R.I.P Midnight Marauder, we barely knew ye.... (warning, long post..)

[mfisher2112]

Many of you may have read this post:

http://www.njreefers.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=26&topic=5158.0

in which I described, and captured in photo, a recent pest crab discovery.

My family "affectionately" named him "The Midnight Marauder".

I have tracked the introduction of "The Midnight Marauder" to the group buy of rock we did back in February.

If you want a hint at how long this little bugger was living in that rock, check this thread out:

http://www.njreefers.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=26&topic=1916.105

Keep in mind, that rock soaked, got rinsed, cured, scrubbed, rinsed, scrubbed, rinsed, etc for weeks after bringing it home. As early as pulling it out of the box dry at ILC, RichT swore he saw something in the rock. Well, guess what buddy, you were right!

Ok, on to the story...

So I inquired about a trap to catch him. Once I saw him, I thought he was kinda cool. A pain in my patooty, having killed a LONG list of tank inhabitants, I still thought it wasn't his fault his rocky home was yanked out of the ocean, boxed and shipped across the world, and stuck in a big glass box with a captive buffet just for him! So, I had set out to capture him and keep him in his own tank.

Yeah, right. This little bugger was SMART!

I built the soda bottle trap, and put it in the tank. He immediately came out to check it out. He walked around the front of it, the back of it, and dug his way underneath it. It was at this point that I saw him trying to drag the entire trap under a rock and flip it over. Oh yeah? Well, I'll fix you. I wedged it down and dropped a rock inside to weight it down.

That's when I noticed the hermit trying to get into the trap. He kept sliding out and couldnt get all the way in.

That's when the damndest thing happened.

The Midnight Marauder jammed a small branch rock into opening of the trap, and then backed into his hole under the rock. The hermit saw the branch rock, and climbed up and into the trap as the midnight marauder sat back and watched. Can you believe that mess? At this point I'm thinking, this little dude is smart. Definitely worth keeping in a small tank and observing. He's pretty cool, even if he did single handedly wipe out my tank.

So, the trap caught 2 hermit crabs, a brittle star, and 2 bristle worms, but the midnight maruader gave me the watery bird.

Ok, we'll just give him time.

NOOOOO! He couldn't just get in the trap, right? He couldn't just let me get him out, could he?

NOOOOO! He had to ATTACK the toadstool that I just won at the most recent meeting! He tore a chunk out of the toadstool and possibly destroyed it, it's looking pretty bad now.

That's it! At that point, I had it. He killed 1 scopas tang, 1 bi-color angel, 1 clown tank, a filamented fairy wrasse, my purple crocea clam, 2 peppermint shrimp, a cleaner shrimp, countless hermits and snails, and knocked over a pile of rocks destroying 3 acros!

I chased him back into his rock, and pulled the rock out, still intending to save him.

I put the rock into a bucket of super low salinity water hoping he would scurry out.

Nope. He went further into the rock. And stayed there until he died. How dumb is that? I should have taken pictures of the tunnel this little you-know-what burrowed into that rock! It looked like some network of underground caverns!

So, I had to reaquascape the left side of my tank, and unintentionally killed a crab I didn't want to kill. Stoopid crab.

Now I just hope my toadstool survives.

So, no matter how long you isolate your rock, no matter how many times you dip it, scrub it, rinse it, etc, things STILL survive!

Stoopid crab...

(but at least I can get fish again! ;D )

 

[jazzsam]

How do you know he is dead? What if he is still alive and hiding?

 

[mfisher2112]

I guess I should have included that part of the story.

In an effort to force him out of his hidey hole, I shook the rock, banged the rock on the bottom of the bucket, shot water into the hole with a turkey baster, did everything but stick a sharp object into the hole.

After about 10 minutes in the water, and my cursing at the little bugger, shaking the rock, etc. His lifeless body finally fell out of the rock and into the bucket.

Thinking maybe he might still be alive, I prodded him with the end of the turkey baster, but he didn't move or flinch.

So, I stuck his body in my 12 gallon tank and watched him for about another 15 minutes. When the two hermits in the nano came out and started poking at him, and he didn't flip off his back or move his claws, I assumed he was dead and removed him from the tank.

Thanks for prodding for that additional portion of the story sam, guess that was pretty important to the ultimate outcome! LOL! ;D

edit: I guess I should point out that I also broke away pieces of the bottom of the rock around the hole he was hiding in with a bone cutter to try to force him out as well. That's how the hole was big enough to shake his dead body of of it.

 

[blange3]

Next time try high salinity. That is supposed to bring them running.

