RBTA Help please

[Tigweldpro]

Originally Posted by sobe

How big is it originally? The baby nem look small and was not a direct split from the first nem. Normally it is almost 50/50 split.

I have these small babies pop out of no where about twoonie size once a while and they take a while to open and and more finicky sometimes or they would be strange color. i bet that anemone crab is not helping that small one

How is the bigger one looking like?

Any other coral in the tank that is ia near? What fish do you have?

Well holy sh!% I just went and looked at the tank and the GD crab had its claw right inside the anemone and was pulling food or pieces of the anemone out of its mouth. wtf, then I tried to grab the little little prick and he pinched me real good.
He has a date with the sump later........ I will get him

[Tigweldpro]

Well I waited till the lights were out and went in to catch him, had to try and get him to move out of a crack in the rock and he dropped one of his claws. Now looking it up I see that if they feel threatened they will drop a claw to distract the predator. The claw should grow back in a few molts, pretty cool
I hope he enjoys his new sump and 2 mandarin friends.

Ill post a new pic of the RBTA in a month or so I almost guarantee the crab is the issue after seeing him claw deep in the anemones innards.

Thanks for all the reply's

[kyl]

In my experience, porcelain crabs are not a good mix with smaller RBT anemones (under 6"), as they seem to mostly pester them into remaining deflated.

[Tigweldpro]

Originally Posted by kyl

In my experience, porcelain crabs are not a good mix with smaller RBT anemones (under 6"), as they seem to mostly pester them into remaining deflated.

Ya I believe it. I thought the crab had something to do with it but after heavily googling the only thing I could find was "porcelain crabs will not harm the anemone" I just dismissed that as the cause.
I don't see how even a large rbta would put up with something stealing its lunch right out of its guts, the relationship is clearly not symbiotic.

[Delphinus]

I have noticed that even clownfish can be really hard on their host anemones. Mine will steal food out of the anemone everytime I feed.

It's definitely not symbiosis in my opinion. It's clear-cut parasitism that is usually mostly benign but not always.

Maybe rehome the porcelain for now and see if you can get the anemone to start feeding again? Maybe start off with smaller mysis until you see it getting bigger?

[kyl]

My RBTA is host to both a porcelain crab and anemone crab (the clowns got evicted with the fallow period for crypto and couldn't get their spot back), it can extend to about 8-9" across when fully inflated. That seems to be a happy size for it, but prior to that when smaller and before the clowns became hosted, the RBTA and porcelain crab were not a good mix.

[kyl]

Originally Posted by kyl

and anemone crab

That should have been anemone shrimp, but I can't edit the post.