Emerald Crab eating Coral or not?!?!?

[Newjack]

I walked by and noticed the new emerald crab is out front. This one usually always hides unless there's food. I noticed she is doing something with the coral. When I tried to move her the first time she clamped onto the coral and tried to take it with her. Is she eating the coral or just the food she stockpiled behind it?

Also I've been looking and I cant find the older emerald anywhere. The new one is missing a claw and I don't remember it being like that before but I don't know. Think maybe they were fighting? will the claw grow back?
here is a vid.


[video=youtube_share;xqVwCIKt5KE]http://youtu.be/xqVwCIKt5KE[/video]

 

[Newjack]

Update the older emerald crab just came out he looks fine..

 

[plasma327]

Yes. If the Emerald runs out of food it will pick at and consume coral to prevent its self from starving.

 

[DianaKay]

Pretty sure the snail you ask for the ID on is a Stomatella Snail. They are very good snails to have & mostly only gotten as a hitchhiker. They have a very shallow looking "half shell" and can stretch to look quiet long.
I have 2 Emerald crabs in my tank & neither have ever bothered any of my corals (yet :fingerx. As long as you keep them fed every few days, I'm thinking they'll behave themselves. The claw should grow back when he molts.
I have a long plastic grabber tong thing that I hand mine pieces of seaweed with & they grab with a death grip to food offered. I think they are fun to watch

 

[whippetguy]

Diana, you're coming over to the dark side; you're becoming a crab lover.

 

[Newjack]

Yes. If the Emerald runs out of food it will pick at and consume coral to prevent its self from starving.

But she has food. I know you could not see it in the vid but under the crab and behind the coral she had like 4 pellets in a pile yet she kept crabbing the coral. The coral was on top of the rock but she knocked it over and started doing that. Is it possible she's trying to cover up and hide her food or does she seem to think coral is tastier?

 

[plasma327]

The female's are less apt to pick and eat coral vs the males. As to feeding, I have 5 in my DT. Just from my experience they do not think of pellets as food. I have never feed my tank fish, crabs. etc... pellets. I use nori and make my own food from clams,shrimp,oysters,scallops,mysis,brine,krill, and mix it in a food processor and freeze it into cubes and that is what I feed. My emeralds love it as well as nori. From my experiences proper diet is key for all great health. I have never had an issue with them. Just my experiences. Try feeding them some nori, piece of krill etc.. JMO..

 

[Newjack]

ok ill give it a shot, but I know they eat the pellets I can watch them pinch off pieces and stuff them in. However maybe its not doing enough for them ill pick up some krill if I can today. thanks

 

[Kongor]

The bigger they get the more chance of them going rogue and chomping on coral. I've had two emerald crabs almost kill a colony of zoas and killed multiply frags before I could get them out.

 

[Newjack]

The bigger they get the more chance of them going rogue and chomping on coral. I've had two emerald crabs almost kill a colony of zoas and killed multiply frags before I could get them out.

well this morning there no where in site. I notice the little stockpile of protein pellets are gone that she was sitting on last night. I will keep a close eye and see if they come back to that coral.

 

[bullet]

We had a emerald crab for 1 day and he was a royal PITA he ate coral and grabbed a clown fish they can be destructive imo We won't get another one for a very very long time

 

[Newjack]

We had a emerald crab for 1 day and he was a royal PITA he ate coral and grabbed a clown fish they can be destructive imo We won't get another one for a very very long time

Now I would not say there that bad. I know a lot of people with emeralds and there really fun to watch and a really good member of CuC mine has eaten all the bubble algae and what I realized he was doing is there was some growing on the corals rock. Therefor he was trying to eat it but that piece is not mounted yet so he was having trouble.

 

[Steve L]

I yanked one out of my reef tank a few months ago because it was munching on a zoa colony. My daughter has one in her tank now that completely cleaned up a small bubble algae outbreak, and now it's starting to munch on some zoa's so it's time for it to go.

 

[Mayja]

I have two in my tank and they are slowly working on the bubble algae in my tank. I just realized that there were a bunch surrounding one of my leathers and now it's all gone! No corals have been injured as far as I can tell.

 

[Newjack]

Emerald killed my new clown!!!!!

So I take it all back I get home today and the dam new baby clown I got is flopping around weird in the back corner. I go to look and the dam Emerald crab is eating him. Finally got the crab to leave it alone but the clown didn't make it!.

 

[DianaKay]

Sorry to read about your clown that's terrible! :tears:

 

[Newjack]

It is! He just got used to the new environment and got comfortable then emerald got him. The other clown is still labor breathing and swimming in place... I hope he will be ok. I did a full water test yesterday and all was fine im about to do another to double check. I still cant get it eat.