Hermits mating?

[pseudorand]

I've posted about this before, but are my hermit crabs mating?

The last time I assumed the little one had shed its shell and the big one was trying to eat it. but this time the little one is out of its shell instead of hiding. It was out more than is in the picture until I stuck my camera up there to take the picture. It hid from me, not the big crab.

What does hermit crab mating behavior look like?

 

[pseudorand]

Here they are all friendly like. You can clearly see the little ones eyes. If he was scared he'd go away into his shell.

 

[SAWFISH]

I would lean on the side of thinking they are fighting, but I am by no means an expert. I think it is pretty common to see aggression between hermit crabs, especially if there are not enough shells in the tank.

If you want more information about hermit crab breeding I suggest going to the Marine Breeders forum. Here is a subforum dedicated to hermit and porcelain crab breeding

 

[pseudorand]

Here they are, together again. They don't, seem to be fighting, just cuddling. They're just sitting there. No one is moving. It's not shell opening to shell opening, so I don't think they're trying to eat each other.

I've separated them one more time after my original post, but I suspect if the big one is going to go cannibal, she'll manage to do it before I notice eventually.

Maybe they're just friends.

 

[Baby Damsel 219]

Same mine have been doing the same and not eating eachother