hermit crabs fighting?

guineawhop

guineawhop

Member
i have blue legged hermit crabs and i've had them for a while. i have 4 in particular that are huge in comparison to the others. i have about 30 total. i see the big hermits either on their side or on their back picking at another hermit crab smaller than they are. they hold onto the smaller hermits shell and it looks like they are picking at the hermits still inside thet shell. i have plenty of empty shells on the bottom. so what i'm wondering if anybody has come across this themselves or if someone know's what they are doing?
 
dmitry

dmitry

Member
I had 6 blue hermits and not too long ago added 6 reds. Well, the store I got them from put one that wasn't red (brown/white stripes) and the first day I put them in I saw one of the blue hermits beating the crap out this guy! I mean, it was like WWF! I thought he'd killed him, but the beaten crab spent the next day hiding in the corner and is now crawling all over the place. I think sometimes crabs will kill other crabs for shells, even if there are empty ones around. They'll sometimes kill snails, too!
 
farmboy

farmboy

Active Member
My tank looks like the "killing fields" some mornings since we added the "cleaner crew". We have had a few fatalities in mortal combat and 2 of seemingly natural causes, but mostly they would rather clean up than fight. . . . and they really REALLY like to fight!!
I read on here that blue legs are more aggressive than red legs. But Zebras are even more aggressive than them! One of mine turns out to be a Zebra ( black and white instead of blue and yellow legs). A dwarf hermit will cling to a snail while it crawls up the glass. Most of the time the snail will throw him off. Other times the snail goes down!! Was that a CAGE MATCH??!!
 
dmitry

dmitry

Member
Oh yeah, I've had hermits trying to crawl on top of a snail up rocks and glass, but so far the snails have managed to throw the hermits off. I fee like interfering and saving the poor snails, though...
 
mandysam

mandysam

Member
When I first started my tank I had 6 hermits (3 reds and 3 blues) then I added 2 zebras and some unknown hermit. Now after a year I am only left with the 2 zebras and a blue. The zebras wiped out most of the other hermits and even one of there own. I see them fighting, stalking and throwing each other off of rocks all the time. I recently added a blue electric hermit and he seems to be holding his own. Let's hope!!!!!
 
ouchthathu

ouchthathu

Member
We started with about 40 Hermits (20 red, 20 blue). Our biggest mistake was not adding empty shells at the same time.
In the first 3 weeks the tank became littered with empty shells - we were loosing 1 or 2 a day easily. We ran out and bought 50 empty shells, boiled them and scattered them through the tank and mortality significantly decreased.
Every once in a while I'll see 2 hermits battling it out for the other's shell... they definitly have Shell Envy!
 
cjason3041

cjason3041

Member
yup, me too i had i dont know how many hermits, and for the first mont or so every day it was like i saw dead bodies, it was crab ww3 in there, but now they seem to be getting along... been about 7 months, and i might have babies, i am not sure, or maybe there were really small crabs, that i dont remember adding... i am starting to get som hair algae so i am gonna add more, but i havent sold enough tickets for the fights yet
 
farmboy

farmboy

Active Member

Originally Posted by nanoreef
:hilarious

I have no idea what to say but that sounds sooo funny


How about:
"LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!"
(...you have to imagine the "Eye of the tiger" Rocky music now. ...)
 
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