Never heard of them! Looks cool

 

[nawilson89]

Bringing back this old post.

So I went in and got myself one of these crabs. This one carried a sponge. We've pretty much identified it as a
Moreiradromia antillensis.

He spent the first 2 weeks hanging out in my gracilaria, picking and eating dying fern caulerpa. About a week ago he moved to the other side of the tank and hung out on a single piece of rock. Yesterday I found him dead behind said rock. Not sure what got to him as he's the only dead thing I've seen in the tank. My other crabs, (mithrax and porcelains) have died, but were eaten by my Belted Sandfish. This guy was too big to have suffered such a fate. I thought maybe he had molted, but the sponge was left behind.

Still looking to see if anyone may know anything about these beauties. Is it possible it died from starvation? I plan on looking for another and trying experimenting to find what it eats.

 

[Tired]

I'm aware this is a very old thread, but I'm reviving it because I have pretty much the exact same questions. I found a critter supply company, meant for laboratory purposes, that sells these cuties.

How much space do they need? I'm thinkin' it'll be a sump beastie, since I'm sure they'll pick at corals, but it's gonna be a very nice sump.