flower pot eating crab.

tdyrkacz · Mar 9, 2016

So i got this really pretty flower pot coral and it has been losing polyps starting on the top and not extending lately. Tonight i took a flash light to take a look at it in the middle of the night that's when i saw this guy ripping it to pieces.

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reef lover · Mar 9, 2016

Maybe a gorilla crab.. Idk....but bad crab!

cowboy · Mar 9, 2016

That looks to be a emerald crab, looking at the white disk shape at the end of its pitcher's.

Retro Reefer · Mar 9, 2016

+1 on emerald crab, these are supposed to be reef safe but personally I would never trust any crab in my reef.

tdyrkacz · Mar 9, 2016

Yeah no more crabs for me.... Or those darn sexy shrimp which ate my zoas

Retro Reefer · Mar 9, 2016

tdyrkacz said:
Yeah no more crabs for me.... Or those darn sexy shrimp which ate my zoas

I just pulled two shrimp from my tank (cleaner & peppermint) because they where constantly bothering my Zoa's :mad:.. If they weren't picking at them they where walking all over them making them constantly close up.

cowboy · Mar 9, 2016

I personally don't mind certain crabs in my reef, but with a zebra eel I don't have to worry about them living long anyway. Emeralds do serve a purpose but have to be managed once they're done with the job at hand time for a new home.

betelgeuse · Mar 9, 2016

Emeralds are not reef safe I don't care what anyone says. Peppermint shrimp are debatable too.

saltyfilmfolks · Mar 9, 2016

You need to feed the crabs. If there's not enough to eat any animal esp shrimp and crabs will eat anything.
Personally I think calling them cleanup crew and throwing too many in a tank is just bad. They need the same husbandry as any population in your tank. It's why snails die too. And why asterinas will eat Zoas.
A hungry animal will eat anything and to many will starve.

tdyrkacz · Mar 9, 2016

saltyfilmfolks said:
You need to feed the crabs. If there's not enough to eat any animal esp shrimp and crabs will eat anything.
Personally I think calling them cleanup crew and throwing too many in a tank is just bad. They need the same husbandry as any population in your tank. It's why snails die too. And why asterinas will eat Zoas.
A hungry animal will eat anything and to many will starve.

Good point. How and what should I feed my clean up crew?

saltyfilmfolks · Mar 9, 2016

Meat and algae or kelp. Keep an eye on the population and balance it. Hermits aren't really that cool.
Snails scrape algae. Crabs do too but also eat meat and poo. Shrimp are jerks and compete with crabs and fish. Different cuc members eat slightly different things but have a few items in common.
So it's part of the balance you want to achieve in feeding the tank overall.

It why I'm horrified when I see the Cuc reccomend actions from some vendors.
Holy dead snails batman.

saltyfilmfolks · Mar 9, 2016

Oh I have places on the back of my tank I never see and rarely clean. It's my snail feeder.
Better dirty glass than dead turbo. IMO

tdyrkacz · Mar 10, 2016

I feed frozen foods and coral foods heavily and never clean the back of my tank. Wouldn't this be enough for the CUC?... well apparently not since they're munching on my corals.

betelgeuse · Mar 10, 2016

I think that too many times everyone gets caught up in reef safe vs not reef safe and treat it like its black and white. Are their reef safe Angels? Sometimes people find individuals that are. Are emerald crabs reef safe? Sometimes, sometimes not. There is a lot a grey area with "reef safe". Look at the boards it's not too hard to find examples of individuals within a species everyone accepts as reef safe (like tangs) that go on a coral eating spree. For example I had 3 peppermint shrimp in the same 150, 2 of them are model citizens, but the 3rd will consume ANY coral that resembles an anemone in any way. 2 are reef safe 1 is not.