large emerald crab turned coral killer?

well the title says it all. saw my large emerald crab eating and breaking off tips from my new & favorite green slimer acro last nite. hit him with the turkey baster twice and he came right back a few minutes later to eat. thought he'd give it up, so went to bed. now today I checked out my sps frag and man it was bad.. 7-8 main tips broken off and some green flesh is missing on a few tips. very pissed. well within last few minutes, seen him out messing with some eagle eye zoas and bahama mamas.. so I ran to the kitchen and got some tongs for grilling. and missed him by a 1". now I thought to myself I just missed my chance.. well mister emerald came right back to to hold his ground.. how brave and stupid. long story short I got him! down into the sump he goes. anyone have big bad emerald stories? or his my emerald crab a renegade. lol

 

I have heard as they get larger that it is very likely that they will go rogue.

 

My emerald story wasn't about a big EC, but one that was just plain bad.

It killed and ate a perfectly healthy green maxima clam in about 20 minutes.

It first ripped the byssal tissue off the rock it was on, then took the clam and ate about a quarter of it before I could even do anything.

I caught the EC, and banished it to the sump, but I almost fed it to my friends 14" long queen trigger for retribution.

 

I really like emeralds. But, I have noticed that they get much more aggressive when they get to full size. That is the main reason for my decision to have a display fuge on my next tank.

 

let me add to this same emerald was caught months ago eating my kenya tree branches. I have another one thats smaller and isnt a problem. the big one is probly 2.5" wide with its claws out. main body is a little bigger than a quarter. just sucks he went for my newest favorite sps. if it was just a softy than i wouldnt care as much, because those things grow fast anyways.

 

I had one develop a taste for zoo polyps from one certain colony. He resides in the fuge now. But I have a big one in the dt that eats nothing but algae and a few mysis.

 

well little update, he's hanging upside down clinging to my chaeto floating mat. eating stuff in there.. which is kool. but I hope he cant crawl up the mangrove stalk and get out. do those emerlad crabs crawl out of water?

 

Only until they dry out

 

cool, he's pissed.. but at least he's cleaning the chaeto from a little cyano I have going on down there.. probly eating some pods too.. cheaper then acro frags. lol

 

I doubt he'll scale the mangrove.
I only said that because back when my fish got MI I ended up having to take 90% of the rock out to get them all caught so I could treat. Anyway one rock was too big to go in the fuge so I took it out last and put it on a towel on the floor. Apparently one of my emeralds was clinging to it but bailed while I was getting the last fish.. my son found him about 2 weeks later in a corner of the room across from where my tank sits. LOL