I had a rogue Emerald crab eat a totally healthy maxima clam

Yeah, it sux, but I thought I would add this in that anything, even supposedly totally reef safe can go rogue and eat stuff they are not meant to.


Yes, this was a perfectly healthy green maxima, never had any issues with it. Earlier on yesterday, the clam was totally happy, and when I went to feed my acans and other LPS for the second helping last night, the offending EC had the clam's byssal cord ripped off and had half the clam devoured.

Luckily I was able to catch the crab, and I banished it to the sump.

 

Oh no! Sorry to hear about your clam! I hope it heals.

 

The rest of the CUC finished it off before I woke up. It was a goner as soon as I saw it.

The worst part about it is that the crab did that amount of damage to it in a matter of 20 minutes.

The first target feeding of the corals was at like midnight and there was no sign of a EC near the clam, and at 12:20 or so the clam was beyond help.

I mean, if the crab was hungry, why didn't it go near the corals I was spot feeding and get a snack from the missed target feedings? I wasn't traget feeding anywhere near that clam.

 

Sorry for your loss

 

....crabs are crabs....they are a group unto themselves:-/

Sorry for the loss...I love the clams.

 

WOW.....first one for me. I used to have half dozen in my 60g too. :-[

 

That sucks, I'm sorry to hear that...

I don't mean to offend, but are you sure it was an emerald crab?

 

was this the newer clam, i thought i read that a little while back. the sump might be too good for him...

 

Yeah, it was definitely the crab. I have 20+ years in this hobby, and I have never seen this before. The clam was 100% totally healthy.

I am one of those guys that would doubt this too upon hearing it.

 

It was one of the 2 new maximas I got a while back. It certainly wasn't my pick of color eihter, but it was a blowout sale thing.

The sump was probably too good for him. A better option would have been to take it over to barbianj's house and throw it in with his "big Momma" queen trigger that is 14" long. The crab would have lasted about half a second at best. That would have been fitting IMHO.