Gold striped maroons nipping at frogspawn!

[Vegas RN]

Just wondering if anyone else has had this problem? My GBTA recently died and since then my maroons have been all over the tank which is nice since they use to move only 6 inches away from the bta and I would hardly see them. Anyway I was watching them swim near my frag of frogspawn and the female just bit and ripped a small piece off! I'm hoping she was just curious but I figured Id ask. Thanks

 

[LukFox]

Maroons do this. They'll even bite off anemone tentacles. She might have just been trying to acclimate herself to the sting so she can host it, or it could get worse. Some people don't consider maroons to be reef safe when they get older.

 

[snorvich]

Absent a BTA, maroons will look for comparable to associate with. They can damage certain coral types especially goniopora.