CASE: have one blue nuckle hermit grab dead and 2 suspects and need to know which one so I know if i should return the flame hawk fish if it was him.

suspect 1: Flame hawk fish known for eating small snails, crabs and shrimps. mine is small size and got him LFS where there were shrimps and snails n crabs in the tank. he is new to the tank and barely see him eat food so he could be really hungry.

suspect 2: Newly added blue nuckle hermit grab (Looks 2x bluer). Known to be aggressive towards other tank mates and may kill other grabs for their shells.

Situation and Clues i have:

1. flame hawk still only been in tank for 1 week and just added the new blue hermit crab along with 4 small regular hermits 2 days ago... so total of 10 crabs including the 2 adult size blue nuckle which one of them is dead.

2. Saw dead crab with out the shell and inches from the dead body saw the new hermit crab using the daed crabs shell and havent had time to look for his old shell.

3. Flame hawk fish looks soo cute and inocent and hasn't killed any of the smaller crabs.

4. havent seen whole body of a hermit crab.. but all of its legs and cluase where intact. the part of the body that goes in the shell does look pretty small though and not sure if thtats normal or not.

so which one is guilty?? Flame hawk which hasnt been eating much and well known for cleaing out snails, grabs and shrimps?!?! or new crab which only evidence is him enjoying his new shell?

are you sure it didn't just shed? If it is dead than the other blue knuckle probably killed him.

i agree with Clarence. if it did not molt then it was probably the new blue knuckle that did him in.

That'd be a real hermit grab!

they do tha when they molt?!?!? leave there shell? it seemed dead to me. when i pocked him he didnt move at all and i picked it up with a net and didnt move..

He probably molted. If you have larger shells he may have found a new home. Hermits do need larger shells to move into as they grow. I find little hermit legs all the time. And not just in my tank. What's up with that?

(I'm kidding, of course)

I agree, it probably just molted.

haha damn im such a new reefer. and here i thought i was an expert at this after hearing all the talkign reef pod cast more than once!!!... got home today and saw both blue hermit crabs and thought to my self its ALIVE>> or even thought maybe when i bought the crab 2 of them where in the shell... ... so ya it did molt... thought only shrimp did that....

this could make it to reef keeping magazine

"top 10 stupidest thing you ever did with reef keeping"

#1 Finally had got the courage to get a $60 flame hawk fish you have always wanted but scared to get cuz he might eat your shrimps and snails. than a weak later got really frustrated and mad and returned him back to LFS because he killed your cool blue hermit crab. to find out when you got back that the crab just molted!

haha damn im such a new reefer. and here i thought i was an expert at this after hearing all the talkign reef podcast more than once!!!... got home today and saw both blue hermit crabs and thought to my self its ALIVE>> or even thought maybe when i bought the crab 2 of them where in the shell... ... so ya it did molt... thought only shrimp did that....

Careful with the "blue knuckle" or "electric blue" hermits. Although they're pretty hardy they can be quite aggressive, especially to each other. When full grown I'd probably place my money on the crab if it was up against a hawkfish as they can get quite big (see my Flickr shots (http://flickr.com/photos/drthompson/sets/72057594137460346/)). I had 2 males and 1 female, and now just have 1 female. She killed the other two after mating with each of them (no offspring was ever seen, which is expected in a closed reef tank environment).

#1 Finally had got the courage to get a $60 flame hawk fish you have always wanted but scared to get cuz he might eat your shrimps and snails. than a weak later got really frustrated and mad and returned him back to LFS because he killed your cool blue hermit crab. to find out when you got back that the crab just molted!That's not so bad... I know people who've gone out and purchased clownfish once the Aiptasia hitchhiker they spot fed for 2 months looked big enough to host a mated pair of A. percula. :)