hermit crabs fighting?

Hi all,

I was just wondering if hermit crabs fought each other? I came back from work one day and saw that a crab was missing a leg or two and it was just on the substrate.... hmmmm.... i got nothing else in the tank but 2 clowns, a firefish, and blue/green chromis... can't imagine any of the fish attacking it....

anyone?

 

yeah they can fight, anything can fight. is it missing the leg or did you see shell on the sand bed? if it was on the sand one of the crabs could have just shed is exskeleton. if any of the fish would attack it would be the chromis

 

no shell... just a piece of the leg... the thing never comes out now!

 

i just added 2 more hermits to my nano, and the elder one keeps chasing after the newly added ones! idon't want it to kill them! what should i do?

 

is this a dumb question?

 

I would bet it molted is all. The old molt will look like pieces of the hermit. And its typical for them to hide for a few days before/after they molt

 

that happened to me a few weeks back, what you need to do is to go to your LFS and tell them to give you empty hermit crab shells try to get different sizes and just put them in your tank and you will see it wont take long for the hermit crab to change shell, that is mainly what would cause them to fight if they are looking for a bigger shell! that means they are growing!! good luck

 

That's from fighting.

Unlike snails which grow their shells, hermits have to find an unused shell or kill another animal for it's shell. Get a selection of unused shells and the fighting will decrease.

EDIT: OR WHAT EL SILLO JUST SAID. I really ought to finish reading threads before I respond. LOL

 

oooo makes sense! thanks all!!

 

keep me posted to see if adding empty shells worked for you