When would you ACCEPT a coral eater in your tank as part of a "real" ecosystem?

[ecophotog]

Hello All:

I am confronted by a tough decision. I bought a very pretty and healthy appearing Dendronephthya. It has inflated nicely after adapting to my tank and seems happy. At the time of the purchase I noticed a funny little bump tucked under one of the arms and suspected it might be a Simnia snail. After the coral inflated and the little fellow came out to crawl around, it appears to be Pseudosimnia culmen, which (from what I've read) is an obligate parasite of the soft coral host it was hitch-hiking on. One online decription said they don't typically cause much harm.

I'm torn between the desire to have a healthy coral with no predators and on the other hand the fascination of having another commensal relationship within in the tank (or possibly parasitic, depending whether that "not much harm" description is true). I like the idea of having an intact, functioning ecosystem, warts and all. But that only extends to the point where the Dendronephthya can tolerate the little bugger without declining.

I'm curious to know how you all would react to finding this guy in your tank. Would you take it out? Or would you let it stay?

 

[Erick]

If it isn't doing much harm, and isn't known to reproduce super fast.... I don't think I would get rid of it. Awesome pic , wish I could take macro shots.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Well not knowing how bad it is, I might just keep it. Dendronephthya are quite difficult corals to keep IIRC, so chances are it'll die anyways, and most likely so will your pretty little parasite, so I say keep the parasite just to get some enjoyment out of it.

 

[FunGuy]

I'd agree, depends on how much damage and to what. If it's minimal enough, it might be worth it. A lot of people probably wouldn't want them munching on an inch of their prize coral

 

[sfsuphysics]

As long as that parasite can't reproduce through fissile means, go for it!