Elegance ate cleaner shrimp

[bct15]

Well my new huge elegance coral ate one of my cleaner shrimp last night. I fed it a slice of gulf shrimp and when the cleaner went in for the steal it got grabbed and eaten. All of my fish were around it like they were in stadium seating watching the hole thing go down.

 

[Pkunk35]

Well my new huge elegance coral ate one of my cleaner shrimp last night. I fed it a slice of gulf shrimp and when the cleaner went in for the steal it got grabbed and eaten. All of my fish were around it like they were in stadium seating watching the hole thing go down.

Wow, are they that aggressive at food capture? Did it sting and paralyze the shrimp first?

I remember when elegance corals were "best left in the ocean"...great to see some things do change for the better!

 

[bct15]

Wow, are they that aggressive at food capture? Did it sting and paralyze the shrimp first?

I remember when elegance corals were "best left in the ocean"...great to see some things do change for the better!

The shrimp walked into the coral and started doing its typical tugging at the food. The elegance just wrapped part of itself around the shrimp and started pulling towards a mouth. The shrimp did not try to fight so I guess it was paralyzed. This elegance is huge, I've seen it blow up to about 7"x4"x5" conservatively giving measurements.

 

[shells4]

My husband's cleaner shrimp danced on the elegance for months and one day it got him too.

 

[Tabasco1]

Man! Wish you got pics!! :)