Purple reef lobster

*Philip*

*Philip*

Joined
8 Feb 2011
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Location
Durbanville
Hi guys and gals.

Anybody got any experience with purple reef lobsters? I saw one on Sunday and had to have it. If it does not do well in my tank, I will make a plan to get it it's own tank. A few pics will follow.
 
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Going on looks alone, I would be nervous of it preying on small fish, clams and other inverts at night.
Would be interested to hear people's experiences.
 
well, tank isn't too stocked at the moment, so only a few small hermits, but they are still all there.
 
I did worry a bit when he landed on his back and did not even try to get up, but when he flipped over, he started moving around immediately :eek:
 
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I have one that is three years old and now in his own tank in the kitchen, At about 2 years they become adult and will chow any thing from fish to feather dusters, even a nudibranch which then made the rest of the tank toxic. " Lobby" eats hake, mysis and squid. He killed my boxing shrimp "Rocky" who had also become a bit hungry and was in the same tank. Chowed a 4" boxing in one night. good news, reef safe. Better news I still have him.
 
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I heard they are best for a nano because you hardly see him in a big system, and offcourse when they grow to adult size your smaller fish and invert become the menu.
 
Apparently they grow to 12-14cm. Is that only head to tail, or tail to claws? If its body only, its gonna get huge.
 
When u look at a marine species and they look like they could be aggresive and eat small fish, then generally they do!

But they look awesome dont they
 
My reef lobster is about 8cm in size and lives in harmony with my 15 dwarf hermits,2 fire shrimp,boxing shrimp,10 cleaner shrimp and BEST of all, my blue spiney lobster.... I was warned about when they grow, nice part is, when they do ( an only if they become a problem) it shouldn't be too hard to catch them and remove them

My 2c
 
They are great, rarely saw mine, but can get big and if given the opportunity they will eat small fish, I lost some fire gobies to my lobster. So any fish that like to sleep deep in the rocks at night while the lobster is out hunting might be a great meal for it. IMO, not a great invert for a nano.
 
Mine was fine for a few months, then my small fish started disappearing. I did a few midnight vigils to watch him in action and when I caught him trying to take on my sleepin 7cm yellow tang. So he decided to move into the sump :) I had to unpack most of the tank to catch him, as a week of different trap designs all failed to catch him (I caught all the other shrimps though)
 
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