Ever had a coral eat a fish? I have. Warning: Deceased fish photo

[johnak0312]

This was from a few weeks ago. I came home to find my Royal Gramma neck deep within my acan frag. The Gramma wasn't eating for a day before, so I'm fairly certain it died beforehand and drifted into it, I dont think the coral is capable of killing a fish. But still, crazy thing to come home to... I did not think this little frag was capable of grabbing something that big. Sad about the fish, but on the plus side, the acan is fat and happy now.

 

[Formulator]

Wow. Impressive. I’m not sure I would let the acan finish its “meal”. They aren’t meant to eat that much. If it does manage to ingest the whole thing, it is likely to rot inside the acan before it can be digested and lead to infection, even death. Other fish and inverts may also pick at the acan’s mouth trying to steal the big stinky meal inside.

 

[johnak0312]

Wow. Impressive. I’m not sure I would let the acan finish its “meal”. They aren’t meant to eat that much. If it does manage to ingest the whole thing, it is likely to rot inside the acan before it can be digested and lead to infection, even death. Other fish and inverts may also pick at the acan’s mouth trying to steal the big stinky meal inside.

I did remove it after snapping the photo. It was able to consume most of its head before I did though.

 

[Formulator]

I did remove it after snapping the photo. It was able to consume most of its head before I did though.

Great. Just the head shouldn’t be a problem. Great pic! Definitely never seen anything like it

 

[Mr. Acantho]

How can the coral digestive the skeleton of the head?

 

[Formulator]

How can the coral digestive the skeleton of the head?

Very slowly with acid. Or it might just reject it eventually.

 

[Dburr1014]

Wow. Impressive. I’m not sure I would let the acan finish its “meal”. They aren’t meant to eat that much. If it does manage to ingest the whole thing, it is likely to rot inside the acan before it can be digested and lead to infection, even death. Other fish and inverts may also pick at the acan’s mouth trying to steal the big stinky meal inside.

Still waiting on the "what?" emoji.

You do know this happens on the reef right?
Either it eats it, eats partly and spits it out, or other cuc come and snatched it. The coral isn't going to do something to kill itself. It won't eat it and then let it rot inside itself. Most likely will spit it back out.

But if your angle is it will foul the rest of the tank, 1) it's not a very big fish, 2) it would have to be an extremely small tank(even to small to house that fish), the tank has zero cuc and they have bigger problems.

It's akin to saying I will eat until my stomach literally pops and I die.

 

[Formulator]

Still waiting on the "what?" emoji.

You do know this happens on the reef right?
Either it eats it, eats partly and spits it out, or other cuc come and snatched it. The coral isn't going to do something to kill itself. It won't eat it and then let it rot inside itself. Most likely will spit it back out.

But if your angle is it will foul the rest of the tank, 1) it's not a very big fish, 2) it would have to be an extremely small tank(even to small to house that fish), the tank has zero cuc and they have bigger problems.

It's akin to saying I will eat until my stomach literally pops and I die.

I dono, I have had nems eat too much and get pretty ticked off. I was being deductive.

 

[twentyleagues]

I had Rhizotrochus so yes I have seen corals eat fish. Even in this case I believe the fish died before the coral got a hold of it. After seeing this I would feed them silversides once a month.

 

[johnak0312]

How can the coral digestive the skeleton of the head?

I dont think it got any bones, just the meat. It was kind of mangled and gross looking so who knows. Coral is fat and happy, doesnt look like its bothered. Its actually had a bit of a growth spurt since that endeavor. Talk about getting your protein in...

Still waiting on the "what?" emoji.

You do know this happens on the reef right?
Either it eats it, eats partly and spits it out, or other cuc come and snatched it. The coral isn't going to do something to kill itself. It won't eat it and then let it rot inside itself. Most likely will spit it back out.

But if your angle is it will foul the rest of the tank, 1) it's not a very big fish, 2) it would have to be an extremely small tank(even to small to house that fish), the tank has zero cuc and they have bigger problems.

It's akin to saying I will eat until my stomach literally pops and I die.

Its a 40g, and i do have cuc. I wouldn't expect it to nuke the tank but i still would rather not leave it in there to rot. I was kinda temped to put it in its own tank to see if it would be able to eat the whole thing. But I decided thats kinda gnarly, lol