Coral being bothered by tank mate

[Turkey head]

I probably already know the answer but I will ask anyway. During the lockdown from COVID-19 my tanks went downhill because I wasn’t able to water change like I should (I buy water from the LFS). So I’ve been starting over. There is an abundance of bristle worms so I bought an arrow crab to clean house. It had found a spot right next to an LPS coral. Probably because it know it can steal a meal when I fed mysis to the tank. It hasn’t picked at the coral at all. It just hangs out with it’s legs touching. I’ve noticed the polyps tend to stay in near the crab. Will this be a problem for the coral over time?

 

[dbraun15]

Coral looks healthy in picture...shouldn't be a problem. If you don't like how the arrow crab is behaving, trade it/give it away or sell it. You can also move the coral to another place in the tank if you aren't comfortable with the situation.

 

[Turkey head]

Otherwise, the crab is behaving well so far. I may give it a little time and see. I may move the coral a bit. It’s happy where it is and is more important to me than the crab. I can trade it in to the LFS if I need to.. thanks

 

[BighohoReef]

It’s hit of miss, I agree your coral looks healthy but it might stay in that “closed” state if it continues to be pestered. I had a similar experience with a Goni and peppermint shrimp, shrimp would walk all over And pick off food that it collected... it would never extend. Ultimately I ended up getting rid of the shrimp and the goni started to extend again.

pic for reference: