Anemone & Leather strange... under attack?
by
, 10-22-2013 at 08:12 AM (6098 Views)
A few days after my last post, when the new inhabitants had been about 10 or 12 days in the tank and I was happy that everyone was nicely extended, I noticed the Leather coral started to extend less its tentacles and the anemone also wasn't extending it's tentacles...
Strange...
I though of several possibilities, water quality, chemical attack from another coral, under attack from crab?
Water quality seemed OK. My PH, KH and Ca tests were normal (Mg not so much more on that in another post) and the other corals were all normal and well extended.
Just in case I put in some carbon GAC in a bag in the sump, to absorb potentially harmful chemicals from a possible chemical war going on. Skimmer operating normally, nothing strange.
My strongest suspicion was attack from the Mithrax crabs. Well, guess what, ended up seeing two different attackers in action.
First, caught my peppermint shrimp attacking the anemone... kind of explains why it isn't extending much. I scared the shrimp away, and hope it doesn't attack it again.
Then, caught one of my Mithrax crabs trying to attack the Leather coral... that explains why it is sometimes contracted, and most of the time not very extended. Also scared it off, hitting it on the head, I hope it remembers that and never tries to attack the Leather coral again... Here is a picture of the crab hanging on the coral, trying to get a bite:
I had seen its counterpart (another Mithrax slightly larger than it, probably the female of the couple) successfully eating a baby Leather that was at the base of this Leather coral, right after I added it to the tank, but, I thought the large guy was not a target.
I hope the large guy is able to defend itself by being tough, slippery or unsavory...
Living with Mithrax crabs is full of surprises... but with the valonias around, specially the red ones, I don't think I have much of an option. The only option I guess would be to redo the tank, with new sand, rocks and water.... and all the equipment either new or bleached... which I'm not interested in doing right now.
Snorkeler