emerald crabs

aslmx · Jun 6, 2012

Id like to get 2 for my 75. Are they safe? I dont know anything about them

Cubbies · Jun 6, 2012

They are "Reef Safe". Just keep an eye out on them. Some do have the tendency to nip at coral just fyi. Ime not all of them do their job as they should and if you ask me there are 2 different kind of Emeralds. One is a darker green and one is a tealish blue green. The darker green one from what I've seen and experience are alot harrier and the other are "smooth" skined. I've had both and the dark green ones are the ones that I've personally have had problems with nipping. The tealish ones are bests and do their job superbly!

Loki · Jun 6, 2012

I don't like crabs. They will scavenge for good and if there isn't enough they start killing other stuff. One of the local reefers had a emerald kill a clown.

dallas reefer · Jun 6, 2012

IMHO. I wouldn't get them. I've been crabbing for months. He's absolutely right. They'll start after other inhabitants. Be it fish or effin zoas! New frags of nice zoas and I see scrape marks with a crab right there.

Besides there's others in the CUC that do what they do.

Poseidon · Jun 6, 2012

Emerald crabs are not reef safe... heck they aren't even FISH SAFE! LOL

I pass on anything that has claws, period.

aslmx · Jun 7, 2012

So its a no. Thanks for the info. What other cool inverts are reef safe?

Loki · Jun 7, 2012

Cleaner shrimp, peppermint shrimp, the list can go on forever.

I have nassarious snails, turbo snails, cherith snails, sand sifting star, the shrimp mentioned above, sea serpent star.

It really depends on what job you want done. If you see something you like just post it and I am sure someone will tell you their experience with it.

3mm3 · Jun 8, 2012

Cubbies said:
They are "Reef Safe". Just keep an eye out on them. Some do have the tendency to nip at coral just fyi. Ime not all of them do their job as they should and if you ask me there are 2 different kind of Emeralds. One is a darker green and one is a tealish blue green. The darker green one from what I've seen and experience are alot harrier and the other are "smooth" skined. I've had both and the dark green ones are the ones that I've personally have had problems with nipping. The tealish ones are bests and do their job superbly!

+1 on this.
I have 6 of the lighter colored green ones and never had a problem with them. One hides in a sps colony on its down time and comes out to search for food when hungry. In the past the darker green did cause some minor issues though.
as for the shrimp even those are not reef safe depending on how you look at it. I had a cleaner shrimp that would kill snails if they wandered by him but my current cleaner shrimp is no problem. However i currently have a pepermint shrimp that will destroy chalice corals. Im lost as to why it does this lol.