Acropora Crab Spotted

Acropora Crab Spotted belongs in an aquarium planned around a living coral host. Coral-associated guard crabs shelter among branches and obtain food from the coral's mucus and material collected around it. A bare rock cave cannot provide the same relationship.

Choose a healthy host appropriate to the crab, with enough branching space for shelter. Acropora and Pocillopora associations differ among coral-crab groups, so the trade name should not be used to assume that any branching coral will work. Maintain the lighting, water movement and water quality the host itself needs.

These small inhabitants can defend their chosen colony against rivals. Avoid crowding several unpaired coral crabs into one host, and select fish that will leave small crustaceans alone. Supplemental food reaching the branches does not replace a compatible living coral.