Evil Crab or Evil Shrimp???

[saltwaterdave]

I have a Emerald Crab and a Coral Banded Shrimp...I had 2 clowns,until this morning when I got up and the crab was eating 1 of the clowns!!!Just by chance I checked the water last night and all was fine.other clown is doing great.does anyone have any ideas why either would kill my fish? My crab is moving around alot.has been for a few days now very very active...could he not be getting enough to eat???? Or did the shrimp maybe start this mess??? Thanks for the help!

 

[stacy]

What is the size of the shrimp? Also what size was the clown? I've been told that the CB shrimp will eat small fish. I don't think the crab could have caught the fish, but you never know.

 

[saltwaterdave]

The clowns were pretty small maybe about 1.5"...the shrimp seems to be a decent size for a shrimp I guess..not sure how to measure him but total he might be about 2"...the shrimp seems to love brine shrimp...I have been wondering if the shrimp and crab are getting enough to eat..now I feel like I need to stay up all night and protect my clown..lol

 

[stacy]

More than likeley it was your shrimp. Another thought is how has your clown been doing? The emeralds will attack and kill injured/sick fish.

 

[saltwaterdave]

They seem to have been doing great.not eating as much as I thought they should be.but I have only had them since Saturday..my brother brought them.said I needed some fish.....i also forgot about the 2 damsels in the tank...I have seen them attack the crab and the crab fight back.but they leave the clowns alone.

 

[rapt0r32]

My gut feeling on this one would be that the shrimp is the guility party. I have 2 emeralds in my 55 and they want nothing to do with the clowns I have in there. Now these 2 might be different from all the rest but mine have shown little to no interest in the fish....

 

[brian'sreef]

crabs and shrimp are both scavengers and will eat about anything they can find ..cbs's as far as i have known are not one to kill for food unless it's another shrimp.. crabs are different.. i don't trust crabs in the least bit.. crabs hunt at night and can find fish while they are sleeping and devour them .. lost several fish to renagade crabs hitching rides on my LR.. they are all deceased now.. i fed them to octopi..anyway.. if you saw your crab eating a fish ..i'd put money down that that crab also killed it.. and i have seen crabs snatch fish right out of open water and start eating them .. like my other chromis RIP...i would get rid of the crab.. there's really not a good safe crab .. unless it's a blueleg hermit..but it's your tank..good luck
Brian