Emerald crab eating hammer coral?

[WatDatThing]

Last night I shone a light to check on my new anemone. I saw my emerald crab completely wrapped itself around a single head hammer coral frag I have on the substrate; as if it was hugging it. I didn't think much of it. Today, the tentacles on that side are deplated, look withered. Is emerald crab know to eat/attack hammer coral?

[anthonys51]

They can if they are hungry. But most likely just picking algae. If he ate it it would be gone not deflated


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[TokiHacker]

More likely he was eating algae off it and irritated it.

[JZinCO]

I sumped my emerald after watching him eat zoas and a leather.

I feed well. The crab just preferred coral over fish food.

So don't dismiss it out of hand, but I like to give my critters 3 strikes of direct observation of eating coral.

[WatDatThing]

Thanks guys. I'll keep an eye on the hammer. If something happen to the hammer, the crab is a goner. My tank has plenty of algae for it to eat.

[anthonys51]

Like others said. Probably just cleaning if the tank has a lot of algae.


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[C.poindexter]

It all depends on the crab Just like anything else they have personalities.

[Crooked Reef]

I have had two different emarald crabs I bought for bubble algae, both at separate times. I started missing fish when I added each one. These were blennies if I recall correctly and it was only a 65 gallon tank so they weren't hiding somewhere else. There was also a wrasse who came up with a wound in his side. The crabs, near as I can tell would come upon them at night and kill them, or in the case of the wrasse attempt to kill him. I had never had a problem before adding the crabs or after removing them, just fish started missing a few days after adding them. The first time I banished him to my sump and did some manual removal of the algae. The second time was maybe a month later. I figured I would try again due to the emerald crabs not being known for being fish killers. The second one quickly made it to my sump as well. These were both definitely emerald mithrax crabs as well. One male and one female, I don't remember which was first.

[anthonys51]

Think too many of us have things go wrong in our tanks and want to know why or blame someone
Fish die, corals die. Just because they where doing good yesterday doesn't mean they can't die today. Now is it possible a crab will eat a sleeping fish. Yes sure it is. But I will tell you I have emerald crabs in my tank for about 10 years. If we are counting body counts. I think I killed a lot more corals and fish them my several emeralds. When a fish dies the crabs and other cuc will eat that fish in a second.


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[Crooked Reef]

I had this tank set up for 12 years. I was not new to the hobby. I have had mysterious fish deaths and disappearances over the years and wasn't suspicious when the first fish went missing. The second was curious but the wrasse with the injury was pretty definitive to me. When I added a mithrax I lost two fish and had another injured in a matter of days. Looking back through a log it was a firefish and a Midas blenny. The wrasse was the one injured. No new rock or corals had been added that could have brought a pest like a mantis or a gorilla crab in. I pulled the crab to the sump and it all stopped. I replaced the firefish pretty much immediately and added the next different mithrax a little over a month later. He disappeared overnight as well. I banished him out of an abundance of caution. That one I can't positively connect to the crab but if I were a gambling man I would bet the first crab was the culprit.

[anthonys51]

Aren't most gamblers broke. The house always wins

:).
Not saying the crab didn't eat yours. I have no way of knowing. Just stating most times people blame the crab when in done cases it might of not killed the fish at all. I been in this hobby for 30 years. I still have fish die all of a sudden for no reason. I had a clown fish die one day after 2 years. No other fish died the next year. No idea why


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