Purple Lobster

[cichlidman1888]

I have just recently purchased a purple lobster, acclimated him , put him in. Have not seen the ******* since. Does anyone have one , do they EVER come out , and are they any use to a tank?

 

[water_baby83]

[FONT=Verdana, Tahoma, Helvetica, sans-serif]Taxonomy: Purple Lobster belongs to the Kingdom Animalia, Phylum Arthropoda, Class Crustacea, Order Decapoda, Family Nephropidae, Genus Enoplometopus and Species debelius.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Tahoma, Helvetica, sans-serif]Scientific names: The scientific name of Purple Lobster is Enoplometopus debelius.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Tahoma, Helvetica, sans-serif]Other common names: Purple Lobster is also commonly known as the Red Lobster and Debelius' Reef Lobster.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Tahoma, Helvetica, sans-serif]Origin or natural range: found in the tropical areas of the Indo-Pacific region.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Tahoma, Helvetica, sans-serif]Size: Purple Lobster may grow up to a size of five inches.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Tahoma, Helvetica, sans-serif]Color: occurs in purple, red, pink, orange and yellow colors.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Tahoma, Helvetica, sans-serif]Compatibility: is aggressive towards the other marine animals.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Tahoma, Helvetica, sans-serif]Habit & Habitat:

• Enoplometopus debelius is found on coral reef in its natural habitat.
• Is nocturnal in its habit and feeds at night.

Morphology:

• The body of Purple Lobster is purple/pink/orange or white in color with orange and purple spots on it.
• The claws of Enoplometopus debelius are flat and elongated with purple shade. Lobster uses its claws for its defense as well as for feeding.

Growth enabling environment in your marine aquarium: Your marine aquarium must meet the following environmental conditions to successfully host a Purple Lobster in it:

• Temperature of water: The temperature in your marine aquarium must be maintained within seventy-two to seventy-eight degrees Fahrenheit.
• Specific gravity of water: 1.023 to 1.025.
• pH of water: 8.10 to 8.40.
• Illumination: requires standard light in the marine aquarium it inhabits.
• Habit & habitat:
• To host you should have a reef type marine aquarium having a thick layer of gravel or sand at the bottom of it, so that Lobster may bury itself into it. Place some rocks and rock caves for the lobster to hide and some Live Rock for it to hunt for food on.
• Place only one Lobster or a mating pair of it, in a marine aquarium.
• After molting, they hides behind rocks or in rock caves to allow its new exoskeleton to form completely and harden.
• Owing to its nocturnal habit, it will hide behind the rocks or in rock caves during the day time, away from light.
• Feeding & Nutrition:
• Enoplomentopus debelius is omnivorous in feeding habit and eats the meaty bits of seafood and small sized and medium sized fish.
• Purple and Orange Lobster looks for food into the sand and ploughs it well in the process.
• Benefits:
• They plow the sand well in order to look for food thereby aerating it well.
• Purple Lobster feeds upon detritus.

Care:

• Is easy to maintain owing to its non-poisonous nature.
• High levels of Copper and Nitrates are be detrimental to the health.
• Add Iodine and Calcium to the water as supplement for Lobster which will help ease molting process. Essential for animals with exoskeletons.

Caution:

• May harm small fish and marine invertebrates in your reef tank therefore, do not keep small fish and marine invertebrates in the same aquarium.
• Is aggressive towards the other member of its species therefore, only one or a mating pair of it should be kept in a marine aquarium.

Pulled from: freshmarine.com, with edits by myself.
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[Reefscape]

Deb lobsters usually start off very shy and do take some time to get used to a new aquarium. I would not worry. Once its happy, you will start to see more of it, but mainly when its feeding time..

 

[cichlidman1888]

Umm I havent even seen the dude since i put him in , like no signs of him anywhere, not under rocks ... nothin.!!

 

[125blackfire]

you have other fish in the tank???

 

[BIGgourami]

you have other fish in the tank???

that's what im thinking

is there anything that could have eaten him?
puffers?
wrasses?
triggers?
etc

but as said they are just timid shy little guys.. if you have a pistol shrimp and no goby you'll never see him even though he may still be alive

 

[LBathory]

are any of your corals or tank decorations close to the surface of the water? is it an open top aquarium? look around the floor or behind the tank.

 

[cichlidman1888]

i have in the tank with him a FoxFace lo, sixline wrasse and two percula clowns

 

[sweeTang21]

how big was the lobster at time of purchase??

 

[Pufferpunk]

I've had mine for a year. I can only see him at night, when I look into the back of the tank thru a cave, with a flashlight.