Crab Wars?

[77railer]

I looked into the tank last night and saw what appeared to be two hermit crabs possibly fighting? A large hermit had a smaller one and looked like it was trying to eat it from out of its shell. When I woke up this morning they were both gone from where I saw them? Could they have been mating?

The other question we have is how often do they molt and do their left behinds look like a real crab with color? Thanks in advance for all the info...

Lee & Linda

 

[Grins]

Difficult to tell, but good chance the one crab wanted the other's shell. When they molt, yes the exoskeleton looks like an intact crab. It has fooled many into thinking their crab had died.

 

[Midus]

I've seen the same once. Two were all over each other with one constantly climbing on top of and pulling the other around. They went into a small cave and I never found out what happened...

 

[77railer]

Thanks for the replies. We have14 currently and are waiting for them to get a hold on our hair algea problem...they are good little workers. Not so sure about the turbo snails...they knock alot of stuff around...

Lee & Linda