Aquarium Serial killers!

[mjszos]

One of my skunk cleaners almost stressed a BTA to death by constantly yanking food out of it's tentacles. It would wait for me to feed the nem and I'd have to shoo it away with a turkey baster! I've never seen a shrimp munch on coral though, that's a new one.

The cleaners are more daring asking for food than my dogs. Same story, I'd spot feed and the thing would just zoom around the syringe playing bongos on whatever I was feeding. My partner originally told me that she thought she saw it eating my hammer and I thought she was crazy... A few weeks later I caught it red handed. Unfortunately I didn't have anywhere for it to go so it decimated my hammer and a torch, but it has since been rehomed and I see new heads forming on both. Minor setback, and lesson learned.

 

[MnFish1]

I had a lemon peel that I loved, until I had a rock of mushrooms near the cave it hung out in start wasting away... but after closer inspection, I found out it wasn't actually eating the shrooms - it was majorly irritating them to death by aggressively picking the rock all around them looking for algae. Regardless, all the shrooms melted and I wasn't very happy. What kind of coral did yours tear up?

All LPS. I didn't mention the harlequin tusk - who methodically wiped out my entire CUC. The funny thing - I have noticed no real change in my tank.

 

[MnFish1]

The cleaners are more daring asking for food than my dogs. Same story, I'd spot feed and the thing would just zoom around the syringe playing bongos on whatever I was feeding. My partner originally told me that she thought she saw it eating my hammer and I thought she was crazy... A few weeks later I caught it red handed. Unfortunately I didn't have anywhere for it to go so it decimated my hammer and a torch, but it has since been rehomed and I see new heads forming on both. Minor setback, and lesson learned.

One comment - if you stop target feeding you can also stop the behavior. Ie.. Feed the fish - let the anemones, etc - get their food from the water. OR - have a clownfish - which will bring food to the anemone - the wrasse will usually not go after the clown - this is just my personal experience

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

The cleaners are more daring asking for food than my dogs. Same story, I'd spot feed and the thing would just zoom around the syringe playing bongos on whatever I was feeding. My partner originally told me that she thought she saw it eating my hammer and I thought she was crazy... A few weeks later I caught it red handed. Unfortunately I didn't have anywhere for it to go so it decimated my hammer and a torch, but it has since been rehomed and I see new heads forming on both. Minor setback, and lesson learned.

I wish I could say the same - one of my dogs literally stole a sandwich out of my hand once when I was about to take a bite, lol. Heathens, all of them! That is so crazy that shrimp got a taste for coral... I wonder, does euphyllia taste like chicken? Haha. Glad to hear the corals are coming back.

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

All LPS. I didn't mention the harlequin tusk - who methodically wiped out my entire CUC. The funny thing - I have noticed no real change in my tank.

Oh man, I would've been a lot more upset about a fish going after my LPS than I was about the mushrooms. That's interesting that losing your CUC hasn't noticeably affected your tank... hmmm... Considering my melanurus wrasse has started unaliving snails, this intrigues me, lol. I've ordered replacements, but maybe I don't really need to.
We have a harlequin tusk in the tank in my office - before I got into the hobby, I asked my boss why he had no snails or shrimp in the tank. He pointed at the tusk and said "this guy".

 

[mjszos]

I wish I could say the same - one of my dogs literally stole a sandwich out of my hand once when I was about to take a bite, lol. Heathens, all of them! That is so crazy that shrimp got a taste for coral... I wonder, does euphyllia taste like chicken? Haha. Glad to hear the corals are coming back.

Hah! Depending on the outcome of my next experiment with a torch I may end up having to throw it on the BBQ and can report back

 

[mjszos]

One comment - if you stop target feeding you can also stop the behavior. Ie.. Feed the fish - let the anemones, etc - get their food from the water. OR - have a clownfish - which will bring food to the anemone - the wrasse will usually not go after the clown - this is just my personal experience

I know that you're right, but I love the feeding response of the corals too much to stop. Funny enough about your Wrasse comment, before my 6-line went carpet surfing I swear it identified as a clown. My pair of clowns and the wrasse were like 3 peas in a pod, it was very sweet to watch.

 

[Hermie]

My hermit crabs played battle royale until only one remained. The one now reigns supreme.

 

[Neem_OH]

To help fight the good fight against GHA i got a few emerald crabs that snarfed it all away and now i can say the GHA is gone and under control. Problem is the cleaner shrimp is missing with no trace, a watchmen goby was next, then all of a sudden i got a skunk clown missing. I fear the crabs ran out of algae to eat so theyve turned to more expensive ways to snack!!! They have a warrant out for their arrest and will spend the rest of their lives without parole in the refugium if/when i can get em!!

 

[Coinzmans Reef]

I'm petty sure my critters and fish grew up in Ozone park they don't like outsiders.

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

Undulated trigger is the most aggressive fish ive ever met i put him in a tank with triggers lions and eels and he was only like 2 inches once he got 2 6 inches he became what we called Dexter.... in one day he killed 3 other triggers who were all bigger than him, 2 huge eels, one was a tessalatta then broke the heater so i got a nice shock .. he was pure evil

 

[Singspot]

Had a pair of black percula clowns that were the only survivors of a tank crash. Everything I tried to add after that got killed off by clowns and had to remove them. Thought I was safe as they were the only fish in a 220.

Unbelievable!?

 

[SHINYSuccubus]

i have a murderous gold/maroon clown named caitlyn. she ripped her mate to pieces right in front of me a couple years ago. she also eliminated a molly miller blenny. last week she killed my dwarf angel. thankfully, she’s been moved to a larger tank while my new tank is under construction. if she manages to assassinate any of my friend’s pretty enormous fish while she’s vacationing in his 300 gallon i’m frying her up for sunday dinner!

 

[Matrig]

Do you have a wrasse or hermit crabs?

Yes both. I have my suspicions about them.

 

[Willhersh34]

I have a beautiful Niger Trigger. I’ve had him wipe out every snail bigger than dwarf ceriths and smaller than turbo snails a few times. It’s to the point that I don‘t even bother with any other snails in my CUC because he will lay waste to them. He also destroys all but the hardiest hermits. Amazingly he has never killed another fish. But it’s almost scary when he really gets going to hear his jaws crunching on whatever poor invert he’s targeted……….

 

[UkiahTheTurtle]

My Guy was a a baby clownfish who went in the tank and decided to kill everyone in the tank with his biological weapon the only survivor was my blenny

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

Yes both. I have my suspicions about them.

My hermits killed way more snails than my wrasse. Now after evicting all the crabs, when I find an empty snail shell I always question whether it was the wrasse or the hawkfish, lol.

 

[HankstankXXL750 Verified Sponsor]

Got an eibli angelfish along with everything else from my cousin when he decided he didn’t have enough time. Put it all in my reef and the eibli developed a taste for corals. Wiped out everything I had and that he gave me. The eibli was a perfect fish before the transfer.

 

[Alexopora]

Not exactly a serial killer but needs alot of tlc to prevent them from going rogue. I have a group of sexy shrimps (9 of them) that need to be target fed mysis or they will start munching on my sps.

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

Got an eibli angelfish along with everything else from my cousin when he decided he didn’t have enough time. Put it all in my reef and the eibli developed a taste for corals. Wiped out everything I had and that he gave me. The eibli was a perfect fish before the transfer.

That's a beautiful fish too, what a shame.