blue lobster punishment

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ostrichkiller

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Sep 11, 2003
Messages
103
Location
Lockport NY
ok i have had a small blue lobster in my tank for about 2 months now and he has just started to attack my fish. i found one fancy guppy missing most of his tail fin ,but still seams happy, and i just woke up this morning to find that the lobster attacked one of my black fin tetras and almost sliced it in half. is it cruel for me to rip his one larger claw off??? i know that it can happen in normal life in nature and they grow them back with no problems after they molt. i feel kinda bad doing it but for the life of my fish i really think i should. he uses two other small arms to feed with and the only thing i have ever seen him use the larger ones for is for snapping at my fish when they get close. in his defence the only time i see him is when he comes out of his drift wood in the middle of the night to feed and stays on the bottom of the tank while all my fish swim/float around the top sleeping. if i see him when i get something out of the fridge or that i drop and algea waffer in next to him and he grabs it and runs back to his drift wood with it in his mouth. it wouldn't hurt him if i did it right???
 
IMO, ripping off the claw is cruel. This is no different than cutting fins off a fish if you do not approve of it chasing other fish. Giving the offender away would be a better option compared to physically crippling the lobster because it is doing what comes naturally.

Some fish are likely wandering low in the tank during the night, and getting snatched up. My Guppies always sleep at the top too, but every so often I catch one sleeping on the bottom of the tank.

Your Tetra could have died, then the Lobster got to it. It is always a possibility...
 
Totally uncalled for punishment. Research critters before buying. They eat fish in the wild, and they'll eat them in captivity. I hope he recovers.
 
You're kidding right? You really wouldn't do this? :(

If he's causing a problem in your tank, can't you take him back to the store or give him away?
 
i didn't do it!!! i was just contomplating. the tetra didn't die then float down because he is still alive right now. just with no tail. i think i am going to be getting a larger tank for x-mas and he might move into there but until then i was just thinking and decided to think outloud (kinda, through text) and as for research i did do it. for the most part all my fish except the cae's they all sleep above where the crab can get to. the cae's are also nocternal and don't go any where neer the lobster at night. i have only had one major problem in 2 months and other than that have not seen any problems at all. sorry for the confusion
 
I have an idea. You can rubberband the claws like in the fish market ....

Not sure if that's humane in the long term tho.
 
IMHO, the only fault i see here is YOUR fault.

Why put a lobster with tetra in same tank when you know lobster eat fish?

You should separate the lobster from the smaller fish as it is not proper and will never proper to mix both in same tank. It just matter of time before it'll kill rest of its tank mate.
 
"1 blue lobster that cleans my gravel nicely"

Btw, a group of ghost shrimp will do better for your tank gravel.
 
Haha that is awesome.

I don't know if I could bring myself to rip off the lobster's claw- it's probably harder to do than you'd imagine. Rubberbanding the claw would be an interesting experiment if only for a shor time, but trading the thing in or getting a separate tank sooner is probably a better idea. Another long-term solution might be a river tank. These use molded dividers that look like rock to separate one tank into 2 or 3 smaller pools, that cascade from one to the next. You'd need to do a whole tear-down though.

Way to think outside the box

-J
 
Give him to someone who wants him. I bought one and I didn't do enough research so the next morning I woke to find him snacking on my fav. female betta :roll: . I promptly took him back to petco. They took him back with no problems. I don't think you need to band his claw either. Just take him out and give him away if the lfs won't take him back.
 
I would look into rubber-banding his claws. He doesn't need them to eat, just to catch prey. He has those claws for protection and to help break apart hard shelled prey in the wild. I don't think it would be cruel to try the rubber band thing. And I know you are getting a lot of crap for asking if it'd be cruel to cut off his claws- but at least you asked and found out some other options.

Good luck
 
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