What Killed My Emerald Crab!?

[heavenly_d3vi1]

I've got up this morning to find one of my emerald crabs laying half eaten!! They are the biggest things in the bloody tank so whats decided to eat them!?
I have 2 peppermint shimp, 2 clowns, several small hermits and a turbo snail.. Oh and that huge urchin thing, would he have done it?

 

[Stampos]

Sure its not just a shed?

 

[heavenly_d3vi1]

I dont think so, i did wonder that but im fairly sure its is actually a whole crab! Well, a whole nibbled at crab lol

 

[@ombomb]

what's eaten them and what killed them are two very different questions

there's nothing you have mentioned that could take one on, pretty much all of the other tank inhabitants would have a snack on it's carcass though

i would assume natural causes, but hope it's shed

 

[heavenly_d3vi1]

Hmm.. I'll keepp an eye out for him, I've never actually seen a crab's shed but assumed it would look similar to the shrimps shed.. kinda very obviously not an animal type thing! Hopefully he's still in there somewhere..

 

[@ombomb]

no, crabs are generally far more corpse like as the shells are thicker which makes them look more solid

 

[@ombomb]

one other thing to consider is that if your setup is fairly new, there may be any number of hitchhikers in there you haven't noticed yet

i had a killer crab appear over 12 months after the last batch of live rock was added to my first tank and it took me a VERY long time to catch it

 

[heavenly_d3vi1]

Ah yes.. I do have a mystery hitchhiker crab in there somewhere.. All Ive seen of him so far is his pincer sticking out of a rock, I also have a mystery 'clicker' which I'm yet to find and identify too!

But, If crab sheds tend to look quite corpse like, it may well just be a shed... I'm keeping a close eye out for him!

 

[heavenly_d3vi1]

Phew! Panic over!!!! Just spotted both crabs, so was just a shed after all! Least I know what they look like now!