Do crabs eat zooanthids?

Discussion in 'General Reef Topics' started by thorvald8, Feb 17, 2010.

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  1. thorvald8

    thorvald8 Astrea Snail

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    I had a nice colony of blue tub zooanthids (4) that and now they are all gone now. I noticed a red hermit crab on top of them recently but never thought they would actually eat them. Does anyone have any experience with this?
     
    thorvald8, Feb 17, 2010
    thorvald8, Feb 17, 2010
    #1

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  2. elweshomayor

    elweshomayor Giant Squid

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    well ive never really had any problems with any of my hermit crabs.. but lets wait on someone else..
     
    elweshomayor, Feb 17, 2010
    elweshomayor, Feb 17, 2010
    #2
  3. frkid247

    frkid247 Sea Dragon

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    as far as i know they wouldnt bother your zoas... maybe its something else? what else do you have in the tank?
     
    frkid247, Feb 17, 2010
    frkid247, Feb 17, 2010
    #3
  4. mikejrice

    mikejrice 3reef Affiliate

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    They shouldn't bother them. How long have you had the zoas? Did you change anything else in the tank recently?
     
    mikejrice, Feb 17, 2010
    mikejrice, Feb 17, 2010
    #4
  5. patrick824

    patrick824 Montipora Digitata

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    are you sure there are no other crabs in your tank?
     
    patrick824, Feb 17, 2010
    patrick824, Feb 17, 2010
    #5
  6. thorvald8

    thorvald8 Astrea Snail

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    I have about 3 other red hermit crabs, 1 tomato clownfish, and 1 6 line wrasse along with many nassarius snails and turbo snails. I haven't seen any bristle worms or anything at night even when I shine my light on it. My tank is a 30 gallon, about a year old or so....
     
    thorvald8, Feb 17, 2010
    thorvald8, Feb 17, 2010
    #6

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  7. doylef4i

    doylef4i Bubble Tip Anemone

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    Look at your tank after the lights go out for a sundial snail.I had one on a zoa colony and the polyps started vanishing one by one.It took me about 6 months before I figured out what was going on.
     
    doylef4i, Feb 17, 2010
    doylef4i, Feb 17, 2010
    #7
  8. horkn

    horkn Giant Squid

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    I wouldn't be surprised if you had crabs that were not reef safe in there. I am talking about the non hermit type.
     
    horkn, Feb 17, 2010
    horkn, Feb 17, 2010
    #8
  9. horkn

    horkn Giant Squid

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    That is a possibility as well.
     
    horkn, Feb 17, 2010
    horkn, Feb 17, 2010
    #9
  10. stepho

    stepho Panda Puffer

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    Same here. I lost 4 colonies of zoas before I found mine. I would recommend picking up the frags if you can and looking under and around the plug for them. They are pretty easy to ID because of their "trap door" and unique pattern.

    Xtalreef has a good picture of them.
     
    stepho, Feb 17, 2010
    stepho, Feb 17, 2010
    #10
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