Red reed lobster safe to add?

[Christopher Davis]

A buddy handed me off this beautiful reef lobster, he is done with the hobby. This guy looks to be full grown over 6 inches. I have 3 tangs and a large wrasse. The tangs are maybe 3-4 inches all around and the wrasse is over 8 inches.
Would that be a mistake? I don’t want to see my purple tang get munced on. For now he’s in my sump.

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

They are not reef safe IME, I had one for 3 months before I ended up selling him a to a fellow hobbyist for a few different reasons. They will eat coral, mine loved to eat leather corals and I also lost some zoas during its stay. If you have starfish, be prepared for them to be eaten as well. My sandsifting starfish was consumed from the tip of its arms back towards its body that by the time I got rid of the lobster, over half of each arm had been eaten. The lobster I had also chased my yellow watchman goby out of the tank, when I found the goby the next morning on the floor it had pincer marks on its tail. It had chased the goby all over the tank and made it squeeze through a small gap in my screen lid where my powerhead cable comes into the tank.

These guys are opportunistic feeders and will go after anything it can get its claws on, so I would be careful with adding it to your tank. They look neat but not worth the headache in my opinion unless your fish are much bigger than the lobster and have a lot of space to hide at night.

 

[Christopher Davis]

They are not reef safe IME, I had one for 3 months before I ended up selling him a to a fellow hobbyist for a few different reasons. They will eat coral, mine loved to eat leather corals and I also lost some zoas during its stay. If you have starfish, be prepared for them to be eaten as well. My sandsifting starfish was consumed from the tip of its arms back towards its body that by the time I got rid of the lobster, over half of each arm had been eaten. The lobster I had also chased my yellow watchman goby out of the tank, when I found the goby the next morning on the floor it had pincer marks on its tail. It had chased the goby all over the tank and made it squeeze through a small gap in my screen lid where my powerhead cable comes into the tank.

These guys are opportunistic feeders and will go after anything it can get its claws on, so I would be careful with adding it to your tank. They look neat but not worth the headache in my opinion unless your fish are much bigger than the lobster and have a lot of space to hide at night.

Thanks for confirming my fears! I don’t think this guys a good fit for my tank right now. I don’t want to loose any corals. I have a clam and shrimps.

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

Thanks for confirming my fears! I don’t think this guys a good fit for my tank right now. I don’t want to loose any corals. I have a clam and shrimps.

I'm sorry that I've now put you in a situation where you have to figure out what to do with the little fella, but I also wanted to make sure nobody went through the same troubles I had. For what it's worth, he could probably live out the rest of his days in your sump just fine, I would just make sure that there's no way it can crawl out.

 

[Tautog]

+1 and 100% NOT reef safe Lobsters are cannibals

 

[Christopher Davis]

Red reef lobster for sale 29.99 a pound ;)

 

[Tautog]

Red reef lobster for sale 29.99 a pound ;)

2 yrs ago in Old Orchard Beach, ME there was an abundance : $2.50/ Lb I came home with a cooler full

 

[ThunderGoose]

I think she'd make a nice Queen of the Sump! I have a few "problem" critters in there that I enjoy feeding and watching.

 

[Christopher Davis]

Anyone want this guy?

 

[FloodWaters]

Even the picture you posted has him looking a little feisty lol.

 

[Silverking90]

I have one in my 230g reef tank. No problems with him eating corals, but now that he's grown a little, he's a savage. Despite my large tank, adequate room, and large fish, he's taken out some big tank mates. It ate my melanarus wrasse, my other purple reef lobster, pink square anthias, and 2 huge sally light foot crabs. Ive had him a while with no problems but over the last new months he started eating everything.