LPS are delicious!

[Kristy]

Returned from my travels this summer to find that a fish has done some SIGNIFICANT snacking on my red/skyblue colony of blastos that have been thriving in our tank without fragging for over two years. The duncans won't extend much either, probably for fear of being munched. :mad:

So today I am sitting by the tank running some surveillance to determine who the guilty party is, although I have my suspicions. Thought it might be fun to see who you guys think is our most likely culprit.

I am going to assume that it is not any of the tangs, anthias, or the pair of maroon clowns. Here are some other candidates...

[RayAllen]

my vote was Bellus.

Reasoning. 1 it is a angel. 2 the Flame and Coral Beauty have been there for a longer period of time. Where as the Bellus 1 month, which you were on vacation part of that time.

[Neptune@gabesfish]

Hard call between the Flame and Coral Beauty, cant see why it would be the Bellus unless you have the one and only one to do it..

[JTrott]

I vote either Flame or Coral Beauty. Just because they have been in the tank so long, does not mean they will not eat. They just got a taste, and recognized it. I suggest you move the Flame and Coral Beauty, and see if it continues to happen. If it does, I would say move the Longnose. The Bellus would be my last guess at what is eating.

Jason

[BigKGlen]

I think that you're delicious!

In a good way Mike, in a good way!:angel:

I'd agree with the Flame and/or Coral Beauty.
Their feeding schedule, and their normal people pets, were disrupted and absent and they sought out "Comfort Food" to appease their appetite.

[alton]

Bought my Flame Angel from Tamer when he first opened up Aquatic Warehouse and he has never touched any corals. Not like my Emperor and Blue Face which started out as reef safe and then went bad.

[Kristy]

I'm in denial that it could be the bellus... I REALLY don't want that to be the case. (Mike likes to blame the mandarin for anything that goes wrong in the tank because he knows I'll look the other way!)

A little more information for this investigation:
The LPS-eating first started a few months ago when three good-sized frags of acans got picked clean all at once. All the above suspects were present EXCEPT the bellus and the mystery, who are newcomers. We were not sure who to blame because it happened so quickly. We don't have any other acans and nothing else got bothere until now.

Also, while I was out of town (these past two months) the fish got fed even more than usual, because Mike is a very heavy-handed feeder, so no one went hungry, I assure you. Mike just is not as obsessive about the corals as I am, so he was slower to notice what was going on.
-Kristy

[RayAllen]

I'm in denial that it could be the bellus... I REALLY don't want that to be the case. (Mike likes to blame the mandarin for anything that goes wrong in the tank because he knows I'll look the other way!)

A little more information for this investigation:
The LPS-eating first started a few months ago when three good-sized frags of acans got picked clean all at once. All the above suspects were present EXCEPT the bellus and the mystery, who are newcomers. We were not sure who to blame because it happened so quickly. We don't have any other acans and nothing else got bothere until now.

Also, while I was out of town (these past two months) the fish got fed even more than usual, because Mike is a very heavy-handed feeder, so no one went hungry, I assure you. Mike just is not as obsessive about the corals as I am, so he was slower to notice what was going on.
-Kristy

Ok with the new above added facts. Now I would assume its the Coral Beauty or Flame as well.

[dustint21]

Tanks will nip at LPS also! Ask Mike Delgado.....

[Bill S]

Boy, that's a tough one. I'd go with either one of the dwarf angels, or the longnose. I voted for the longnose.

As you know, I can't keep most LPS because of my angels.

[kkiel02]

With the new info I would switch my vote from bellus to flame.

[ReefCube]

for sure one of the angels

[ReefCube]

angels are hit or miss i dont want to risk it so i dont buy them

[Pennies2Cents]

angels are hit or miss i dont want to risk it so i dont buy them

+1

Very good subject. :)

[Kristy]

Been watching the tank all day and have ruled out our newcomers. Both the bellus and the mystery have absolutely been model citizens. So has the long-nosed butterfly, which was another obvious candidate.

Here's my shortened list of suspects:
6-line!!! (no one even suspected this guy!:ph34r:)
flame angel
coral beauty angel

I have definitely seen the 6-line nipping at the poor suffering blastos. I have watched the flame angel carefully and have seen her "inspecting" the blastos on several occasions, but have not actually seen her take a nip. I HAVE watched her repeatedly nip at my zoas today (although they close up briefly and then re-open minutes later, seeming no worse for the wear), which I have never witnessed before. The coral beauty is mostly looking innocent, but keeps cruising by the vicinity of the crime, so she has not been ruled out entirely.

On a related note, anyone have bookmarked that thread about your favorite way to remove a problem fish???

[allan]

On a related note, anyone have bookmarked that thread about your favorite way to remove a problem fish???

lol, good luck. Last time I had to remove a clown I ended up with a sore back and a stung hand (rabbit fish)... aaand it took about two hours by which time all denizens of my tank were highly stressed out... with the exception of the cow fish who kept nipping at my elbows.

[Kyle46N]

Didn't Mike think it was the flame tail blenny? That's why I chose flame tail...

[Kristy]

Didn't Mike think it was the flame tail blenny? That's why I chose flame tail...

Yeah, that was my first suspect actually, because he is the one who killed our clam (saw the little #@$*@^# in action). The acans that went missing next were right next to the clam and so the logic was, maybe he came back to his favorite buffet and sampled the neighboring acans since the clam was all gone.

Trust me, if I can pull him out while I'm fishing, he's gone too!

[millerdog]

Guys didn't you have this same issue with a cleaner a year or so ago. :angry:
My vote is on the Flame I have one that has the occasional hunger for the new growth on a hammer I just got but that just seems to be when he was preoccupied with the Eibli angel that is in there with him and they miss dinner time.

[Kristy]

Sure did! The favia still has not recovered from that yellow-tailed cleaner beast. Still got a FOWLR, Sam? I hope to be offering up some very healthy tank mates soon. -Kristy

[brewercm]

I voted long nose only because I've had several wrasses and angels that have never bothered my LPS (knock on wood).

[millerdog]

We had him in our 75 till his porcupine puffer got too big for the other smaller gobies and the cleaner appeared to be depressed if they can be since he wasn’t moved with the puffer at the same time. My wife got me to take him down to the big boy tank. It was doing fine till the July 4th weekend and my sister in-law was holding her 2 year old up to look and the cleaner decided to go in the mouth to clean the 12 inch stripped puffer and apparently cleaned the wrong organ and the next think I know my nephew came screaming outside to get me saying “uncle Sam he eat him, he eat him” and low and behold the back end of the cleaner was still twitching on the bottom of the tank when I got inside. The next thing my wife and I knew my nephew was asking if we can feed any of the other fish in the tank to the puffer.

[RICKY81]

i voted for the...... Coral Beauty......... because i my self also have a few sps frags and some acans, with a Coral Beauty and i have seen this fish nipping on my sps corals but nothing to drastic to get rid of hime..