Hermit Crab Assasinated

[procain]

I have, or should I say had four scarlet hermit crabs. I noticed that one of them was sitting in his shell not doing his usual behavior. He was still alive and in his shell, then a little later a couple of the other crabs began to mess with him. Needless to say, not long after this happened I found him out of his shell and dead. Do hermits kill eachother, and if they do for what reason? Is there anything I can do to keep this from happening again? :notsure:

 

[debbie]

Yep, do as I have. Only have one :yes:
Apparently they do seem to like the shells of other crabs. The other guys shell is always better than yours. So I think they can be a bit on the aggressive side when it comes to whos home is whos.
I only have one as my tank is small, hopefully others will be able to answer this question for you better.
Good Luck

 

[petem]

Have to admit. Didnt know that. I was going to ask that same question today. I found what appeared to be a dead hermit in my tank. I bought 5 of them, however I only count 4 right now and was wondering what happened to the fifth one. I didnt think my Snowflake would eat it. He's too small for that.

 

[flydan]

Hey,
I don't how small your eel is but I wouldn't be surprised if it ate your hermit.
I went to the hobby store and got a bag of shells for about $2. I picked out about a dozen of various sizes, boiled them, rinsed them in sw and dropped them around the edges of my tank. Never seen my hermits fighting sinse. After about 3 months the shells laying around got covered in coralline algae.
HTH,
Dan'l

 

[bsktmom]

What kind of hobby store did you find your shells at? Thanks...

 

[beachbumtx]

HIya!,
The others are right on about an assortment of shells. That reminds me, I need to pick up a few more larger shells for my giant red hermit that I have.
Anyhow, the behavior of your hermit not doing his normal thing could be because he just molted. They become less active just after. The other hermits probably took advantage of this to get a new home.
You can pick up shells from the tourist places like shell shops or t-shirt shops on the coast. Hobby stores like Hobby Lobby or some sort of arts and craft store should have a selection as well. However, do as FlyDan suggested and boil them to get rid of any contaminents. Rinse off with saltwater to remove and freshwater and left over particles.

 

[procain]

Thanks for the input, I'm going to pick up some more shells. I have some in my tank but probably not enough, an assortment wouldn't hurt.
Cheers!