Hermit Crabs eating my fish?

[tarakun]

My Husband and I have a new saltwater tank that is about 2 months running. We had a few fish in it (Purple Tilefish, 2 clownfish, Emperor Angel, and a foxface), as well as hermit crabs and snails. The other day we added some new fish (Blue tang and 3 green chromis) and some larger snails and small crabs. The day after we added the new fish, I noticed out Purple Tilefish suddenly died. I found him sort of hidden on the ground behind a rock and one of the hermit crabs was eating him. It was very strange because He showed no signs of being sick, and had already been living fine in our tank for over a month.

Then the very next day, I was checking for all of our fish and found 1 of the green chromis at the same location where I found the purple tilefish dead. It was alive, but I noticed that a hermit crab had a hold of its tail and the fish couldn't shake it off. I was able to get the crab off of my fish, but he's very obviously injured and swims very poorly now. I'm not even sure if he will be alive when I get home today.

I read somewhere that hermit crabs may eat fish fins while they're asleep, but has anyone else had something like this happen, or have a possible solution??? Our hermit crabs arents very big, the green chromis is pretty tiny, but probably the same size of the hermit crab (including shell) but our Purple Tilefish was the 2nd biggest fish in the tank.

Thanks for your help!

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tarakun http:///t/397064/hermit-crabs-eating-my-fish#post_3537991
My Husband and I have a new saltwater tank that is about 2 months running. We had a few fish in it (Purple Tilefish, 2 clownfish, Emperor Angel, and a foxface), as well as hermit crabs and snails. The other day we added some new fish (Blue tang and 3 green chromis) and some larger snails and small crabs. The day after we added the new fish, I noticed out Purple Tilefish suddenly died. I found him sort of hidden on the ground behind a rock and one of the hermit crabs was eating him. It was very strange because He showed no signs of being sick, and had already been living fine in our tank for over a month.

Then the very next day, I was checking for all of our fish and found 1 of the green chromis at the same location where I found the purple tilefish dead. It was alive, but I noticed that a hermit crab had a hold of its tail and the fish couldn't shake it off. I was able to get the crab off of my fish, but he's very obviously injured and swims very poorly now. I'm not even sure if he will be alive when I get home today.

I read somewhere that hermit crabs may eat fish fins while they're asleep, but has anyone else had something like this happen, or have a possible solution??? Our hermit crabs arents very big, the green chromis is pretty tiny, but probably the same size of the hermit crab (including shell) but our Purple Tilefish was the 2nd biggest fish in the tank.

Thanks for your help!


Hi,

Welcome to the site. The hermits eat the dead. You added too many fish too fast, and when the fish died, they moved in to do their job as the CUC (Clean up crew)...sadly a sick dying fish is also cleaned up, so the poor things are not always completely dead before the feast begins.

I'm curious, what size tank do you have to be adding so many fish?

 

[tarakun]

We have a 180 Gallon tank, and we only get as many as the store we buy them from allows at a time, and they are aware of what fish we do have, etc etc. They're pretty strict about the health and wellness of the fish at their store, so they wouldn't sell us anything if they didn't think it was ready. We even have the water tested every time we visit (as well as testing it ourselves at home)

 

[jay0705]

Hermits will eat what ev is food. Fish are food yes but healthy fish are not what they would go for. Ill or dead is there usual food

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tarakun http:///t/397064/hermit-crabs-eating-my-fish#post_3537994
We have a 180 Gallon tank, and we only get as many as the store we buy them from allows at a time, and they are aware of what fish we do have, etc etc. They're pretty strict about the health and wellness of the fish at their store, so they wouldn't sell us anything if they didn't think it was ready. We even have the water tested every time we visit (as well as testing it ourselves at home)

Hi,

A quarantine tank set up would not only keep your fish healthy, but will help you regulate how fast you are adding new arrivals. The amount of good bacteria in the tank is directly balanced with what is already in it...when you add anything new, that balance is out of whack. It takes a week or two to re-balance out. So never add more then one fish at any one time....then wait for the tank to balance again before you add another.

I do not hang my hat on anything a LFS tells me. I do my research, ask those on this site for their opinions, and go into the store already knowing what I want or need. You can't possibly expect a store person (no matter how nice, or seemingly knowledgeable) to remember everything you have in YOUR tank, keep in mind they have more customers than just you. Nor do the store folks keep up with how long it has been between additions in YOUR tank. remember, if the fish die...it's YOUR money that they get to keep for the fish they sold you.

If you have any concerns with your water quality, and want to double check the test results...SeaChem test kits come with a regent, so you can double check your results. I watched a person at my LFS do a test for me (years ago) he was using the exact same kit I had at home. He did not however shake the vial between drops as the instructions said...he said it didn't matter. I went home and redid my test...it DID matter, since our results didn't match, he just didn't want to take the few extra seconds it took to do it correctly...That particular day, he was just busy.

I'm sure you are loyal to your fish store, and we do want our LFS to be there for us...but when it comes to taking care of your SW fish hobby, it's really all on you.

What other equipment do you have running?

• Power heads?
• Filtration?
• Skimmer?
• Lighting?
• Amount of live rock?
  Depth of the sand/crushed coral?
  What type of test kits? Results...actual numbers.
  SG
  Do you use RO (reverse osmosis) water or tap water?

All the above answers will help us to help you.