The Red Claw of Death!

[terraincognita]

It was described as "Fiji" live rock. I was looking at sally lightfoots, and your first pic could be it. I guess I'll just have to wait around!

Most sally lightfoots are green/brown in the hobby, but you could've gotten a red one.

100% definite fish eaters.

AND THEY'RE FAST AS HELL, they're a PAIN to catch. LIKE BIG PAIN. You'll need a trap.

They also I think change colors as they age.

Looks like this?

 

[davidcalgary29]

Most sally lightfoots are green/brown in the hobby, but you could've gotten a red one.

100% definite fish eaters.

AND THEY'RE FAST AS HELL, they're a PAIN to catch. LIKE BIG PAIN. You'll need a trap.

They also I think change colors as they age.

Looks like this?

I'd say yes, but the claws and carapace are too stripey. You can sort of see that in the terrible photo I posted.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Looks to be a hairy hermit ( Aniculus maximus) Part of the grouping of hermits -Dardanus, Aniculus, Trizopaurus

 

[Sharkbait19]

Most sally lightfoots are green/brown in the hobby, but you could've gotten a red one.

100% definite fish eaters.

AND THEY'RE FAST AS HELL, they're a PAIN to catch. LIKE BIG PAIN. You'll need a trap.

They also I think change colors as they age.

Looks like this?

Sallys are fish eaters?! I always thought they were harmless...

 

[Goaway]

Sallys are fish eaters?! I always thought they were harmless...

Me too. I didn't think they hid under rocks to catch fish.

 

[terraincognita]

Sallys are fish eaters?! I always thought they were harmless...

Definite fish eaters. They're not reef safe.

I've seen them eat fish in front of my eyeballs. Small fish mind you. Not tangs, but if they can catch it, they will 100% eat it.

But that photo he posted doesn't look really like a lightfoot claw.

The more I look at that photo too I'm almost leaning back towards a lobster?

Did he only post that one photo?

I know most reef crabs claws have the top claw move, whereas lobsters have the bottom, looks like that might have the bottom move? (Bad description of what I'm trying to say) but yeah. really hard to see regardless. who knows. All anyone knows is a slightly striped red claw of some kind lol.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Definite fish eaters. They're not reef safe.

I've seen them eat fish in front of my eyeballs.

I’ll have to cross that off of my “what crab should I get” list...

 

[terraincognita]

I’ll have to cross that off of my “what crab should I get” list...

They make great sump inhabitants.

They're hungry little fellows .

 

[Ro Bow]

not on topic, but red crab with spots and stripes reminded me of these beauties:

 

[davidcalgary29]

Yes, just the one photo for now. I tried to lure it out with a pipette with mysis, but it darted backwards fast when I tried that, and hasn't been seen since. I blocked up the entrance to the cave a bit to try to get it to come out and excavate. It may just do that elsewhere, though.

I may just go fishing tomorrow, although I don't want to risk my fish. The flametail blenny can be exceptionally gluttonous.

 

[terraincognita]

Yes, just the one photo for now. I tried to lure it out with a pipette with mysis, but it darted backwards fast when I tried that, and hasn't been seen since. I blocked up the entrance to the cave a bit to try to get it to come out and excavate. It may just do that elsewhere, though.

I may just go fishing tomorrow, although I don't want to risk my fish. The flametail blenny can be exceptionally gluttonous.

Make a crab trap from a plastic bottle.

Super easy to make.

Variations of this will work just fine.

Put the bottle mouth right outside his cave with a chunk of fish inside.

Turn lights off and go back 1 hour to 2 horus later.

He'll be in there.

 

[davidcalgary29]

Make a crab trap from a plastic bottle.

Super easy to make.

Variations of this will work just fine.

Put the bottle mouth right outside his cave with a chunk of fish inside.

Turn lights off and go back 1 hour to 2 horus later.

He'll be in there.

Excellent. If nothing else, I'll have some bristleworms to feed to the neighbour's chickens/the local raven population.

 

[ying yang]

Following as im also curious ^_^
Hope you catch it btw before lose anymore.good luck

 

[davidcalgary29]

I may have solved my own mystery: the purple porcelain crab that I put in my tank about a month ago. Note, though, that the crab pictured is not Neopetrolisthes ohsimai, but instead Petrolisthes bolivarensis. I definitely got Petrolisthes. And it was definitely eating the goby (and something had taken a huge chunk out of its abdomen), so it's a meat eater. Those claws aren't just decorative.

I'm still going to try to catch the thing, as I'm not sure why it's living in a cave (it re-excavated the entrance tonight) and under a rock. I haven't seen it filter feed, either, but I did see it pull some algae (with its claws) toward its chelicerae just a few minutes ago.

​