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jharr
05-04-2005, 10:02 AM
So I plopped a couple of emerald crabs in my tank in hopes that they would help control the bubble algae. However, to my horror, one of them immediately clamps onto my torch and starts plucking off the ends of tentacles and eating them like so much ripe fruit! I thought these were reef safe herbivours!

Anybody else seen these things eat your stuff??

J--
MarLooney
05-04-2005, 10:25 AM
not an emerald but i had another type of Mithrax crab chowind down on some sun coral one time. he didn't kill it or anything, it seemed like more of a one time thing. hopefully you have the same luck, if not... banish him. i've got a tank prefect for rejects like him :D.
treylane
05-04-2005, 03:19 PM
I've had emerald crabs (the normal emeralds you buy at AW or whatever) occasionally eat half a zoanthid, or pick a bump or two off a ricordea, but never anything serious.
singlefintj
05-04-2005, 04:22 PM
marlo's fish/invert tank is like the pelican bay of tropical tanks ;) or throw him in the skimmer hell have to eat algea then!
Dakota
05-04-2005, 04:56 PM
My emerald crabs did enjoy the occasional peppermint shrimp, but never noticed him going after corals.
jharr
05-05-2005, 06:25 AM
This morning I noticed one of the two emeralds lieing on its back. Is this a moulting position or is it dead?
jharr
05-05-2005, 12:12 PM
Nevermind... it was sooooo dead! The explanation for COD that makes me happiest is that it choked on a torch coral polyp.

Another $5 worth of ammonia waste swirling around my tank.
M. Parkis
05-05-2005, 12:28 PM
No crab is entirely reef safe. They have their uses but you always need to watch them.....
Agent003
05-05-2005, 02:34 PM
Is that the torch you got from me? It better have choked!
jharr
05-06-2005, 06:24 AM
Yeah, that's the one!
I was all like "***?"! And he was all like "**** I'm eating here!" So I grabbed a stick and taunted him until he found a better place to hide. Next morning he was dead and his breath smelled of torch coral. The up side is that the torch is none the worse for wear and is happily extending its tentacles. Funny thing is that my Bangaii seem to be immune to coral stings. They swim by the torch and the frogspawn all the time with no apparent effects.

Anyway, thanks for the torch, it is an excellent addition to the tank. Everyone here at work likes it.

J--