ID on Coral Crab

[zambavi]

Last week I discovered a pair of crabs hiding in one of my acro colonies... have not had this one before and wondered if I could get assistance on a quick ID on the specific type of coral crab it is. I've seen the white and red ones, the white and black ones the the hairy ones... etc; but not this one. They are little guys; no larger than dime size if that... there is one in this pic... the best pic I've been able to get of one of them so far.

 

[iani]

Looks like a "good" bandit acro crab. Even though people say they are ok or good for the acro colony, I remove them. I always notice the area the crab is in never seems as healthy as the rest of the acro.

 

[zambavi]

Glad to hear it's the "good" kind .... I figured as much since they've been there for a while and the acro looks really good and healthy still. These guys are staying deep in the colony. Both of these guys survived a 20 minutes coral dip before I put them in my frag tank also... so they must be very hardy. I would probably have to kill them to pull them out... that or cut the colony into several frags so I can get to them.... not doing that . Will probably let them stay for now...

 

[pslee]

If you ever decide to get rid of them, I would love to take them off your hands! I wouldn't mind setting up a tank just for these little guys/girls/crabbies.

 

[iani]

[quote author=pslee link=topic=6677.msg86208#msg86208 date=1236147690]
If you ever decide to get rid of them, I would love to take them off your hands! I wouldn't mind setting up a tank just for these little guys/girls/crabbies.
[/quote]
You know they won't live unless they are on an acro colony right?

 

[A_Lee]

What do they eat exactly that is found only on Acro colonies?

 

[zambavi]

As I understand it, it's not really known exactly what they eat but they have been observed eating ditritus and meaty foods that land on the coral. I believe that if you remove one of these guys from the colony of coral they live in they usually die.

 

[pslee]

Thanks for the heads-up Ian! I didn't know that these crabs are obligate symbionts. Would they survive on any Acro or just on specific species?