Trapping Crabs - Chime in with what works.....

[Ordovician_Reef]

I added ~70 lbs of TBS rock to my test system I cycled up prior to bringing my 200 gallon up with 300 lbs of TBS rock and I cannot say enough good things. The rock is AMAZING!

But, there are crabs that will need to go and likely a mantis or two as well.

So, how do you do it. I have seen some ideas but thought it would be interesting to get as many different methods as possible so I can employ multiple trapping strategies in parallel.

 

[LiverockRocks]

Hi there, appreciate seeing your thread and learning what traps folks are successful with!

The easiest method would be placing multiple glasses leaned against rock, on a slight angle. Sink a meaty morsel in bottom of glass. Crabs try to get in/fall in/slip in to get the treat and can’t climb out.

Next method would be the plastic inverted bottle trap, kind of a hassle to make and deploy.

The natural solution would be adding a dwarf octopus, crabs and shrimps will disappear.

 

[dwest]

Hi there, appreciate seeing your thread and learning what traps folks are successful with!

The easiest method would be placing multiple glasses leaned against rock, on a slight angle. Sink a meaty morsel in bottom of glass. Crabs try to get in/fall in/slip in to get the treat and can’t climb out.

Next method would be the plastic inverted bottle trap, kind of a hassle to make and deploy.

The natural solution would be adding a dwarf octopus, crabs and shrimps will disappear.

Tilted glass worked best for me. Eventually you’ll get them.

 

[o2manyfish]

I've use a Pyrex bowl with a weight piece of supermarket shrimp in the bottom. Same concept as the tilted glass but for bigger tanks, bigger crabs and really high flow situations where the glass might get blown over.

The octopus is a great way to clean the tank, and they are easy to catch when the tank is clean. But keeping them in the tank long enough to clear out the rabble rousers is the real challenge.

Dave B