Emerald Crabs and Zoas

[Shultz]

I bought 2 as my tank is not big enough to have a foxface, so far they have been good eating algae, touch wood combined with syphoning the BA out I seem to have a lot less now

My theory is they only eat the real small stuff so you'll have to remove the other yourself

Cheers Shelton.

 

[twon8]

I haven't personally caught one eating polyps, but i have had read many reports of them eating zoas. I wouldn't risk it.

 

[Reefwifey]

I have an emerald crab in my nano with a ton of zoas, and I've never seen her eat them. Ive seen her clean rocks of algea, even between polyps, and leave the rock nice and clean...but she's never bothered the polyps themselves.

 

[mbunaman]

I never had a problem with them. The only problem I had was them knocking some frags that were freshly glued. But they took care of my problem in about a month.

 

[jessiesgrrl]

I had two in my tank, but stuck them into the sump when I read that thread about the emerald ripping zoas off rocks and throwing them onto the bed.

Guess my Mother Bear instinct kicked in kinda hard. Nobody touches da zoas but meh!


Laurie

 

[ecotoxlady]

I've had one for about a year now and it's been around all sorts of corals from zoas to acan to micros with not a single problem! I've been thinking about getting another one for my nano as it's packed with macroalgae

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

BUMP! Anybody else have experience with these? I am thinking of getting a couple.

PS. I f you got 1-2 for sale and will ship let me know.

 

[fishes2889]

They dont bother a thing. We have about 4+ in our 90g main disply at work with huge colonies of zoa's and in my aquapod at work to.

I highly recommend them for bubble algae. They do a little on GHA but not much from my experience.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

So will they tear the bubble algae up?

 

[fishes2889]

Si senor...

Do you want a couple? We have some at the store i could send out to you at wholesale.($2.50) LMK

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Pmed Ya!!!

 

[berns]

ive no personal experience with emeralds but seen a few tanks with plenty bubble algea in and they not help so owners say, but heres a thing... does the crab burst the bubbles to get to inner juice and therefore spread the algea spores increasing spread of the algea anyway? or does this crab suck them dry with an invisible straw lol

 

[angry gary]

i have four in a 180. they never have eaten a lick of bubble algae but are constanty grazing on algae. never seen them touch a zoa.
ag

 

[Ike]

So will they tear the bubble algae up?

If you're lucky. They're pretty hit and miss and IME more miss than hit.

 

[follow3]

Hey,

Anyone know of a better critter for eating Bubble Algae?

What's good for eating Hair Algae?

Also, can those crabs get up onto the frag racks?


Thanks,
Steve

 

[JGoslee]

I have 4 red mithrax and 2 emeralds in my 58gal and I haven't seen any of them bother any corals.

 

[Briney Dave]

I have had an emerald for nearly two years without a single issue. They seem to hit just about every algae except bryso. I have never had a bubble algae in the tank with the emerald so I can't say if its because he eats them before they get big enough to notice or I am just that lucky.

But be warned, crabs are ... crabs and when in the right situation will eat just about anything to survive.
Have a back up plan and watch close for a few weeks but I think they are worth the risk over all.

 

[Beechbouy]

I kept wondering why my healthy zoas would no longer open and would disappear. Well, I just found the reason. As I watched for no less than ten minutes, one of my emerald crabs made a dinner out of two of them. Tried to video it but the tank's too dark. dang!

 

[tjgr34]

But be warned, crabs are ... crabs and when in the right situation will eat just about anything to survive.

Keep this in mind! I'd always heard that emerald crabs were reef-safe, but I've recently seen them chewing on a variety of soft corals in a low-nutrient tank. Crabs will be crabs, eventually.