Joe Tony
Active Member
Hello, I just got my first Debelius purple reef lobster a few days ago. Its healthy enough, although it hides a lot. I don't have any fish in the tank, but I have some hermit crabs, snails, worms, hitchiker clams, tiny feather dusters, macroalgae, etc. So far it doesn't seem like the lobster's really gone after anything at all, although it's difficult to tell when he's only active and visible when the lights are completely off, it's nighttime, and I can't see anything lol.
I'm not crazy about getting a lot of saltwater fish, but I want to get a pair of ocellaris clownfish with it, as well as an orchard dottyback (and maybe a banggai cardinal fish). My tank's a 30 gallon, but I plan on upgrading to a 55 in the next year or so. The lobster is 2-3 inches, I would say. I really love that lobster and I know they live a long time, so I really would like to keep it in a reef tank longterm, and I'm fairly certain they won't eat corals. But I keep jumping back and forth between forums on this website and others about whether a reef lobster is safe with fish or not. Some talk about how they constantly had fish's fins torn apart from the lobster, others claim to have no issues. Some say as long as you keep it well-fed there should be no problems, others say it'll grow to be a killer.
I'm not overly concerned about my lobster eating a snail or two or a couple of hermit crabs, bristle worms, amphipods, etc. and I kept the female emerald crabs in the past with no issues, yet I see debates about crabs eating coral polyps as well.
Please, given the situation I just described, given that clowns sleep at the top of the tank and how fast orhid dottybacks can be when disturbed, how risky would it be to keep a lobster, well-fed, with just these fish (and also ornamental inverts like a blood red fire shrimp, tuxedo urchin, etc.)? And I would appreciate input from people who have actually kept these creatures in the past longterm, not just the reef keepers who have never dared tried it and never will.
I'm not crazy about getting a lot of saltwater fish, but I want to get a pair of ocellaris clownfish with it, as well as an orchard dottyback (and maybe a banggai cardinal fish). My tank's a 30 gallon, but I plan on upgrading to a 55 in the next year or so. The lobster is 2-3 inches, I would say. I really love that lobster and I know they live a long time, so I really would like to keep it in a reef tank longterm, and I'm fairly certain they won't eat corals. But I keep jumping back and forth between forums on this website and others about whether a reef lobster is safe with fish or not. Some talk about how they constantly had fish's fins torn apart from the lobster, others claim to have no issues. Some say as long as you keep it well-fed there should be no problems, others say it'll grow to be a killer.
I'm not overly concerned about my lobster eating a snail or two or a couple of hermit crabs, bristle worms, amphipods, etc. and I kept the female emerald crabs in the past with no issues, yet I see debates about crabs eating coral polyps as well.
Please, given the situation I just described, given that clowns sleep at the top of the tank and how fast orhid dottybacks can be when disturbed, how risky would it be to keep a lobster, well-fed, with just these fish (and also ornamental inverts like a blood red fire shrimp, tuxedo urchin, etc.)? And I would appreciate input from people who have actually kept these creatures in the past longterm, not just the reef keepers who have never dared tried it and never will.
