Emerald Crab Eating Imperator Angel

[leeveh99]

I've got a 55 gal setup with two clowns, an assortment of snails, one hermit crab and two emerald crabs. I recently finished quarantining a small imperator angel and added him to my display tank. That was about a week ago. He seemed to be doing fine, grazing on the rocks, was not fighting with the clowns (even when going by their territory). A day ago when I turned my lights on in my tank I saw that the back of the imperator angel was nipped at and almost looked like something had feasted on its back end. It was literally chewed to its back bone. I naturally assumed that it was my clowns that got aggressive with it. I watched it throughout the day and while it stayed in hiding for most of the day, it did come out occasionally. When it was out it was near the clowns and I saw no aggression whatsoever. This morning I woke up and was looking for my angel and found him pinned down on a rock by my biggest emerald and he was just casually picking away at the backbone of my angel! I scared him away but the angel was done for. Have you guys seen this before? I was under the impression that emeralds were scavengers, not hunters.

 

[melosu58]

I personally dont think he was hunted. He probably died and the crab was scavenging the remains. IMO they are too slow to catch a fish like that. JMO

 

[HN1]

X2. The angel most likely was picked on and stressed to death by the clowns. The crab did the clean up.

 

[leeveh99]

What do you guys suggest for adding more fish? I would like to get another imperator, a flame, and a yellow tang. Should I put the clowns in one of those hang in the tank baskets for a week or two until they get used to the other fish?

 

[melosu58]

Saltwater Aquarium Fish for Marine Aquariums: Emperor Angelfish

As you can see the angel you are talking about needs at least a 100 gallon tank. You might want to think about an upgrade or go with fish that would be good for that size tank.

 

[HN1]

I agree with Mike. Check out the dwarf angelfishes, most should be suitable for a 55G.

Dwarf Angelfish: Flame Angelfish and other Dwarf Angels

As far as putting the clowns into a floating basket, I doubt it would work. Fish don't really learn from timeouts. They are instinctive animals. Clowns are damsels and act like them.

 

[leeveh99]

What fish would be better suited for my tank then?

 

[mfdrookie516]

What fish would be better suited for my tank then?

...

I agree with Mike. Check out the dwarf angelfishes, most should be suitable for a 55G.

Dwarf Angelfish: Flame Angelfish and other Dwarf Angels

 

[leeveh99]

haha thanks MFDROOKIE, I can obviously read the previous post. what I meant was some suggestions on fish other than the dwarf angels. As you can see I have already selected the dwarf flame angel as another possibility. I thought maybe the other guys would have some advice on specific fish that tend to get along well with clowns, I mentioned the yellow tang. Is there any known compatibility issues with two clowns and a yellow tang? No need to copy and paste posts just to get your numbers up...

 

[leeveh99]

Would splitting up my clowns reduce the amount of aggression?

 

[melosu58]

So are these clowns a mated pair or two different types of clowns. Reason I asked is because two different clowns will not get along in a 55. I could not get two to get along in a 125 gallon tank. A mated pair you should be OK.

 

[leeveh99]

Two ocellaris clowns. Bought them about 3 months ago, one is quite visibly larger so, 1 male/female combo, no anemone. They always swim together, don't see any aggression between the two. I just don't want to keep adding fish if these two are going to stay defensive and attack all the time.

 

[melosu58]

You`ll just need to get something bigger than them. As far as the tang I would only suggest a yellow or a yellow eyed kole tang in a 55. None of the others will work IMO.

 

[divedeep1689]

With the angel fish do you plan on making this into a reef tank or a fowlr tank because you have this post in a reef thread section not the fish only or fowlr if you plan to go reef i would stay away from angel fish its a hit or miss but most of the time they eat coral.

 

[leeveh99]

I was planning on getting corals alot farther down the road I want to set up my tank with the fish first before I jump into corals. I do want to get button polyps, will these fish eat those? And if I just get a yellow tang, will it be fiesty enough to fend off the clowns? Or just make sure I get the biggest yellow tang I can find at the fish store?

 

[divedeep1689]

Well for a 55 you want to start with a small tang, the angels favorite coral to eat i believe is polyps lol and i think if ya get the tang you should be fine with your clowns my tang is the boss of my tank if anything tho you can take the clown out for a few days quarantine tank him then add the tang and clown at same time.

 

[leeveh99]

Ok sounds good. Thanks to everyone for the advice

 

[bestfish]

yea. i would say he died. not too many predator emerald crabs out there stalking big game fish.

 

[leeveh99]

Guys,
I went ahead and put a yellow tang in this setup that I had quarantined for about 2-3 weeks. He was eating fine, eating brine shrimp and flake food. I put him in one of those baskets that hang on the inside of the tank to acclimate him to the clowns and vise versa. I let him out after a couple days and the clowns came to inspect him, a little bit of cat and mouse for about 5 min then they left him alone. Over the last week I have seen no aggression towards the yellow tang, even when they go after the same piece of flake food. I have however noticed that the yellow tang likes to hide behind my live rock pretty well out of sight. What I also noticed was that wherever the yellow tang is, there is an emerald crab. The yellow tang gets so close to the crab that he is actually touching it and I did not see any aggression. Its face must have been 1cm from the crab’s claws. I have been watching over the last couple of days and have noticed small nips on the back fins of the yellow tang, still can't see any aggression in the tank. Now here is the weird part that I CAN NOT understand. Last night I watched my yellow tang hang around the emerald crab when I noticed the crab reach out. He grabbed a hold of the yellow tang and tore a small piece of fin off. Now I can understand maybe that the crab doesn't like his privacy invaded but what I can't understand is why they yellow tang keeps going back to the crab if it is quite literally picking it apart. He just kept going back, the crab would grab him, he'd swim away then come back. It's almost as if he feels he needs to be around the crab all the time ( Protection from clowns?) but at the same time I can't figure out why he would go back. ANY ideas guys, from what you have said, this should not be happening. Thanks for all your help.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

It's not necessarily that what you're describing shouldn't be happening... it's that what your original post was about (crab killing fish outright) probably didn't happen.

Crabs are opportunistic little buggers. If a fish is dumb enough to hang around one as it's being nipped at, then the crab is going to take full advantage of the situation. Crabs eat the easiest food available, and if your tang is handy, well...