hermit crabs eating at fish?

[jmangione]

My sister thinks shes been seeing the hermit crabs attackign my clown fish. One of the clown fish mysteriously died one day and i found the hermit crabs feasting on him. Now, i just have 1 clown fish 10 hermit crabs and 2 turbo snails and the clown fish has a tear in his skin. I have him in a seperate tank for now away from everything and hope to see some improvement. After the first fish died i now find that the other clown fish rarely goes to the bottom of the tank unless i am sitting at the tank. He use to play in the sand but no longer does. Are the hermit crabs attacking the fish?
everything is good withthe water besides the nitrate is a little high, between 10-20 ppm.
Thanks - john

 

[mommafishinmd]

My crabs have never attacked my clowns. But then again my clowns are the bully's in the tank since they were the 1st ones in it. It may be possible though.

 

[smartorl]

Hermits are opportunists, if there is not enough algae and biomatter in a tank to satisfy them, they will at least try to eat other things that you don't intend for them to eat. How large is your tank and how long has it been up?

 

[renogaw]

i would look at the reason your fish is dying, not the fact that the hermits are doing their job and cleaning up a dead fish. Unless of course you have a HUGE hermit in your tank, they most likely did not kill a clown.

 

[jmangione]

tank is 20 gallons and has been set up for almost 2 months now. The fish that died was the smaller of the two clown fish. He had actually not been eating for a week or so, atleast the food i was giving them. I tried pellets, frozen food, and brine shrimp. dont know what he was eating to go a week and a half without me seeing but i guess he was eating something?

 

[mommafishinmd]

Originally Posted by jmangione
tank is 20 gallons and has been set up for almost 2 months now. The fish that died was the smaller of the two clown fish. He had actually not been eating for a week or so, atleast the food i was giving them. I tried pellets, frozen food, and brine shrimp. dont know what he was eating to go a week and a half without me seeing but i guess he was eating something?
Sounds like he may have been sick. I know my clowns eat anything you put in the tank. They are bossy and are hogs when it is feeding time.

 

[autofreak44]

definitely sick, and your crabs were just cleaning, doing their job. did you see any signs of sickness on the fish before he died? how is the other clown doing?

 

[jmangione]

the fish that died look perfectly fine. Swam aroudn with the other fish all the time and acted the same, just didnt care to eat. I thought maybe at first it was because the bigger clown was taking the food but some food would fall rigth past his face and wouldnt even care to go after it.
i figured the crabs were just doing their thing. Is a 10-20 ppm nitrate level a good chance to be the cause of the death?
Now, my fish looks severely sick/ injured. some of his scales look like they are about to come off. it looks more like a wound then a disease. I will have to post a picture when i get home.

 

[spanko]

???mantis???

 

[malaccai]

I am having the same problem....
Perfectly healthy fish......I've seen the hermit crabs gang up and eat them....
So far they got a Niger trigger while he was laying down in his spot to sleep, feather duster, and in the last 2 days, my barber shrimp (pulled off one of his arms first then finished him off later) and today a blenny I've had for 1 week... I came here to find an answer as well.....I have about 15 hermit crabs...I thought they would just clean the tank up but they are killer crabs...For some reason I think they're reproducing...Should I take all of them out or feed more just so they stop eating the rest of my tank? I have an anemone, yellow tang, and clown left...Could I buy something that can eat hermit crabs just incase they are reproducing? If so, what would that be??
Thanks in advance!

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by jmangione
http:///forum/post/2193554
the fish that died look perfectly fine. Swam aroudn with the other fish all the time and acted the same, just didnt care to eat. I thought maybe at first it was because the bigger clown was taking the food but some food would fall rigth past his face and wouldnt even care to go after it.
i figured the crabs were just doing their thing. Is a 10-20 ppm nitrate level a good chance to be the cause of the death?
Now, my fish looks severely sick/ injured. some of his scales look like they are about to come off. it looks more like a wound then a disease. I will have to post a picture when i get home.
Something was wrong with the smaller clown if he would not eat. I have a pair of Maroons. They came in beat up, had chunks missing from their fins. They ate hours after being introduced. The female makes the tiny male stay in a small corner. He still sneaks out to grab some food then darts back into the spot when his woman looks at him. Poor guy. What is going on with the other clown? They were the only two fish in there, correct?