Mr. Crabs! Stop eating my soft coral!

[waverider]

So I picked up a gorgeous red and blue giant hermit crab. Figured I could use some more clean up crew and this is my first crab. LFS says they're coral "safe".. a few hours in and my son and I are watching him -we name him "Mr. Crabs" from Spongebob. That very second as we are watching, he turbos his way up a rock, sits on a small Xenia and starts ripping it up. I mean little Xenia arms were flying everywhere. And he's looking right at me the whole time. I grabbed a feeding tube rod and knocked him off. He knew he was guilty because he took off into the caves of my live rock and is still hiding in the back. A small xenia frag no big deal, but if he touches one of my torches or Gonipora I think Mr. Crabs is making a trip to Bikini Bottom

 

[Macbalacano]

Haha at least it was only the xenia, but definitely the reason i run a crabless tank!

 

[DaddyFish]

My snowflake eel decided after nearly a year in the same tank as Mr. Crabs, that Mr. Crabs smelled tasty. That was Mr. Crabs second chance at reform because he had already been exiled from my reef tank for doing exactly what yours is doing. Drop him in a predator tank with an eel and some puffers. Teach the son about nature.

 

[Clownfish_Boy]

Crabs tend to eat anything that is edible. I know people often keep them in reef tanks, but I would think it inadvisable.