Zoolander Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 Just found him. He's still intact and was upside down next to a rock. Almost like he fell off. My question comes with this: my Sally Lightfoot has grown to a decent size and I've started to worry it may exercise it's size upon other creatures. Needless to say, he was above where the Emerald Crab was. What are the odds my Sally Lightfoot killed the crab? Furthermore, I haven't had an algae problem for months so I'm wondering if I still need it. I'd much rather have the slow Emerald's then a large Sally Lightfoot that could potentially go for fish next. The tank is only a 55 so there's not a ton of room to run should SHTF for my fish. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siskiou Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 Are you sure it's dead, and not just a molt? Is there a little "lid" on the bottom that you can open? I've thought one of my crabs had died many times, but apart from one *real* death, they were all molts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoolander Posted December 2, 2009 Author Share Posted December 2, 2009 Well I just went downstairs and the Sally is tearing the carcass apart so I think I might have my answer. Anybody else have Sally Lightfoot problems before? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoolander Posted December 2, 2009 Author Share Posted December 2, 2009 Are you sure it's dead, and not just a molt? Is there a little "lid" on the bottom that you can open? I've thought one of my crabs had died many times, but apart from one *real* death, they were all molts. Yea, he's dead. I reached in there with tweezers and he was lifeless as could be. I set him back down to make my post which is what lead to the post above this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bitricker Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 I bought multiple sally lightfoots when I aquired my ultra filthy free tank. They are certainly willing to do battle with one another, but they have not bothered any of the fish. None of the sally's have been killed yet but I will be getting down to one when I put together my new tank. In my opinion it is possible, but somewhat unlikely, unless of course the emrald was too stuborn to back off. Just speculation tho ... only been keeping a saltwater tank for about 3 months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siskiou Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 Sally Lightfoots can certainly become trouble makers, especially when they get large. I still wonder if it's a molt and the Sally is just cleaning up (hopefully). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bitricker Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 I also thought I had dead crabs on my hand when they were really just molting. They back out of thier shells through a little flap so the entire shell looks completely intact afterwards. did the crab still have full coleration or look somewhat clearer? they hide after molting so it can be hard to know for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowpunk Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 I think the sally would have to be considerably bigger to even try to go after such a large meal. I think maybe just picking at the molt. unless you can see actual flesh out of the crab I bet it's still alive somewhere in the tank. My sally I had went after my hermits a lot and ate them so I got rid of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 I know my sally killed the other sally I had in the tank and I suspect it of killing a sleeper goby. It seemed to be getting a bit mean so it is banished to the sump. Regarding the Emerald I use to have I had a big Electric Blue Hermit that had it for dinner awhile back. (Had the carapace torn open and was chowing away on it) Regarding molts they can look so close to the whole crab (shrimp, etc.) that takes close inspection to know for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoolander Posted December 2, 2009 Author Share Posted December 2, 2009 I will take another look then. Edit: It's definitely not a molt. Felt bad opening him up but now I know for sure. There's meat in the crab. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePremiumAquarium Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 Chances are if it is not a molt, the crab probably died before the sally got to it. Same with your emeral and the electric blue hermit Rick. Emeralds usually don't have a problem defendign themselves even against much larger critters. Sallys, emeralds, and hermits will almost never kill something that is healthy and doing well. They will almost always be blamed for doing so because they are the first to noticed that something isn't doing well or has just died so that they can take advantage of the easy meal. Crabs are all opportunistic so if a situation presents itself and there is an unhealthy or dead critter, they will eat it. Also, in my experience Sallys will tend to pick on each other until there is only one per about 3ft-4ft or so of tank space with lots of live rock. They are pretty territorial within their own species but they will not go after anything else that is healthy unless they are about the 7" across mark. Even then though it is extremely rare. I would say about 99.5% of sallys and emeralds are model citizens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanz Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 Emerald crabs don't seem to do well in my tank. The last one I had died the same way yours did, just fell upside down. Maybe a bad molt and it died? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePremiumAquarium Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 I have seen them die a couple of times from bad molts. I am not sure that is the direct cause but it sure seemed like it since they were healthy, happy, and not even full grown yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoolander Posted December 5, 2009 Author Share Posted December 5, 2009 Interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 This is interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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