Aggressive hermit

zreuther · May 1, 2016

Hi all. So i woke up this morning to find that i lost one of my clowns. It looks as if my largest hermit(roughly an inch+/-) decided that clownfish was for breakfast this morning. I know thu9is a trait of other larger crabs but i didnt relize i would have this prob out of scarlet hermits. I have 5 scarlets and 5-8 blue legs.
Anyone else have a situation like this???

The new fish on the block · May 1, 2016

Hermit crabs are scavangers so it may not have killed it

zreuther · May 1, 2016

I had that in mind also, only thing is that he was very heathy ao far that i could tell as of last night and days prior. I dont have any aggressive species in there with them either. 2 bangaii cardinals, 1 lawnmower blenny, and now one percula clown. The rest is cuc

zreuther · May 1, 2016

Clowns are from the same tank at lfs and were tank raised. Got both together and put in tank together.

Slot · May 1, 2016

I have a 3 inch hermit in my tank (along with around 50 smaller)and he hasnt bothered my barely-over-an-inch clown. Taking him out after hearing about this

Techie_ · May 1, 2016

Regardless of what anyone says, a hermit crab, if he doesn't have a food source he likes, will decide to go after fish (or other source of live food). It's happened to me and my uncle who is a seasoned reefer with 20+ years of experience under his belt. Once hermits decide they enjoy live food, they will keeping attacking fish. It may not happen everyday, but it has happened to me, especially with clownfish.

zreuther · May 1, 2016

Thats sad to hear. Guess ill be taking him to my lfs. I don't understand how he couldn't have good good though. I got my hermits specifically bc I'm trying to get rid of some hair algae. Definitely gonna getting my fuge going asap since i seem to have ***hole hermits.