Torches: Will they Kill Fish/Inverts?

[TDDredge]

Okay, I've seen other posts across a bunch of forums that haven't totally cleared this up. I see some that say absolutely no, a torch will not kill a fish or shrimp, and I see others claiming they're bloodthirsty monsters that get up in the dark and hunt down your fish to murder them. Hyperbole aside, has anyone had a torch sting or kill a fish or shrimp? I have a nice isolated rock that would be a nice island for them to stay on if I got some, and they could have a nice radius to not have any corals in range.

 

[LegendaryCG]

Never seen a torch hurt a fish. My clowns host in one.

 

[tnewell]

Never seen a torch hurt a fish. My clowns host in one.

+1

 

[tnewell]

Only thing a torch can do is absolutely obliterate other corals,

 

[MERKEY]

Never seen a torch hurt a fish. My clowns host in one.

This is my nightmare

 

[TDDredge]

Only thing a torch can do is absolutely obliterate other corals,

See that's the capability that I can manage, but find myself concerned about. I do understand their sting can be a bit of a pain if you are tagged (I always handle corals with gloves so I should be good), I just want to be sure that if a fish happened to cross the line of fire, they would probably make it out okay.

 

[JumboShrimp]

I would suppose many people wake up to see their torch ‘eating’ their fish— and fail to appreciate that rather than having killed the fish, a dead fish simply floated it’s way.

 

[TDDredge]

I would suppose many people wake up to see their torch ‘eating’ their fish— and fail to appreciate that rather than having killed the fish, a dead fish simply floated it’s way.

I entirely understand this. I mean hell what exactly do we have cleanup crew for? That's not really so much my concern as this: what happens if a fish encounters a sweeper tendril?

 

[MERKEY]

Sweepers hit my fish all the time and nothing happens so I'm sure yours will be ok.

 

[JumboShrimp]

Did you see my fish-killing mushroom? Not. Fake. News! (Lol!)

 

[TDDredge]

Sweepers hit my fish all the time and nothing happens so I'm sure yours will be ok.

And I presume that's torches, right? I have a bunch of other euphylia, but none that pack quite the punch of torches. Thank you for this though, I just want to be very sure before I move forward and properly research everything. I have definitely heard accounts of torches coming out on top against btas, so I trust they have a rather heavy hit.

 

[MERKEY]

Here is a video of my WWC torch (the big one in the middle) waving its hair all around...it slaps into everything it can including swimming fish.

Give the video a minute to load. There are also 3 dots on the right of the video where you can hit download which may be faster.

 

[TDDredge]

Here is a video of my WWC torch (the big one in the middle) waving its hair all around...it slaps into everything it can including swimming fish.

Give the video a minute to load. There are also 3 dots on the right of the video where you can hit download which may be faster.

This is great thank you so much! Have you ever had an issue with it tagging inverts? I do have a cleaner shrimp who I am rather fond of, I do believe the pistol will never contact it.

 

[TDDredge]

This is great thank you so much! Have you ever had an issue with it tagging inverts? I do have a cleaner shrimp who I am rather fond of, I do believe the pistol will never contact it.

 

[MERKEY]

This is great thank you so much! Have you ever had an issue with it tagging inverts? I do have a cleaner shrimp who I am rather fond of, I do believe the pistol will never contact it.

The cleaner will absolutely LOVE your torch.

I have never owned one as shrimp and crabs are known to go rogue and eat corals.

We had a few emerald crabs in the beggining of our journey that started eating zoas like candy. That was enough to keep crabs and shrimp out. Well we actually have a pair of harlequin shrimp but those don't eat corals by any means lol

Most of the time it is usually the coral already dying and the inverts just doing their job or stealing food from the corals but thats hard to tell sometimes so people choose to not introduce them together.

If you get a torch just keep an eye on the cleaner shrimp and if the torch is not coming out a lot it could mean it is getting aggravated by the cleaner.

 

[TDDredge]

The cleaner will absolutely LOVE your torch.

I have never owned one as shrimp and crabs are known to go rogue and eat corals.

We had a few emerald crabs in the beggining of our journey that started eating zoas like candy. That was enough to keep crabs and shrimp out. Well we actually have a pair of harlequin shrimp but those don't eat corals by any means lol

Most of the time it is usually the coral already dying and the inverts just doing their job or stealing food from the corals but thats hard to tell sometimes so people choose to not introduce them together.

If you get a torch just keep an eye on the cleaner shrimp and if the torch is not coming out a lot it could mean it is getting aggravated by the cleaner.

This cleaner has been mostly model citizen. Will occasionally steal a bit of food from a hammer coral, but never antagonizes it. That hammer is extremely happy, out and waving around all the time. Shrimp lives right next to it. Never been an issue. This cleaner is pretty much everyone's bro. Even hangs out with the pistol shrimp occasionally (which gave me heart attacks the first couple times that happened). And my pistol is another model citizen. Never taken a single zoa head, and it's had PLENTY of opportunity. I got lucky, I guess.

 

[ScottR]

I wouldn’t worry about torches or other euphyllia and fish. I’ve had clowns kill a torch however. But there are fish-eating corals like elegance and rhizos. Some corals will eat dead fish and people think it’s the coral that killed it but most likely the fish died and the coral just ate it. I’ve seen dendros eat dead fish and shrimp molts for example.

 

[redeyejedi]

And I presume that's torches, right? I have a bunch of other euphylia, but none that pack quite the punch of torches. Thank you for this though, I just want to be very sure before I move forward and properly research everything. I have definitely heard accounts of torches coming out on top against btas, so I trust they have a rather heavy hit.

I got tagged on my elbow by one of mine, you can see the white dot where it hit. My arm ached like crazy all night.

 

[TDDredge]

I wouldn’t worry about torches or other euphyllia and fish. I’ve had clowns kill a torch however. But there are fish-eating corals like elegance and rhizos. Some corals will eat dead fish and people think it’s the coral that killed it but most likely the fish died and the coral just ate it. I’ve seen dendros eat dead fish and shrimp molts for example.

I was aware of rhizos and elegance. Not coming into my tank. And yeah if a fish is dead frankly it being eaten is a good thing. My concern wasn't so much predation as it was an accidental encounter with a torch war sweeper tendril lol.