dead anthia, crabs to blame?

[MamaJones]

over a month ago we had our beloved, Laudie the Dispar Anthia die. I'm wondering if anyone could help me figure out why as I am going to get a new anthia tomorrow.

I always saw him eating. His belly wasn't disfugured/shrank/skinny. He swam about all the time and was colorful.

We have 2 Sally LightFoot Crabs that I saw eating him behind the rock one morning...I'm trying to understand if these crabs ate him or just cleaned up after he had died during the night.

I thought these were not killer crabs, as reassured by the LFS and just algae eaters...but as these guys grow I am wondering if their appetite grows, too.

Any ideas thoughts or general experience with the crabs would be great!

I'm willing to get rid of them if I need to.

 

[dustin_P74]

they could have killed him but i doubt it, most likely cleaning up. how long had you had him for, was he treated for internal parasites?

 

[ccCapt]

No way any crab is going to catch a healthy anthias. They are fast.
As Dustin asked, how long did you have it? How many times/day were you feeding and what were you feeding? Did you treat for internal parasites?

 

[Bifferwine]

Dude, don't doubt the power of the evil sally lightfoot. You'd think sixline wrasses and firefish were too fast to be caught too. But I used to have a pair of sallys, and I WATCHED them catch, kill and eat three perfectly healthy fish, a sixline wrasse and two firefish, right before my very eyes. I had seen them swiping at passing fish for a while, but didn't think they were really a threat. WRONG! They start out herbivorous, but as they grow larger, they become better hunters and turn carnivorous. I do not consider sally lightfoots reef safe for this reason.

 

[MamaJones]

it is decidedly so--- the light foots are goners. Now how to catch them?