Killer Crab Help

[jaylam]

Ok recently I lost 3 Chromis not all at once but over say a month and today I find the remains of one of my hermit crabs.

Looking around the tank today I can see a hairy brownish coloured crab hiding in my rocks, could this be the killer?

 

[seffieuk]

Ok recently I lost 3 Chromis not all at once but over say a month and today I find the remains of one of my hermit crabs.

Looking around the tank today I can see a hairy brownish coloured crab hiding in my rocks, could this be the killer?

It is much more likely that the strongest killed the weakest and so on...... until only one was left, then maybe that one had been hurt by the other two when defending themselves and he died - nasty fish!

 

[Donya]

Looking around the tank today I can see a hairy brownish coloured crab hiding in my rocks, could this be the killer?

Unless it's quite large, it probably has nothing to do with the fish. It could be responsible for other crustacean deaths though if it is comparable size to the hermits or larger. What hermit remains did you find / are you sure it wasn't a molt?

 

[jaylam]

It was the entire crab without it's shell and a couple of legs missing

 

[Donya]

It was the entire crab without it's shell and a couple of legs missing

Huh. Any damage beyond the missing legs? If it was all ripped up then that would suggest a crab attack, but if there wasn't much evidence of being chewed/pinched/etc. then it could have been a failed molt. Crustaceans will sometimes drop limbs when that happens and hermits will commonly either fall out of the shell or be dragged out by another hermit.

 

[lewiss]

Watching this with interest!!

 

[jaylam]

It was the entire crab without it's shell and a couple of legs missing

Huh. Any damage beyond the missing legs? If it was all ripped up then that would suggest a crab attack, but if there wasn't much evidence of being chewed/pinched/etc. then it could have been a failed molt. Crustaceans will sometimes drop limbs when that happens and hermits will commonly either fall out of the shell or be dragged out by another hermit.

It was defo ripped, you could see it had been ripped by something.