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WTF! Emerald crab eating coral! =(


alizarin

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xxShaddowxx
Emerald Crabs if they get hungry are opportunistic feeders, but one way to keep them in check that seems to never be mentioned here is to freaking feed them.

 

I used to give mine a chunk of pygmy angel food few times a week. Worse he's ever done is piss off my zoa as he's picked the algae from between them.

 

I was feeding him every 2-3 days lol. He got more food than everything else in the tank. He is just a pig I guess

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Blubbernaut

I'm really debating on whether to get one or not. I have some bubble which really hasn't done anything but chill for the past month. It's either 10 hermits or an emerald. What do u guys think?

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Huskerguy84

I didnt read all of the post but I have a huge emerald crab. I feed parts of Algae Waffers every now and then and he loves them. So far I have not seen him eat any corals but who knows what happens at night, or when I am gone.

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xxShaddowxx

Mine was doing it at night. It was actually my boyfriend who noticed him sitting ON the zoas and called me in, and then I noticed he was doing more than just sitting on them. At first I thought he was just cleaning the plate they were attached to because i've seen him do that a whole bunch, then he moved to in between the zoas, then he was just picking at the zoas themselves >.<

I really liked him though. If I hadn't gotten some more expensive zoas recently I probably would have just left him in there.

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I have a huge emerald and it's yet to do more than make things angry as it tramples by. I do intentionally drop some pellets near ir when I feed to make sure its not having to search too hard in the corals for food. Worked out well so far.

 

On a side note I had an old, large peppermint shrimp who had never bothered anything before up and decide to wage war on a blasto. Shrimp was dead 20min later by unknown causes. Lol. Served it right.

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  • 2 years later...
RainbowTurtle

the one i had would climb my sps and pick the polyps, then killed a frogspawn. i tried to remove him, he didnt want to go. so at first i tried, the got tired and stabbed him with a steak knife. that fixed the prob.

People like "got no balls" shouldn't be reef keeping. If you can't handle nature, this isn't the hobby for you.

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charnelhouse

People like "got no balls" shouldn't be reef keeping. If you can't handle nature, this isn't the hobby for you.

 

Congrats on dredging up a 9 year old post and yelling at the author...

 

Edit:

 

And with your first post too!!! So much interwebs win!

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People like "got no balls" shouldn't be reef keeping. If you can't handle nature, this isn't the hobby for you.

You really think taking animals out of the ocean and putting them in a glass box full of water in your house is "nature"??? I like to think of it as a forced ecosystem, and being that I am pretty much the "God" of the tank, I would kill a crab eating my coral too.

 

Actually, come to think of it, I have killed an emerald crab for the very same reason. Added it to take care of some bubble algae, but it went for a nice blasto instead. I tried to get it out nicely, but it was not going to cooporate so it got forcefully removed.

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Steensj2004

People like "got no balls" shouldn't be reef keeping. If you can't handle nature, this isn't the hobby for you.

Just beacause you love these kind of stories so much, I had an emerald that was digging at a really nice/expensive BTA morph I just got, for no apparent reason. I tried to chase him off as much as I could, he kept coming back, He got the tongs....

 

Hommie don't play that shiz.....if you don't start none, there won't be none.........FOOL! :lol:

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reefernanoman

Emerald crabs are just as reef safe as those damn peppermint shrimp. Not! Them two will NEVER be in either of my two tanks.

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After years of searching I have found a reef safe crab.

 

Best part is they come in a rainbow of colors.

I see they also have plastic fish, lobsters and starfish. Why not have plastic coral? These can all go in a plastic, acrylic tank. No feeding required.

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I swore I would never buy an emerald crab again! One hitchhiker came in on piece of live rock and I found it eating the polyps of a Pocillipora. I couldn't catch it this time but I guarantee he's a goner!

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I don't know whats up with everyone's crazy crabs. I've had one for five months and he's never touched any of my corals. As far as I can tell there isn't any algae in the tank, aside from some diatoms on the back wall, and I don't feed the tank at all. He must be eating something, but it's definitely not the coral. Maybe I'm just lucky...

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SquishyFishy

My Tubby is just about my favorite tank resident...a model citizen. But I hand feed him every day...he loves seaweed pieces. He snatches 'em like they are chocolate! Sometimes krill. But he never bothers anybody else. Sometimes it LOOKS like he is but when I put on my magnifyers he is just cleaning things off... GHA and stuff. He's a good gardner for me....I love 'im. Love my hermits too, they are all very good boys!

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  • 2 years later...
ihglifelol
On 6/7/2006 at 6:53 AM, formerly icyuodd/icyoud2 said:

 

ot my snowflake cleaned out the family of pistol shrimps in my display (approx 20-30 in a week) but he's left my peppermints alone completely. not sure if its color or size, but he doesnt seem interested at all.

same, my peppermint shrimps are on him, so maybe are cleaner

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  • 3 weeks later...

Dredging up an old post that’s been dredged up anyway throughout the years (last one being a couple weeks so not so bad I suppose..)

 

One of my emeralds has taken to going after my stylo.  At first I thought he was just passing by, but he stayed and the polyps started retracting all over the coral.  I chased him off with tongs, now it’s been 4 times.. It’s time to move this one if he can be caught.  If he can’t, I may have to resort to the measures others did.. which, on the plus side, would provide a meal for the other scavengers.

 

(The tank is fed well, I don’t target the crabs as they’re often hidden but I imagine they get some that falls.  I have 3 others causing no issue, and like some I had never experienced this with an emerald before.. learn every day!)

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Yeah, sometimes (like fish that are know nippers) they are fine, then one day their tastes change.  Crabs are opportunistic feeders.  I wouldn't call Emerald crabs 100% reef safe.

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