Is it possible?

[nofish4u!!]

I bought a decorator crab yesterday. Today I have 2 dead fish and 2 are missing. One of the fish is shredded... is it possible for the decorator to have done this (he's a huge spider decorator)? I had always heard they were harmless.

 

[aw2eod]

Very possible. Unfortunately, Decorator Crabs are not harmless.
What kind of fish are they?

 

[nofish4u!!]

My six line Wrasse was shredded and my psuedochromis (purple) was laying between 2 rocks barely alive (died a half hour after I found him) and my damsel and firefish are both missing. I just returned that killer to the fish store

 

[dragonladylea]

I would watch your tank for another predator, My decorator was the size of a baseball and not aggressive at all towards any fish, inverts etc. Used to run from my Maroon Clown and Pistol Shrimp both of whom were about a quarter of his size.

 

[nofish4u!!]

Thanks, I will definately keep an eye out. I just thought it was too weird that the day after I put him in the tank, I find 2 dead fish and am missing two others. I have found a mantis shrimp in there before, hopefully I'm not experiencing that again. I figured just in case it was the decorator, he needed to go... guess this game is about process of elimination. Talk about an expensive game! :scared:

 

[120reefer]

yeah, i would look for another culprit, mantis shrimp seems like a likely suspect

 

[joojoo]

way too much of a coincidence to me, you did the right thing
hope you find those other 2 guys
this doesn't help my fear of spiders :scared:

 

[nofish4u!!]

HAHA!

you should see this thing.. must have been 5-6 inches. When I put my hand in the tank to get him out, he bit me! If you don't like spiders, stay away from this crab!

 

[dragonladylea]

I actually have a pretty healthy case of Arachniphobia but my Arrow Decorator crab always had so much stuff on him he didnt bother me. What I thought was really cool was when he took a liking to the Hair Algae in the tank. He completely cleaned it off of everything and wore it himself until it was all gone.