Before you buy a purple reef lobster... (some thoughts)

[Pat Niemeyer]

A few years ago I bought a small purple reef lobster... At the time I was assured that due to their small max size (about 5-6 inches) they were reef safe.

After putting him into the tank he basically disappeared and I saw him for a total period of time of about a minute in the year after that. He would hide, comes out and grab a chunk of food if he was *really* hungry and then hide again. They are the most paranoid creatures I've ever kept in my tank.

I assumed he was dead at one point when I hadn't seen him for about 6 months. A couple of years later when I moved the tank and started taking out rocks I almost dropped a rock on my foot when I turned it over and found a 6" lobster hanging under it! He is insanely hardy.... At that point I had had only 1 fish in the tank for about 6 months (winding it down) and was hardly feeding anything... no chunky food, etc... The water quality was up and down, etc... He is a real survivor.

Anyway, I have slowly come to the conclusion over the years that he is eating my fish... On maybe half a dozen occasions I have just "lost" fish and had no idea what happened to them. The pattern I'm noticing is that they tend to be new-ish fish - not brand new, but a few days or weeks after they seem to have settled in just fine (eating, happy).... then bam, gone. Or they turn up freaked out and stressed, then die. The "legacy" fish that he grew up with seemed immune to this... so I really think he is snatching them when they sleep or something.

Anyway, this week was the last straw... I think I'm going to try to get him out of the tank if I can catch him somehow (probably have to disrupt the whole thing to do it).

I'm debating what to do with him... give him to the LFS or try to set up a little "tank within a tank". I may post a separate query about that... an idea I've had for a while for other little creatures.

Anyway - moral of the story here is - I guess you shouldn't buy a purple reef lobster if you're going to have small fish.


Pat

[dzeadow]

check out the new Coral Magazine, there's an article towards the back with a guy that had the same problem, he removed his lobster using an acrylic tube with another smaller acrylic tube up at an angle. He put some food in there and left it for a few days, the lobster ended up in there without having to disturb the tank. As for what to do with it, that's up to you when you catch it!

[Pat Niemeyer]

Can you give me a little better idea of how the lobster trap worked? Can they "swim" or scurry up into the water or would luring him up a ramp into a bowl do it?

[dzeadow]

he'd get out of the bowl for sure. basically it was a 6" acrylic tube with a cap on one end and on the other it had a cap with a 2" tube at an angle so once the lobster went up the tube and into the bigger tube it was trapped in there. I'd show you a drawing but for some reason I don't have paint on my laptop anymore.. If there anything like my shrimp, they can swim very fast and pretty well too.

[mcrist]

I had one for years but mine never killed any fish. I did get tired of never seeing him so I removed him when I upgraded my tank. Beautiful creature, it is a shame they hide all the time.

[SeaWeed89]

i loved mine till last night when i dropped a rock looking for him. the rock found him. he did a great job of cleaning never bothered my stars he maybe got 1 fish but the fish could have died on its own. all in all i think a small nano of its own would be a good idea they are extremly heardy mines endured more than it should have.(crazy temps sg levels) GOODLUCK

[Pat Niemeyer]

Well, I had to remove half the rock to do it, but I nabbed him.

I put him in a temporary cage... not sure what I'm going to do with him.

<img src="http://pat.net/misc/lobstercage.jpg"/>

[sikpupy]

Awwwwww, he's so cuuuuuute!!

[Packersfan21]

I have one too that has killed a yellow-head jawfish, a cleaner shrimp, and a blood shrimp. When i first got him, I never saw him and assumed he was dead, until one day a few months later he pooped out of nowhere while I was feeding the fish. Now I see him almost everyday. He's cool but I have to get rid of him. I'm thinking of putting him in the fuge once I get one. I'm going to order an orchard dottyback today, so you don't think he'll kill it do you?

[Pat Niemeyer]

I'm guessing that the problem is that since we never see them, we don't get them enough meaty food and they are more aggressive about hunting. I wonder if they might be more passive fed every day. But I don't want to take any more chances.

[miwoodar]

It's a bummer to hear these stories. Every once in a while I see a tank with a lobster and it has always made me say 'someday I would like to get one of those too'. I guess this means I should cross these critters off of my list. Thanks for sharing but sorry about your losses.

[Harley-J]

not sure what I'm going to do with him.

MMMM- Butter and Garlic... :D

[84chris]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14420769#post14420769 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Pat Niemeyer
Well, I had to remove half the rock to do it, but I nabbed him.

I put him in a temporary cage... not sure what I'm going to do with him.

<img src="http://pat.net/misc/lobstercage.jpg"/>
You can send him to me! Ill pay for shipping.

[CRASHJT]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14426912#post14426912 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Harley-J
MMMM- Butter and Garlic... :D


+1 damn you beat me to it....lol

[Harley-J]

Im glad I happened onto this thread..I have always been looking at them..but never believed the "Reef Safe" part...so I never bought one...

Now If I asked for him, I would never get him cause of my Butter and Garlic post!! :D

[sikpupy]

Yea, were on to you, watch it!! :smokin:

[NCSUsalt]

i wouldn't be too hasty to always put missing fish on the lobster. if they tended to be newer fish then there is a greater chance that they died from stress, poor shipping, etc. coupled with your normal cleanup crew they'd be eaten quickly and you probably would not find any traces.

[Pat Niemeyer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14428602#post14428602 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NCSUsalt
i wouldn't be too hasty to always put missing fish on the lobster. if they tended to be newer fish then there is a greater chance that they died from stress, poor shipping, etc. coupled with your normal cleanup crew they'd be eaten quickly and you probably would not find any traces.

I realize that. It's hard to prove without witnessing it first hand. But this is after years of observation and weird disappearances that I am finally coming to this conclusion. I also more or less witnessed him grab a panicked fish once when it was freaking out near his cave hole... I turned my back for about 30 seconds to get a stick to move him away from that spot and before I got back the fish was gone. That fish was definitely live and had at least some fight in him... That was when I started really thinking along these lines.

Since locking him up in the case I've also noticed an *immediate* effect on the fish and my fire shrimp. The shrimp started coming down on the sand for the first time since I've owned him within a few hours of moving him. They seem to understand that he's not a threat any more even though he's in plain sight (which is weird).

Anyway - not to harsh on him too much :) He is a really beautiful creature and like all animals I bet they vary from case to case. But in my case I'm pretty sure he was taking some of my fish :) I just think they should be labeled reef questionable :)