Emerald crab and zoanthids

[White Hair]

just saw my emerald crab sitting on one of my new zoanthids, looking like he was either eating the coral or something on the coral, seems i read where they may attack corals if they are not getting the right food, don’t want to get rid of him but my corals are more expensive, what’s the info on this

 

[DelRayTank]

My personal experience is that my crab will pick algae between the polyps but won’t harm the polyps themselves. I haven’t had an issue with mine and love having it in my tank.

 

[Ditto]

I have a few in my tank and they leave my Zoa alone. I will see them picking between them, but have never eaten them

 

[Archibald J McLauchlin]

I have had the same experience as the other guys. My emerald and mithrax pick around and clean the zoas but they have never eaten or harmed them.

 

[White Hair]

have read

just saw my emerald crab sitting on one of my new zoanthids, looking like he was either eating the coral or something on the coral, seems i read where they may attack corals if they are not getting the right food, don’t want to get rid of him but my corals are more expensive, what’s the info on this

several articles about this, with mixed results, one guy said he put a emerald crab in with 3 zoas and the next morning they were eaten, some say they clean between the pollups , will probably err on the side of caution and see if i can swap it at the lfs