Red and Blue leg grabs
- Thread starter p fish
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007
Active Member
It is very common for them to fight among themselves and kill eachoter, especially if there is a shortage of shells in the tank. Another reason is due to osmotic shock which is a result of a fast acclimation process. Perhaps there may also be an unseen predator in the tank such as a mantis shrimp.
jawfishray
Member
Greetings,
To check for a hidden murderer, make a simple "coke" bottle trap and place some bait in it. Hopefully your tank does not include other critters that you know of that could fit within the trap hole.
I had a small octopus, 2", that hitched a ride on my weekly live rock transfer...I lived/dove near some great "live rock"; squirts, grasses, algae, etc...I was cultivating a host of camie crabs, amoung other things, and these guys would strip most of the good stuff off. I would replace the stripped rocks for new ones as I collected water for my exchanges.
Anyhow, I started losing crabs, alot of crabs. I found several body parts around one cubby hole. I suspected a mantis shrimp, but I was wrong. A really cute octopus got into the trap one night. He could have easily escaped but I did a midnight run and caught him.
After I transfered him to his own tank I noticed he was not doing well, so I released him within a week. But he was cool.
If you had a die off, and your fish still lived, you most likely have a killer on your hands. I would suspect a slow moving killer though. If it were a mantis shrimp he would not stop with hermits, in fact I doubt he would have started with hermits. You most likely have a killer like a cone or other sand dweller.
Good luck.
Ray
To check for a hidden murderer, make a simple "coke" bottle trap and place some bait in it. Hopefully your tank does not include other critters that you know of that could fit within the trap hole.
I had a small octopus, 2", that hitched a ride on my weekly live rock transfer...I lived/dove near some great "live rock"; squirts, grasses, algae, etc...I was cultivating a host of camie crabs, amoung other things, and these guys would strip most of the good stuff off. I would replace the stripped rocks for new ones as I collected water for my exchanges.
Anyhow, I started losing crabs, alot of crabs. I found several body parts around one cubby hole. I suspected a mantis shrimp, but I was wrong. A really cute octopus got into the trap one night. He could have easily escaped but I did a midnight run and caught him.
After I transfered him to his own tank I noticed he was not doing well, so I released him within a week. But he was cool.
If you had a die off, and your fish still lived, you most likely have a killer on your hands. I would suspect a slow moving killer though. If it were a mantis shrimp he would not stop with hermits, in fact I doubt he would have started with hermits. You most likely have a killer like a cone or other sand dweller.
Good luck.
Ray
saltynewbie
Member
do you have any snails? are they doing ok? how are your water parameters?
fishman830
Active Member
Originally posted by JawfishRay
Greetings,
I had a small octopus, 2", that hitched a ride on my weekly live rock transfer...I lived/dove near some great "live rock"; squirts, grasses, algae, etc...I was cultivating a host of camie crabs, amoung other things, and these guys would strip most of the good stuff off. I would replace the stripped rocks for new ones as I collected water for my exchanges.
Ray
what kind of octopus?! wasnt a blue ring was it?
jawfishray
Member
No, my little friend was a common Atlantic octopus. Just a baby.
Ray
Ray