Small crab found in live rock hole

[Kenkee]

Hi guys any tips on what this little fella might be?

 

[Sharkbait19]

What do the claws look like, pointy or with spoons at the end?
Kinda looks like an emerald or a gorilla, but the pic is fuzzy.

 

[Kenkee]

What do the claws look like, pointy or with spoons at the end?
Kinda looks like an emerald or a gorilla, but the pic is fuzzy.

the spot he's in makes it hard to tell, he's really small and his legs look like they have a red and white pattern to them as well as white markings on his face. I'm not sure about the claws but if it helps he seems to be scraping and eating stuff off of the live rock. The only coral in the tank is a single small xenia frag added recently nowhere near his little cave.

 

[Sharkbait19]

I’d take him out just to be safe. You could always observe him closer in a small container and determine if he's reef safe or not.

 

[Kenkee]

I’d take him out just to be safe. You could always observe him closer in a small container and determine if he's reef safe or not.

Alright thank you

 

[WVNed]

Is you rock from the Gulf? It could be a stone crab. Mine had red and white legs when they were smaller. Yes they started out tiny and came on my live rock..
They get quite large and do things like this.

 

[WVNed]

Safe crabs have pinchers like little tongs

Emerald Mithrax

Not safe crab
Stone crab

Gorilla crab

 

[NashobaTek]

Agree safest move is sump it or get rid of it.

 

[WVNed]

There is the special case of the porcelain crab that has big claws but is a filter feeder

 

[NashobaTek]

There is the special case of the porcelain crab that has big claws but is a filter feeder

Are their claws rounded or pointy? Just wondering.

 

[WVNed]

Are their claws rounded or pointy? Just wondering.

I had a few that were red and had pointy claws but they seem to come in lots of different looks. I kept an eye on mine until I saw it eating by waving the little flags one night.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Safe crabs have pinchers like little tongs

Emerald Mithrax

Not safe crab
Stone crab

Gorilla crab

Or your “reef safe algae eating emerald crab” can become a monster who develops a taste for snails, coral, and brittle stars, like mine...

 

[Kenkee]

Oh wow thank you for all the info guys I appreciate itit, I think I'll try and get him out of his little cave and sump him. Mainly because I wanna see how much bigger he'll grow and for some more time to ID him, really curious as to what he is lol