Poll. Why do inverts die in a reef

[efrank]

I wanted to see what people thought about the death of scarlet hermits, blue legs, and all of the other inverts that sometimes die while everything seems fine in a reef.
a. It is part of life don't worry about it.
b. Lack of food.
c. They kill each other for their shells.
d. Other
I have a 55g with 50lbs of lr and 3 inches of ls. 2 clowns, a dragon goby, a black cap jaw fish and a spotted sweetlips. My tank has been running for 4 months and all readings are where they should be. I change 10% of the water with RO every 2 weeks. I seem to find at least one or two dead cracbs a week. I never feed them directly, could this be why?

 

[fender]

I have only had one hermit die. A blue that lost a fight over a shell.
I have 18blues in a 90g that has been up for 4mos and 1 red.
I do not feed directly.

 

[playtime]

I have had great luck with all hermits, so far. I do occasionally find a dead one but I quickly check my water quality. If everything is fine, I chalk it up to mother nature. I loose fish faster than anything. Even my anenomes do great. just not fish. Whats with that? Hermits do fight over shells so that can attribute to some deaths, you don't want to over feed, but they should be some down there. They also feed on the algea and stuff from your live rock so starvation shouldn't be an issue. How often do you feed? and what? Sorry I couldn't be more help. Good luck.
Playtime

 

[fantomkoala]

It could be that your hermits aren't dying...they molt their outer skins just like larger crabs do. I thought that my hermits were passing away to be informed taht the "bodies" I was finding in my tank were actually the layer that they had shed off (it looks suprisingly like the real hermit). That may help...however if they are truly dying, I dont know what to say