Whos Killing the Crabs?

[justinl]

no way man! that is one wild story. Long way to go for a snail. that's what i call dedication.

[Rippin]

Seashells,

Give us a bit more info on the other inhabitants that you have in the aquarium. What you've provided so far doesn't give us much of a lead.

Were both crabs dead? So the entire crab was there - pieces not missing?

I've had a cleaner shrimp die right in front of me. Just rested on the rock and passed away. Probably malnutrition.

When my hermit crabs molt it LOOKS as if the crab has been ripped in half and eaten - startles me all the time. But later on I find out it's just an empty shell and the crab is all right.

[seashells]

No pieces missing. Claws in grab position. All peaceful inhabitants (other than the Damsels of course) Tang, Yellow clown gobies, manderin, dragon, blennie. Missing one purcula.

[archimed]

This is a long shot - but any chance that a mantis shrimp has been hiding out in your LR? I had my entire cleanup crew wiped out twice, mysteriously. Two years after my tank had been set up, I heard a 'clicking' sound in the evenings that I couldn't place. Finally, I figured out that a mantis shrimp had hidden away and survived the 4 day trip from Jakarta to Edmonton :!
He had been silently killing dozens of cleaners in the tank before I lured him out. He was the size of my pinky finger! Ugly little guy too..

btw - first post. I recently came back to the hobby after a few years hiatus from my last (failed) attempt. This time I have a 14gal Oceanic Biocube that I'm still setting up. Located in Deadmonton!

[seashells]

Welcome back! Havent heard any clicking, but totally possible. Might have just got big enough to do damage. We are setting up a 29 BC at our store right now as well! What did you use in the second chamber? I am trying rock & rubble. I will be transfering a well established reef into it. Good Luck!

[archimed]

Originally Posted by seashells

Welcome back! Havent heard any clicking, but totally possible. Might have just got big enough to do damage. We are setting up a 29 BC at our store right now as well! What did you use in the second chamber? I am trying rock & rubble. I will be transfering a well established reef into it. Good Luck!

Thanks for the welcome! In my BC14 I'm going to go with rubble in the second chamber also. I picked up fully cycled water, live sand and a damsel from someone in the forums that was shutting down their tank last night. Today I'll be picking up LR, doing a 20% water change, and finding some rubble for the 2nd chamber.

I'm still reading up on the BC14, but one of the thing I'm going to do is a wiring mod to get the fans to turn on with the actinics. Temperatures seem fine right now, but I'll have to keep an eye on it when the 10K lights are on.