Social Purple Lobster!?!?!?!

crabsrkewl

crabsrkewl

Member
Well today I was feeding my fish same as always and some food floated (literally it like can't sink for some reason) to the other side of my tank where my purple lobster lives. Then he came out in some dumb attempt to catch the floating plankton. It was weird b/c he's never come out of his cave to catch plankton on the surface. I was very proud of him and gave him some sinking pellet thingies. Is this normal and does anyone have any experience with this?
 
fishgeek01

fishgeek01

Active Member
IMO he is hungry. He has not received enough food scavenging in your tank and he may become aggressive. Case in point, I have a 75 gallon that i feed heavily because i breed fish. I put my tank on a fasting period where I only fed once every 3rd or 4th day for about 2 weeks to get an idea of the stimulus in breeding and nutrition. A little at home research if you will. During this time my reef lobster went nuts and decided he was not getting enough food. He made his presence felt during one feeding when he grabbed my male friedmani pseudochromis and proceded to drag him into his cave and make an expensive snack out of him. He did the same shortly after with my wifes mandarin. The next day. Since then i have gone back to my daily feedings and have not seen or heard from him since. I see him moving aroundbehind my rocks so i know he is still there alive and well, and i haven't lost any more fish since then (although I have a few that I wouldnt mind losing...)
 
fishgeek01

fishgeek01

Active Member
The pseudochromis is not a slow moving fish, nor a dumb one, so take that story for what it is worth, but thats my 2 cents. I would recommend feeding him shortly after the lights go out with a few sinking pellets or some mysis. that way there is less compitition with the fish and he/she will get more.
 
drakken

drakken

Member
Originally Posted by crabsrkewl
Well today I was feeding my fish same as always and some food floated (literally it like can't sink for some reason) to the other side of my tank where my purple lobster lives. Then he came out in some dumb attempt to catch the floating plankton. It was weird b/c he's never come out of his cave to catch plankton on the surface. I was very proud of him and gave him some sinking pellet thingies. Is this normal and does anyone have any experience with this?

Purple lobsters are mean SOBs. He only came out to get food. They will eat/kill anything they can sink their claws into. I suggest spot feeding with meaty frozen food. Also, do not keep slow moving fish or bottom dwellers like gobies, firefish or jawfish. I made that mistake and lost a LMB and firefish before I could get it out and return it.
 
crabsrkewl

crabsrkewl

Member
Originally Posted by Drakken
Purple lobsters are mean SOBs. He only came out to get food. They will eat/kill anything they can sink their claws into. I suggest spot feeding with meaty frozen food. Also, do not keep slow moving fish or bottom dwellers like gobies, firefish or jawfish. I made that mistake and lost a LMB and firefish before I could get it out and return it.
Well I guess that explains where my camel back shrimp went but any way he's been gone for months with no murders besides the shrimp. I now do feed him on a daily basis.
 
alyssia

alyssia

Active Member
I have had three purple lobsters in with shrimp, snails, and even seahorses and they have never hurt anything.
 
crabsrkewl

crabsrkewl

Member
Oh well ok that's good. My shrimp could be hiding but it doesn't matter to much since I somehow got 3 camel shrimp for $1.36
 
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