Martin's RSM C-130

[Mark9]

A good rule of thumb is, if the crab is hairy looking, remove.
Has black tips, remove.
If it was my tank, i'd remove any crab I could not positively identify, which would be most, if not all.
It's just not worth it to have a potential killer in there.
Once you have corals and fish, removal becomes much much more difficult.
Not trying to be a Debbie downer, just trying to keep it real.

 

[melvis]

Thanks Nano and Mark. Looks like I'll be doing some crab catching in the near future. I had a feeling they'd be pains in the arse but hoped I might be lucky and have some decent ones. What do people reckon on the glass catching method, does it work well and what bait should I use? I'm assuming the best time to do it is at night when they're likely to be more active.

What do I do with it once I've got it?

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

I think the glass trap with a piece of shrimp(prawn) should work - here a nice vid related - hope this helps and good hunting - you can try to give him back to the lfs

[video=youtube;ba_bsiRP68s]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba_bsiRP68s[/video]

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

ps - I will see if I can get Mike Johnson to pop in with an id on the crab

 

[Mike Johnson]

Well, I'm on the spot. Wish the pic was better. It's not a swimming crab (the worst). It could be a Mithrax crab because of the long claw arm and the striped legs. Does it have cupped claws or sharp tipped claws? Look at pic at chuck's addiction link Glenn provided - very similar isn't it?

 

[melvis]

Cheers Glenn, will try that over the next day or two. Will adding a shrimp affect my plans to run the Red Sea Reef Starter kit?

Thanks Mike - pic was taken quickly with iPhone and then it scarpered into the LR. Will try and get a better pic if I can - unless I've caught the little git by then lol. Missus says it had sharp tipped claws and tbh, does look like the Mithrax in Glenn's post. Thanks for taking the time to ID for me/us.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

I would think adding the shrimp for a night to see if you can catch him would not hurt at all while cycling... but see what others think, if it decays a bit overnight it will only add a small amount of ammonia that I would guess would help, but I have not used the Red Sea Reef Starter kit

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

If you can get a better pic, Mike can id him, he's the best I have seen at identifying crabs, he wrote a doctrinal thesis or something like that on them if I remember right and has a BS in Marine Biology.

 

[Mike Johnson]

Yup, all that really helps me work construction.

 

[melvis]

Cheers Glenn. Got some prawns (shrimp) whilst out food shopping this morning and the missus has now taken upon herself to act as 'Chief Crab Catcher' - dropping a bit of prawn into a glass jar and resting it against a bit of LR where we spotted the critter earlier. Unless it's another one (hopefully not), it's not actually brown, but a pink colour. Although, it's tips do look dark in colour so as others have said - time to go! Mike - thanks again for the early ID you gave on the crappy photo.

Took a trip into East London today to visit this funky aquatics store (Charterhouse Aquatics) and was blown away by their showroom. It's inside these old railway arches with exposed brick ceilings and lovely modern tanks/touches throughout. Their separate fish house was equally as impressive and their stocks mainly centre on marine fish as opposed to most I know which only have a few marine tanks. They had some lovely rare fish too; like a pair of these for £250 ($400)...

Apparently they're Black Frost Clownfish and have a lovely ice blue colour on the white, next to the black. Absolutely stunning, but a bit steep in price for my new setup lol. Also had some Platinum Clowns and a vast aray of frags and corals and both the missus and I have picked a few we'd like to add in the future. No doubt, this won't be the first time I visit these guys lol.

I left with an algae scraper and some AquaRay Aqua Blue Flexi-LEDs to enhance the four stock ones and hopefully give a much better night light.

Will update on the crab as soon as something to report.

Cheers

 

[Mike Johnson]

Something to consider is maybe your crab is a Red Mithrax and it wouldn't be interested in the shrimp. Who knows what you might catch? Do you have a red flashlight ready?

 

[melvis]

Now that's a very good point Mike...looking at a pic on google, his claws look similar so could well be.

Haven't got a red flashlight and the missus stopped me short of buying some red LEDs to go with the blues...knew I should have gone on my own lol ;-)

 

[melvis]

Saw this little guy sitting out by the side of the LR and edge of tank;

The self-proclaimed 'Chief Crab Catcher' decided she'd have a go at catching him, using a sandwich bag as her weapon of choice against the little fella. She has well and truly earned her title tonight - giving him a little nudge out from underneath the LR and then catching him as he fled for cover.

Gonna try and ID him now, but feel free to shout out any thoughts, always gratefully received as I build on my (extremely) basic knowledge. Cheers.

 

[Mike Johnson]

Goes to show how I couldn't be any more wrong on my guess. That's a swimming crab - bad news for a reef tank!

 

[melvis]

Mike - you are the man! Thanks for the ID. I remember you saying in a previous post they're the worst - how so mate?

I'm hoping he was the one and only...

 

[Mike Johnson]

I am a conscientious objector of the Crabs Are Evil Society and I have to say as far as crabs go that one is the most evil and vicious. They are good predators.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Great catch and he was a bad one, good to get him out - Cheers to the misses !

 

[melvis]

No rest for the her tonight either...we spotted another crab late last night but he was off like a shot before the 'CCC' could whip out her catching bag lol. Think I'll grab a beer and watch the chase unfold

 

[melvis]

Fitted the AquaRay Flexi-LEDs this afternoon...

Nice tidy little cut out made and enough space left to install another set of the LEDs, probably the red ones. Have used black insulating electrical tape to seal where I'd made the cut outs, until I get the others. Once they're in, I'll come up with something a bit more tidy and link this with installing the Tunze ATO and then sorting out all the cabinet wires.

Missus and I decided to have a little rearrange of the LR earlier, ahead of the remaining 3-6 kilos I'm waiting on the LFS to cure - this is with the new AquaRay's on.

No sign of any crabs tonight, the rearranging might have caused them to hide.

 

[melvis]

Began the Red Sea Reef programme today, day 1 so not a lot of activity to report.

Been having a few issues with SG readings etc. First time out with refractometer I was getting 1.022 and thought it might have been because of the ambient temp of the tool, so nipped to LFS with minutes to spare on Sunday before they closed and bought a hydrometer to be safe. Didn't realise that needs soaking in saltwater for 48 hours before use so tried tonight, and got a reading of about 1.027. Out came refractor enter again and it was 1.024, bang on what the LFS had sold me.

What would you guys suggest is best method? I'm probably just being thick as my head seems permanently stuck in work mode at present. Is 1.024 a bit on the low side too?

Cheers
Martin