Hermit Crab Deaths

[yorkcoparamedic]

Has anyone ever had hermit crabs that killed eachother? Or one or two that became territorial and fought the rest off? After my tank cycled and water parameters were zero for NH3, N02, and N03. I purchased a CUC that consisted of 5 Red Leg Hermits, 3 Scarlet Reef Hermits, 5 Margarita Snails, 5 Wavy Tequila Snails, 5 Mexican Turbo Snails, and 1 Burrowing Conch. These fellas sure cleaned the tank, glass, LR, and LS in no time flat. Within 4 days it was nice looking again and diatoms were gone for the most part.

Now in the past week I have 2 Margarita that are MIA, most likely under the LR somewhere. 4 Wavy have just up and died. And I have seen bright red crab claws and legs that belong to the scarlets on the bottom of the tank. Now I can account for all the scarlets and they all have there legs and claws. Mystery #1.

I have also seen darker colored claws and legs on the bottom of the tank with good portions of meat attached to them. These legs and claws match the Reg Leg Hermits. So for I can find and account for 3 of the 5 Red Legs and they are fine and active. Two of the them have already changed shells. As for the other two, they are MIA. No signs of shells on the bottom or behind the LR, just vanished. With as active as the crabs they should have shown themselves by now.

Any ideas? Could the scarlets be attacking the red legs, they are a little bigger? I have sat up late many nights now listening to the tank for the tell tail tapping sounds of Mantis shrimps and nothing. Just the occasional tapping when the Burrowing Conch touches the side of the tank or his hook hits the bottom. Also no signs of small broken pieces of rock in the back along of the tank.

Water Parameters as of tonight: Temp = 81F, Salinity = 34, pH = 8.2, Alk = 2.0, NH3 = 0.25, NO2 = 0, NO3 = 2.5, PO4 = 0.1, Ca = 400.

Seeing as NH3 has risen again that should tell me that something as died right? Or could it be caused by feeding my Cleaner Shrimp, Polyps, or Mushrooms?

 

[1entra]

You sure your scarlet hermits just havent molted leaving the legs and claws behind on the floor. I remember the first time I noticed legs and claws I instantly assumed I'd had a hermit killed or one had died but then noticed all mine were alive and well!

There is a possibility the larger hermits may attack smaller ones if they are hungery and get their claws on them, the same applies for snails!

How much LR have you got in the tank? Its more than likely if you have alot of LR that your hermits/snails are just hidden somewhere and only come out at night. I sometimes dont see several of my hermits for many days alond with some snails and suddenly they pop up and all are present!

One way to find out if the hermits are indeed dieing/being killed is to take all spare shells out of the tank and see if you suddenly find any empty shells...

 

[Donya]

Hermits can sometimes be pretty sneaky and hide for long periods of time, but do keep in mind that if insufficient food is present for the number of hermits in the tank or the tank is too small for the number of hermits, they will attack each other in addition to snails. Aggression is usually directed towards different species first.

NH3 = 0.25

Check your tank for dead stuff and do a water change to get that in check. Ammonia shouldn't go up measurably in a cycled tank.

 

[yorkcoparamedic]

You sure your scarlet hermits just havent molted leaving the legs and claws behind on the floor. I remember the first time I noticed legs and claws I instantly assumed I'd had a hermit killed or one had died but then noticed all mine were alive and well!

There is a possibility the larger hermits may attack smaller ones if they are hungery and get their claws on them, the same applies for snails!

How much LR have you got in the tank? Its more than likely if you have alot of LR that your hermits/snails are just hidden somewhere and only come out at night. I sometimes dont see several of my hermits for many days alond with some snails and suddenly they pop up and all are present!

One way to find out if the hermits are indeed dieing/being killed is to take all spare shells out of the tank and see if you suddenly find any empty shells...

Thanks...I was unaware that hermits molted. I was thinking this was a possibility after finding them with there claws and legs still attached.

Yes, there are plenty of hiding places for them. There are actually several larger holes on the backsides and bottoms of most of the rock where they could be hiding.

I did see one of the scarlets last night picking on one of the red leg hermits. He kinda charged him and then jumped on his back. Then he tried to flip him over, but the red leg got away.

As for the NH3 of 0.25 I am going to do a water change later tonight and re-check for dead critters in the tank.

Thanks for all your help. I hope it is something simple like molting and mild agression and not a mantis.

 

[timpetty]

Just had an incident with Hermit Crab cannibalization last nite. I was at my apartment with the girlfriend last nite. As I walked past my tank I noticed one of the hermit crabs shed his shell and was running across the front of the tank "naked". I was excited because I had never seen this before. I yelled for my girlfriend to come see. She came in and we were watching when all the sudden another hermit came running up and mauled it and ate it haha. She FREAKED out. I thought it was cool to see but now she hates hermit crabs haha. Just thought I would share....

 

[Musho3210]

Just had an incident with Hermit Crab cannibalization last nite. I was at my apartment with the girlfriend last nite. As I walked past my tank I noticed one of the hermit crabs shed his shell and was running across the front of the tank "naked". I was excited because I had never seen this before. I yelled for my girlfriend to come see. She came in and we were watching when all the sudden another hermit came running up and mauled it and ate it haha. She FREAKED out. I thought it was cool to see but now she hates hermit crabs haha. Just thought I would share....

lol, that would be cool to see, this is why they need their shells.... canabalism at its best.

 

[jeasko]

also its not uncommon for different species of hermits to kill each other, especially if there is a lack of larger spare shells, my blue hermit is so big now i wont even put another blue hermit let alone another species in as it will just kill it

 

[1entra]

Larger hermits can sometimes become a right back in the backside as they can attack smaller hermits along with most other things they can get their claws on!

 

[yorkcoparamedic]

Everything is accounted for except 2 margarita snails and everything is doing fine. I re-tested NH3 last night and it was 0. I am not sure exactly what caused the test to spike a little. I must have made a testing mistake

I got to watch my mushrooms reproduce last night as well. Pretty cool to watch a peice of them detach and kling to another part of the rock work!!!

 

[dilbert]

I must have made a testing mistake

Not necessarily. A dead animal such as a snail or too much food can ammonia let spike to 0.50 ppm and twelve hours later everything is 0 again.

 

[Donya]

Everything is accounted for except 2 margarita snails and everything is doing fine. I re-tested NH3 last night and it was 0. I am not sure exactly what caused the test to spike a little. I must have made a testing mistake

As dilbert said, it was probably a real spike but was just a quick one. Keep an eye on nitrite; it's not uncommon to see a small nitrite spike follow an ammonia spike.

 

[yorkcoparamedic]

NO2 has never moved from 0. I am holding all parameters very well so far.

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Now I have a green algae bloom. It is a little annoying but so far the CUC is keeping it contained to decent levels. Going to do another water change in the morning and also freshwater rinse the filter media.

So far so good...Just added 4 Pajama Cardinalfish.