Esmerald crab

aaron7405

Member
Hi there I just get two ameral crab to my nano, I saw 2 little bubble alguea in a rock with some corals, I took it outs carrefully by heand, and I get 2 esmeral crabs to control the bubble.
My cuestion is:
as the crab is alguea eater, will eat my coraline alguea?? is just starting (my tank is new like 3 month old)
Will pick on other stuff like soft corals, shroom, green star? (thats what I have on my nano).
Thanks all for the anwsers.
 

darthgoby

Member
My emeralds don't eat any of that stuff, including the bubble algae. I had one of them that even might have had red slime algae growing on his leg.
 

dawman

Active Member
You don`t want anything to eat or pop the bubble algae . When a bubble pops or punctured it releases a fluid and the algae will spread fast . Best thing to do is take the rock out and remove the bubble algae .
 

reefreak29

Active Member
Originally Posted by aaron7405
Hi there I just get two ameral crab to my nano, I saw 2 little bubble alguea in a rock with some corals, I took it outs carrefully by heand, and I get 2 esmeral crabs to control the bubble.
My cuestion is:
as the crab is alguea eater, will eat my coraline alguea?? is just starting (my tank is new like 3 month old)
Will pick on other stuff like soft corals, shroom, green star? (thats what I have on my nano).
Thanks all for the anwsers.
to answer your questions they wont eat coraline
as they get larger they may nip at the softies
 

aaron7405

Member
What I have notice is than they are relly picking at the coral than is starting to form on the rock, they have been on my tank for 2 days and the rock start to look like bleach, I am going to put in on a friend thank than have some alguea problems.
 

aaron7405

Member
Originally Posted by Dawman
You don`t want anything to eat or pop the bubble algae . When a bubble pops or punctured it releases a fluid and the algae will spread fast . Best thing to do is take the rock out and remove the bubble algae .
I did I took tham by hand, but I just put the smerald in case than something has left.
I read than the buble alguea will realease the spores whey there are mature.
Thanx for the advise.
 

aaron7405

Member
Originally Posted by Darthgoby
My emeralds don't eat any of that stuff, including the bubble algae. I had one of them that even might have had red slime algae growing on his leg.
What do they eat then???
 

renogaw

Active Member
emerald crabs will generally be the only thing that can safely touch and eat green bubble algae. they do though help it spread as well by letting some of it go while they are eating it. they also eat left over food, small algae that grows all over your tank that you cannot generally see (this is them picking at your coralline) and will eat just about anything that is decomposing. you should offer them algae sheets every once in a while, along with meaty foods such as shrimp, clam, scallops, fish etc, but they will constantly graze on algae in your tank as well.
 

good alex

Member
dont want to jack your thread but i have a quick qustion, would an emerald crab get along with an anemone crab aka Porcelain Crab, i too have a bit of an algae problem.
 

ophiura

Active Member
IME, just about anything is "fair game" for large emerald crabs. They clearly pick away at coralline and rocks in my tanks (they leave tell tale scratches) and eat soft corals (esp, in my case, a toadstool leather). They did quite a nice job, however, on some bubble algae before this.
 
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