Purple / Orange reef lobster threat?

by **mark98513** on 03 Aug 2012 02:04

Hi guys
Just wondering has any one any experience of purple/orange reef lobster.
I have one of these guys in my tank for over a year and a half and has got quite
big over the time, didn't notice any trouble in the tank until recently - 3 cleaner
shrimp, 1 fire shrimp and 2 large peppermint shrimps have dissappeared.
Was wondering could the lobster be the culprit, although I still have a boxer shrimp
still in the tank, maybe he might need police protection.
Hoping for some advice.
If the lobster had to go, any ideas how to catch him as he never comes out from
under the rocks.
Thanks in advance
Mark

by **Anthony** on 03 Aug 2012 09:38

Can you name the species of Lobster. I think I kept the same species and they are mostly reef friendly.
Boxer Shrimp can and will kill other Shrimps. I`ll have a look later for the species I kept to see if it
is the same one.

by **Alan.C** on 03 Aug 2012 10:20

How big is big ?. I have a blue spiny lobster and I have been reading some conflicting stories on them but so far I haven't seen mine do anything, but I did loose a peppermint shrimp 2 weeks ago, but I was away so dont know what happend. I do see my lobster eating what my crabs have left over after shedding, but I suppose that's good thing and his only doing his job .

by **mark98513** on 03 Aug 2012 11:19

Hi guys
The species i have i am not too sure of but he looks the exact same as the one on seahorse site,
he is now about 3.5'' long about twice the size I got him at, its just I cant figure out where all the other shrimps have gone and I have seen this lobster making a go for some of the fish, the boxer shrimp I have seems very quiet. Have read up on this lobster and they are supposed to be peaceful.
Any ideas how to catch him if i have to as I love having cleaner shrimps etc in the tank and if i cant with this guy - he has to go.

by **Siobhan** on 04 Aug 2012 19:07

I had one of these, had to tear the whole tank down to get him out. Just like you my shrimp started to disappear, then every gobie went missing, I wouldnt class these as reef safe once they are a certain size :roll:

by **mark98513** on 05 Aug 2012 04:47

Siobhan wrote:I had one of these, had to tear the whole tank down to get him out. Just like you my shrimp started to disappear, then every gobie went missing, I wouldnt class these as reef safe once they are a certain size

Thanks Siobhan
Was beginning to blame my boxer shrimp who I love but he has been in the tank since day 1 and have had
no problem with him - I think.
Will have to figure out how i will catch the bugger now as tearing down my tank is not an option, I think if
i did that i would never put it back together again.
Mark

by **Siobhan** on 05 Aug 2012 14:46

I did try various traps but couldnt catch him with anything, he was always too wary to go into anything. I was re-scaping the tank anyway so thats when I had the chance to take him out, best decision I made was evicting him!

by **Anthony** on 07 Aug 2012 14:34

Hi Mark,
I could not find the Invert book I have to identify the Lobster I kept. I don`t think it was the same
species as yours as mine was reef safe.
If I find out anything about it I will get back to you..

by **mark98513** on 08 Aug 2012 02:15

Thanks Anthony
Will have to do something soon as I had to add a goby to the death list now, he was def killed as he was perfectly healthy yesterday and today I found exactly half his body, like he was cut down the middle.
The police were called to investigate the murder.

by **Anthony** on 08 Aug 2012 09:49

Hi Mark, I think the species I had was a Debelius Reef Lobster and I never had a problem with him.
I am not 100% though. When I find my Invert book I will ID him properly..