More behavior notes
Miss Broody (the possible female that lives in mom's brooding den) has gotten somewhat agressive in the last two days. She will now accept live crabs from my fingers BUT she also wants the fingers
. First she secures the crab while holding onto my finger then proceeds to tug with all her strength, lifting the entire cluster of barnacles unless I use a free finger to keep them in place. She will let the crab move from arm to arm but never lets it escape while she pulls herself out of the den with determination. She continues the crab shuffle and hand attack for several minutes. I have not felt anything like a bite (in the past I could feel a numbness from the suction, not the actual beak) but she is quite insistent that my fingers belong in her den.
HideNSeek was a major concern last night and I feared I may have lost one to predation (noting Miss Broody's agressiveness and the fact that he/she will share the barnacle condo at feeding time). He/she was breathing but not moving in the front corner (hex tank) and did not react to finger movement outside the tank (no ambient light). Fearing the worst, I attempted netting but could not get the net under him. Next I dislocated (figuratively) my shoulder and reached over the canopy and to the bottom of the tank to attempt a rescue/quarantine. I discovered that the net had been blocked by a piece of coral and that HideNSeek had actually made a den by
burying in the sand, the piece of coral was a door. Once disturbed, he turned indignant brown and crawled to his normal feeding chamber and also accepted a crab. I have yet to read of another merc burying like this but it might explain some of the disappearances. I wish I had not disturbed the den now, as it was a great viewing spot.
Mia is MIA and has been unseen for 3 days. I don't worry about him since he rarely comes over to feed by hand (there is a banquet live in the tank and hand feeding is my choice).
Sistrurus remains consistent and comes completely out of his latest den once the lights are out and someone sits in a chair in front of the tank. After feeding he will often wonder the tank, play a little I spy over the live rock or climb up and "slide" down the tank wall in what seems to be entertainment (he will touch but ignore the floating "toy" in the tank).
I did get an unexpected reaction to the new mirror location. He is very calm as long at the light are off in the room and no one makes any sudden movements in front of his tank. I have knocked the bubble reducer net in the tank almost daily (I finally altered it to minimize this problem) and he does not even flinch when I stick my hand in the tank to retrieve the contraption but last week he turned white, took on a torpedo shape, dashed to the other side of the tank and
inked. It took me a couple of hours to realize that he was on the mirror side of the tank when I put my hand in
Fortunately, a few minutes later he was peeking back over the LR to see what was going on.
I am worried that all he is eating is the Cyclop-eeze (at least all I see him eat and I have not seen any obvious diminishing of the live shrimp, snails or hermits). I continue to try other foods (including thawed frozen clam) but he rejects it and ran away from the live crab offering.
Medusa continues to eat one shore shrimp and Cyclop-eeze from her barnacle den. I have not seen her leave this den (her second) since moving in but I do see more than just snake arms now.