[prow]

ok, sorry but got to bust your chops on this one. it is the carbs are evil thread . so let see here;

Originally Posted by Dentoid

I don't buy into this hype that crabs are evil, they kill everything in the tank and that Godzilla is going to step on my house. Crabs are an integral part of any SW ecosystem and there is no where in the ocean you can go without some type of crab species.

ok, you can disagree, remember though coral eating starfish, fish killing mantis, even sharks and whales are a integral part of most SW ecosytems too, but they dont belong in my tank.

Snails are inexpensive, just replace them as their numbers dwindle.

now that is not nice. i would rather kill one univited crab and save countless snails. besides, IMO, its better for our oceans and my tank to leave the crabs there, then having some company harvest snails to keep our tank supplied just so we can keep crabs.

I once lost an anemone, a large chuck was taken out of its side. I blamed it on a crab, but I never witnessed the crab eating it

good geuss, its like if i have mantis shrimp in my tank i dont have to see it tear my fish in half to know he did it .

You can be the kind of reefer that's always interfering in the natural process of your tank or you can be a natural reefer and let your own little ecosystem unfold.

anyone with a tank interfers in the natural processess. cyanobacteria and hair algae can be found everywhere and are perhaps the most integral parts of any ecosystem, but we spend soo soo so much time tring to keep it out of our tanks. if we do see it we do everything we can to kill it. same goes with a mantis shrimp, evil or just doing its job? would you remove it if one hitchhicked into your tank and started killing your fish? or just replace the fish as they dwindle. lets see if your a ture natural reefer or a selective natural reefer , like me (i know extreme but i am argueing )

I have seen and heard some crazy things that reeferes do with respect to crabs. It's frightening!

ture, so ture and delicous too

Also, Prow, your Acropora might be healthier and more protected from parsites and protazoans with its host crab.

yeah i know. but i just dont trust them. i think about keeping them everytime i dig them out of my corals. i get them on just about every acro i get. most of my corals are/were fragged or aquacultuerd. all the aquacultured ones i have came with a crab or two. i honestly think many coral farmers keep them on purpose to protect the acros. i beleive some are very much beneficial. however there are just too many impostures, for me the risks of getting one of those impostures outwieghs the benefits they provide to the coral. in the wild yeah the corals get attcked by many things, in my tank i take steps to reduce the likelyhood of introducing those things in the first place, in my tank crabs just are not need to protect it, IMO. still i admit they can be good, but its always a risk.