Wow - thanks for the heads up ! Ya, I'll put him in the sump for sure....Im not that worried about the corals as the shrimp. Interesting; as my source where I got him I really find that they are on the money. Here's what they told me:
"A slow moving and somewhat sloth like creature, the Decorator Crab is one of those critters that makes this hobby enjoyable. By attaching sponges, algae and even soft corals to their carapace, they are able to "disappear" in plain sight. They are omnivores, and will scavenge and pick at live rock. They eat some algae, but we wouldn't consider them a cleaner. They are often too slow to catch food during feeding time, but they generally are very good at scavenging. When frightened or stressed, they will remain motionless, relying on their camouflage to protect them. If you have a lot of expensive zoas, maybe this isn't the guy for you. If you don't mind a small mobile frag, then this guy is reef safe enough. Grows to have a 1'' wide or so carapace" (reefcleaners.org)
From other research I've done, it seems that this guy (Pelia sp.) is one of the
safer ones. The Spider Decorator (Stenorhynchus sp) from what I've read are more destructive.
The reason I picked him up was due to my fondness of them when I see them in the wild. They are quite amusing ! Here's one I photographed off the coast of Parguera, PR.
Living a couple of mangroves down, I found this pair of Coral Banded Shrimp, which although they aren't considered cleaners - took a fondness to running all over the camera and my hands.
