Reef Roids

Caleb423 · Jul 27, 2016

Hey everybody, just started feeding my corals reef roids, mainly trying to nurse a bleached palythoa back to health. After spot feeding it, and my green flower pot they where almost immediately trampled by my two emerald crabs, hermit crab, and cleaner shrimp. My diamond goby happened to swim by one of the emeralds and got snatched up and drug under a rock, luckily I was watching and was able to break them up (goby seems ok, just shaken up).

I am afraid if this behavior continues my corals will never get a chance to eat due to them closing up after being mowed over by crabs, and that my fish my get injured or killed if they happen to get near the crabs while they are eating.

Is this normal? Will the crabs calm down after a little while?

DLHDesign · Jul 27, 2016

You might try spot-feeding in another section of the tank to draw the critters, and then feed the corals when they are all distracted, perhaps?

When I feed my corals, the snails certainly are attracted. I'd expect crabs and other such to do the same...

sc8kv123 · Jul 27, 2016

Try cutting the bottom off of a two liter and placing it over the coral then feeding through top. Slows down the flow and protects the coral while it feeds.

shadow1013 · Jul 27, 2016

You could try the cover way. Is it just reef roids or a mix of things? You could try feeding frozen food a few minutes before you try feeding the coral. I'll feed mine after the fish are feed and happy and having had an issue with spot feeding.

Caleb423 · Aug 1, 2016

Well I can't blame it on the reef roids now, during feeding one of them took another stab at my goby, this time ripping half of his upper lip off. My guess is my tank just is not large enough to support these crabs.

Half of the lip, including the bone is missing. He is still eating well, and still sifting sand. Honestly it doesn't seem to bother him at all. Just curious how/if this will heal back.

I have attached some pics, but it is hard to see.