Is This A Good Guy??

[designsonline.co.uk]

Hi there,
this is one of my crabs, I have not ever had trouble with it, untill possibly today...?

My lovely new frag of white pulsing zenia which had been settled on to a peice of rock for about a week was snipped off at the very base and missing. I am most gutted as I was given this frag and cant afford to replace it, even if I could find another peice as I understand it is quite rare...


Please let me know what this crab is and if he is liekly to be a bad guy..
Thanks Joe.

[designsonline.co.uk]

Here is another picture of it...

P.S sorry about the state of the glass.... I have cleaned it since!

[designsonline.co.uk]

You might be able to see the white pulsing zenia in this pic...

[Mikey]

Moved.

[mantis]

its a sally lightfoot crab and are very good algea eaters, i've never had a problem with them.

craig

[designsonline.co.uk]

Thanks Mantis...
the only other crab I have (that I know of...!) is this one could this be the culprit then?

[Tabizan]

It's a Sally Lightfoot Crab , not , as you just found out , 100% reef-safe, it can have the odd munch on polyps and fleshy stuff ( like zenia ) .

It's always sold as part of a cleanup crew but shouldn't , they are great for fish only / live rock but can't be trusted in a reef , most of the time they are ok , but not all of the time ;)

[designsonline.co.uk]

Ahh... Thanks Tabizan,
bummer is he likely to keep doing this as I add frags?

Joe

[Tabizan]

I had one for years that was fine , then just started eating my polyps , I think when they get the taste for the stuff , nothing much you can do .

That other crab is an anemone crab , a filter feeder , so you'll have no probs with that one . ( how long have you had him ? , they are quite hard to keep alive long term )

[designsonline.co.uk]

I have only had him for just over a month, but the guy I bought him from has had him for about 2 years...

[designsonline.co.uk]

What can I do about the soft coral eating? Is it due to the crab being hungry? (I thought if anything I probably over fed them...!)

[Tabizan]

Are you sure it ate it , or did it just snip it off ? My one was definatly not under fed and was , like me , a fat b****** , so I don't think that's the case . ;)

[designsonline.co.uk]

Well I hope that it was just snipped and that it might settle and grow where ever it is, but I searched for it, and I just couldnt find it...

Why would it snip the frag off in the first place? It looked so beautiful.... :unsure:

[Tabizan]

It's one of those reef questions that no-one can answer , like why does my blue-cheek goby pick up all my snails and make a pyramid with them on the same bit of rock every night, boredom , me thinks.

[evilmop44]

what sort of nem is that as i have one with purple tips exeactly teh same but mine seems to stand really ta;ll