Emerald crab caught eating SPS

[jmichaelh7]

So I finally caught the culprit to many of my SPS being eaten and torn apart. I walked into the living room to see an Emerald crab going to town on a Birdnest I have in the middle.

I grabbed him and put him in the sump where he will remain indefinitely. I have three other I most likely won’t catch until I see them in the act due to the fact it’s a hit or miss with these guys right?

is the sump long term appropriate or shall I donate?

Thanks

 

[ZoWhat]

 

[IceParrot]

I caught my emerald going to town on a Stylo and as I was watching it, it moved to a birdsnest and started devouring that as well. This surprised me as the crab has been fine for months. This also occured when the tank was in a general downturn so maybe it decided to eat the coral once it was weakened. They can be hungry little boogers...

 

[Joekovar]

I've got one with a carapace about the size of a quarter that lives in my purple stylo. The stylo branches have started growing in a way that leaves a cavity in the crabs spot. When I feed, bits of food get caught by the stylo and the crab grabs anything within reach with minimal harm to the stylo. Compact volume wise, the stylo is at least 20x the size of the crab.

I was originally going to remove the crab because it kept redecorating the tank. I ended up putting the stylo in as a hand sized colony not thinking about the crab, and it inadvertently solved my crab problem.