Hermit Crab Questions

[Cjx0r]

I've had a hermit "crew" for several months now with 1 that actually killed a snail and took his shell. He quickly grew to be the biggest hermit in the tank and kind of "bullied" the smaller ones.

I'm stumped because I found him deshelled and dead this morning with a smaller hermit in his shell. At first I thought the impossible happened and he lost the 1/100 fights he picks. I did add an emerald crab about a month ago but I've never seen him or any of the hermits interact. Compared to the smaller hermits, he's about 2-3x their size and the emerald crab is about 4-5x the size of the biggest hermit.

Is it possible the emerald crab killed him, or was he killed by a smaller hermit?

I also want to note I have been recovering from a phosphate outbreak over a month ago, but no one else in the tank (excluding my xenias) seemed to notice/react to the spike or reduction in phosphates.

 

[chrisfont23]

Hmmm. Little Mac the hermit crab. No idea. Not sure anyone would be able to answer that. Using phosban can bring down your phosphate levels. Just do it slowly. Corals adapt to the good and the bad so driving down the bad too fast is detrimental as well.

Enjoy!

 

[AlSimmons]

Are you sure the body you found was in fact dead and not a molt? Maybe the smaller hermit crab took his shell when he was most vulnerable. The emerald crab killing the larger hermit is definitely a possibility too though. Who knows what really goes on in the dark.

 

[mcgyvr]

Its a crab.. They are bullies.. They do eat snails.. They do die from age and many other factors..
You don't need to CSI it.. Just accept and move on

 

[jlmawp]

Actually, this very same thing happened to me. Had 6 hermits, and one got considerably larger than the others. He would chase them around, bully them out of food, etc. One day, he was dead and one of the smaller ones claimed his thrown (shell).

It could be that the others seized on an opportunity to topple the biggest threat?

 

[Butch01]

The system is rigged!

 

[zKRYt]

#crablivesmatter ... Sorry, I've been drinking and the opportunity was there. I'll see myself out.

 

[MiataRacer]

Sometimes I've found my crabs dead and out of their shells too, but the others don't take over the old shells. I don't know what to make of it, but I don't see mine fighting much.