YouTube - Sand Sifting Crab by ReefScavengers.Com

Anyone have experience with these??

"The Sand Sifting Crab (aka Sand Flea) is a small reef-safe sand sifter that will make an excellent addition to your cleanup crew. Unlike most other crabs, the sand sifting crab has no claws, instead it has a series of small digging appendages which it uses to burrow in the sandbed. It also has a pair of highly adapted feather-like antenna feeders. While burrowed in the sand, this crab extends these feeders out into the water column to catch floating microorganisms such as plankton. It will not eat the beneficial bacteria from your live sandbed, nor will it bother any corals, fish or other invertebrates, these are strict filter feeders. Due to its burrowing nature, the sand sifting crab will help keep the sandbed gently stirred and aerated, preventing unwanted algae growth and toxic nutrient pocket formation."

I see those guys at the beach in NC all the time. I was under the impression they were temperate, not tropical. They also live at the surf line, sometimes in the water, sometimes out. Maybe it's a different species, but I never thought they were suited for a reef tank.

Very cool, but if they are filter feeders are they going to get enough food from just the normal stuff we all feed our tanks? Will DT's, reef chili, or home grown phyto be enough to keep a gaggle of these things healthy?

Yea I find these off the coast of VA all the time! I had no idea they could be put in my tank! Might go and catch a few dozen and try them out.

If you do, let us know how they do. If they make it, I might grab a few the next time I'm at VA Beach.

I've been wondering about them myself. I see fisherman catching them with a sand flea trap and using them for bait. I'm going to get me one of those traps.

Dick

Dick, you might have better luck with the ones you catch in FL than the oned we can find in VA. I'd be interested in your results as well.

The water here in VA and down on the Outer Banks in NC can get up to 73-75 degrees in the middle of the summer. We get a lot of black tip reef sharks up here in the Chesapeake Bay that feed on all the fish feeding off the rivers dumping into the bay. I am sure the fleas we catch here can be acclimated to a higher temp. I'll have to do it slowly as to not cause any shock. I'll get down there this weekend and dig some up. :)

One of the guys I know here who is a very successful aquarist has tried them and found they just wither away. He thinks this is because they need the ebb and surge of the surf.