I'll let you know. I've been hearing popping in my 55 and my 30 QT tank. I have rock in the QT because the last inhabitant was a flame angel.

My suspicions were confirmed when I found the head from a molt while doing a water change on the 55. Since most of this rock is moving to the new 180 when it comes, I will be trying to flush the critters out first myself.

I'll keep you posted!

 

[mfisher2112]

Yeah, definitely keep me posted on how you go about and what success you had.

I know I will be adding another tank eventually (a longer, wider, lower tank for coral prop), so I am sure I will need to remove something unwanted from the rock again. I prefer not to kill, after all, it wasn't the crabs fault he ended up at the Country Buffet of the sea world!

 

[Phyl]

Great tale, Matt! Thanks for taking the time to share it all with us. I love your outlook. When I can, I definitely pull a rock over using my Henkel collection, but when the bugger is in a base rock... Well, he chose poorly! LOL.

 

[mfisher2112]

Thanks Phyl. You gotta add a little levity to a situation like that.

I was still feeling kinda cruddy about it today (I know, wuss, feeling sad for an evil little red eyed black crab with racing stripes, but hey, you know...) so I took a drive after work to console myself.

My wife called my cell from her shopping expedition with her mother and sister (those always scare me because the damndest things always come back with her! Especially if they find the dreaded .... duh-da-duh! Y A R D S A L E ! ! ! uggg...) and asked me what I was doing. I said "just driving hun." :

Imagine my surprise when my car found its way all by itself to Aquarium Center in Blackwood!

Whoops! ;D

Well, when my wife is down, she goes shopping, why shouldn't I, right? Back me up here guys!

Well, needless to say, I feel much better now. ;D

So does the yellow headed jaw fish and the small school of blue-green chromis I brought home. Tee-HEE!

By the way, chromis are stoopid.

48" long tank, and these dummies keep swimming into one corner and hitting the glass over and over, and then looking around like "Did I do that?"

But, everyone is acclimated, and even ate right away, so I definitely feel much better now!

 

[Carlo]

By the way, chromis are stoopid.

48" long tank, and these dummies keep swimming into one corner and hitting the glass over and over, and then looking around like "Did I do that?"

I've seen this a couple of times with other fish. Typically it tends to happen in a certain part of the tank. Try taping a couple sheets of paper to the glass for a day or two so they can see there is a barrier. This often works and is pretty easy to do.

Carlo

 

[Candi]

Glad you finally got the crab out, sorry it didn't go exactly the way you wanted... I still have my little white racing stripe red eyed crab living in my sump should you really feel the need to own one he's happily yours LOL he was living in my aquapod for almost a year before I even saw him, never got anything I know of but he was very small (still is).

Enjoy your new fish!

 

[mfisher2112]

By the way, chromis are stoopid.

48" long tank, and these dummies keep swimming into one corner and hitting the glass over and over, and then looking around like "Did I do that?"

I've seen this a couple of times with other fish. Typically it tends to happen in a certain part of the tank. Try taping a couple sheets of paper to the glass for a day or two so they can see there is a barrier. This often works and is pretty easy to do.

Carlo

Actually, I've found over the years with all fish, just feed the opposite end of the tank and then turn the lights out. Works like a charm, and I don't have to scrape tape off my glass. But that's just my humble experience.

 

[mfisher2112]

Glad you finally got the crab out, sorry it didn't go exactly the way you wanted... I still have my little white racing stripe red eyed crab living in my sump should you really feel the need to own one he's happily yours LOL he was living in my aquapod for almost a year before I even saw him, never got anything I know of but he was very small (still is).

Enjoy your new fish!

Thanks for the offer Candi, but I think I'll pass! LOL! After the nightmare I went through with the first one, I don't think I'd want to intentionally bring a second one into ANY of my systems!

 

[Carlo]

By the way, chromis are stoopid.

48" long tank, and these dummies keep swimming into one corner and hitting the glass over and over, and then looking around like "Did I do that?"

I've seen this a couple of times with other fish. Typically it tends to happen in a certain part of the tank. Try taping a couple sheets of paper to the glass for a day or two so they can see there is a barrier. This often works and is pretty easy to do.

Carlo

Actually, I've found over the years with all fish, just feed the opposite end of the tank and then turn the lights out. Works like a charm, and I don't have to scrape tape off my glass. But that's just my humble experience.

That's a good idea, while I've fed at the other end of the tank I never thought of turning out the lights or feeding right before the lights go out. Good one!

Carlo

 

[CONSTANTNE]

Great story. Too bad it didnt work out the way you wanted to though.