Crab on my new acro

[DaveR11]

Just got 3 acros today via mail order and after acclimatising them and setting them on the sand I spotted this little fellow. I'm hoping is is a nice Acro crab..... Thoughts please. Hopefully I will get some better pictures as it gets more comfortable in the tank.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Congrats on the new acro crabs - the only crabs for my tank ! Great pic & additions !

 

[Oxylebius]

Very nice addition you have there. There are two genus to look into, Trapezia and Tetralia.

 

[DaveR11]

Very nice addition you have there. There are two genus to look into, Trapezia and Tetralia.

Thanks @Oxylebius, I had looked at your posting about previous crabs and links to your thread so had been looking at Trapezia and Tetralia. I found this site http://chucksaddiction.thefishestate.net/coral_crabs.html and my crab looks superficially like Tetralia glaberrima or Tetralia nigrolineata but I don't know what specific features to look for and the little crab hasn't moved much out of its spot to get any better picture of it... Here is another shot from tonight.



Dave

 

[Oxylebius]

I was thinking the same thing.

Try EOL for Tetralia glaberrima
http://eol.org/pages/2984013/hierarchy_entries/56512954/overview

And EOL for Tetralia nigrolineata - unfortunately this one doesn't have much descriptive info on it.
http://eol.org/pages/4326980/details

ID'ing crabs is going to be similar to identifying birds, you need to look for key areas. Sometimes it is anatomy and sometimes coloration (of combo). In this case the band across the eyes might be fully formed or only over the eyes. The coloration and pattern on the two front claws/arms. How the color or pattern changes on the carapace (body) as opposed to the legs.

 

[Desmond]

For sure across I have 2 myself. Great edition to the corals. They look good ☺

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[mtsully71]

OH MY! what I couldn't do with this one Decided against it..... the reef police you know
Good for you Dave

 

[Oxylebius]

For anyone else that wants to read more about the mutualistic behavior of coral crabs and their coral hosts, here is a good link on this forum to read thru: Coral Crabs - benefit for coral

 

[Tru2nr]

Hard to tell from the picture....one thing I am almost certain is that acro is on a Mari-culture frag rock(plug) I was be very very weary of that. Inspect all over for AEFW and AEFW eggs...mariculture still on their plug I would generally isolate for 2 weeks dipping in Bayer every 3-4 days until you're sure it's safe. I'll risk one coral to save a tank...I used to snap the coral right off the plug and pitch the plug to be even safer


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[DaveR11]

Hard to tell from the picture....one thing I am almost certain is that acro is on a Mari-culture frag rock(plug) I was be very very weary of that. Inspect all over for AEFW and AEFW eggs...mariculture still on their plug I would generally isolate for 2 weeks dipping in Bayer every 3-4 days until you're sure it's safe. I'll risk one coral to save a tank...I used to snap the coral right off the plug and pitch the plug to be even safer


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AEFW?

 

[Tru2nr]

Sorry; Acro Eating Flat Worms...

Edit: if you use the Bayer is pop the crab into the tank first he will not survive the dip.


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[DaveR11]

Sorry; Acro Eating Flat Worms...

Edit: if you use the Bayer is pop the crab into the tank first he will not survive the dip.


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Thanks

 

[Tru2nr]

Read up on the Bayer dip too it's the only thing I dip my corals in to remove nasty's from SPS just make sure you use a syringe to blow off the coral dislodge anything.


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[DaveR11]

Got a better picture. It does look like Tetralia glaberrima.

 

[Pat24601]

That's actually a really good picture. How did you take it?

 

[DaveR11]

That's actually a really good picture. How did you take it?

Thanks Pat.

The coral is close to the front of the tank on the sand as I'm still getting it used to the light levels which made it easy to get close in. The photograph was taken with a Nikon D810 and a Nikkor 105mm macro lens. ISO was set to 800, shutter 1/160sec, aperture f/8 with -1.3 stops of under exposure using the tank lights only. I have T5s. Shot as a RAW image and processed in Adobe Lightroom. The camera does quite a good job of setting the right white balance but with RAW you can readjust the white balance if you need to without affecting the shot. The image is cropped from the full frame. The trick is to get square on to the aquarium glass otherwise you get distortion through the glass. That is square both horizontally and vertically.

 

[mtsully71]

Thanks Pat.

The coral is close to the front of the tank on the sand as I'm still getting it used to the light levels which made it easy to get close in. The photograph was taken with a Nikon D810 and a Nikkor 105mm macro lens. ISO was set to 800, shutter 1/160sec, aperture f/8 with -1.3 stops of under exposure using the tank lights only. I have T5s. Shot as a RAW image and processed in Adobe Lightroom. The camera does quite a good job of setting the right white balance but with RAW you can readjust the white balance if you need to without affecting the shot. The image is cropped from the full frame. The trick is to get square on to the aquarium glass otherwise you get distortion through the glass. That is square both horizontally and vertically.

very nice Dave