do any of these critters eat zoas?

It's a debate that will rage on forever probably, but I can honestly say that I would never trust them in a tank full of zoanthids. I have seen, witnessed and heard numerous accounts of their destruction. I spent an entire weekend years ago catching everyone of them in my tank once I witnessed it for myself their attacks. They are however voracious scavengers who will consume bubble algae and some nuisance algae. Some believe they are getting a bad rep because they are just consuming algae around the polyps and it appears they are eating zoas. Not true, they will eat zoa polyps when the urge arrives. The truth is that they are indeed unpredictable and with the escalating rise in cost to purchase a bunch of new zoanthid, I would never risk losing that kind of an investment to an unpredictable invert who will sooner or later get the munchies for your zoanthids.

Every EC that I have witnessed consuming zoanthids had a shell the size of a quarter or larger. I believe that once these scavengers reach maturity with a shell the size of a quarter, they are no longer the innocent little herbivores we believed they were. Below are but a few links of past discussions with real life accounts of the havoc an EC can reek.

Mucho Reef


http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=691180&highlight=emerald+crabs

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=691180&highlight=emerald+crabs

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=239215&highlight=emerald+crabs

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=958171&highlight=emerald+crabs

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=230350&highlight=emerald+crabs

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=881185&highlight=emerald+crabs

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=961385&highlight=emerald+crabs
 
thanks guys i've caught 3 of the six i have picking at or around my zaos, and put them in another tank. put my zoo rock out in the open so if they hit it i can catch them. it's off to the pet store w/ these 3.
 
Echidna09, could you elaborate why? A lot of people would benefit from knowing. Thanks.

Mucho
 
My Peppermint shrimp eat the skirts off my palythoas when they get hungry. They leave all my zoanthids alone so far. Strange. The other night they ate every piece of skirt off my RPEs! Ive been feeding them more since and feeding my hawk fish less. Maybe if my hawk gets hungry enough he will solve my Peppermint problem.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11045961#post11045961 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SoFloReefer
My Peppermint shrimp eat the skirts off my palythoas when they get hungry. They leave all my zoanthids alone so far. Strange. The other night they ate every piece of skirt off my RPEs! Ive been feeding them more since and feeding my hawk fish less. Maybe if my hawk gets hungry enough he will solve my Peppermint problem.
Click to expand...


see, that was my thought on all these critters--- they are opportunistic. If fed well, they are less likely to go looking for other things to eat. In our tanks we try to find that balance between feeding well and feeding the algae.

Still, I'm like Mucho. All these guys have come out of the tank. If I am in need of one for a job, i buy very small and they are banished when they grow.
 
Some of these guys can be bull dozers and knoeck frags out of place, or in the rock work. I've lost a ew frags like that.
 
MUCHO REEF said:
It's a debate that will rage on forever probably, but I can honestly say that I would never trust them in a tank full of zoanthids. I have seen, witnessed and heard numerous accounts of their destruction. I spent an entire weekend years ago catching everyone of them in my tank once I witnessed it for myself their attacks. They are however voracious scavengers who will consume bubble algae and some nuisance algae. Some believe they are getting a bad rep because they are just consuming algae around the polyps and it appears they are eating zoas. Not true, they will eat zoa polyps when the urge arrives. The truth is that they are indeed unpredictable and with the escalating rise in cost to purchase a bunch of new zoanthid, I would never risk losing that kind of an investment to an unpredictable invert who will sooner or later get the munchies for your zoanthids.

Every EC that I have witnessed consuming zoanthids had a shell the size of a quarter or larger. I believe that once these scavengers reach maturity with a shell the size of a quarter, they are no longer the innocent little herbivores we believed they were. Below are but a few links of past discussions with real life accounts of the havoc an EC can reek.

Mucho Reef


http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=691180&highlight=emerald+crabs

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=691180&highlight=emerald+crabs

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=239215&highlight=emerald+crabs

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=958171&highlight=emerald+crabs

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=230350&highlight=emerald+crabs

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=881185&highlight=emerald+crabs

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=961385&highlight=emerald+crabs
Click to expand...



Emerald crabs, you can't trust them, ever.


Mucho
 
Mucho, I have an emerald crab in each of my tanks and they haven't bothered my corals yet. If they do begin to bother my corals how do you suggest getting them out?
 
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