Coral Beauty Angle and Emerald Crab

[SleepCasualty]

Recently I added a Coral Beauty about to my tank about a week ago. After a short time he has adjusted well. Mostly hiding in the rock but does come out to eat or cruise around. Starting yesterday he has been acting a little funny. He will stop next to my emerald crab and swim sideways into the crab for a minute or two. At first it looked like he was using his side fin to brush the top of the crab. Now it appears he is only using the opposite fin and just pushing up against the crab. His fin seems a little damaged so he hasn't been smart enough to stop it. What worries me is that he will do this for 2-3 minutes at a time. Then do a few laps around the tank and come right back to do it again. He moves his fin extremely fast so it seems a little agressive.

I started to notice he only does it when the crab is in one fr the 2 caves he likes to hide in. So I'm not sure if its his way of saying get out or something more concerning.

 

[Newjack]

Hey there welcome to RS!

I know emerald crabs seem to like nipping at fish. Especially when they die. The crab probably just nipped her and she's not happy about it, and with the crab being in her territory its not suppressing me either. You could try and nudging the crab away with something next time and see if the fish keeps doing it.

 

[ziggy]

sounds like a territory dispute :hammerhea

 

[ReefApprentice]

Sounds like the angel has a case of misidentification: he might think it`s a cleaner shrimp. If your tank allows it you should consider getting one.
I've read several threads on various reefing site where the angel is doing the same behavior on a emerald crab. Here`s a previous thread on this: http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/saltwater-fish/47863-coral-beauty-behavior.html

 

[SleepCasualty]

Thank you ReefApprentice! That is the exact behavior he is showing. Ill have to pick up a cleaner this weekend.

 

[SleepCasualty]

So i picked up a cleaner shrimp and arranged my rock this weekend. Gave the coral beauty another cave. Well after I introduced the shrimp the coral beauty was next to him with in 10 minutes. I was so exciting to watch! The best news is he continued to go back to him a few more times and left my crab alone. The shrimp seems to love to come out of his little cave and clean him. It looks so funny to watch the coral beauty swim by and stop. Then swim sideways over to the cave entrance. Shrimp pops our, cleans him and runs back. Off goes the fish....

The corals eye also got a little glossy on the damaged fin side. It only last 3-4 days I am happy to see its now cleared up. From what I read it could be damage or disease. More likely damage if one eye(It was) and since he has been harrasing the crab days prior, I was praying it was damage. Since it has cleared up in just a few days I think this is a sign it was damage. I have continue to watch him closely to make sure it does not come back. It was VERY mild and not puffy at all. From the pictures and vidoes I was able to see.

 

[dsprouse]

That's awesome to hear. My flame angel "pulled up" to my cleaner a good bit but the cleaner just sat there. Great news to hear though.

 

[pgrtgunner]

This is pure De Javu, the same happened to me. Both are not in this realm.