Red leg hermits friends or....?

pseudorand · Aug 20, 2020

Those are my two red-leg hermits. The smaller one just molted as you might be able to see in the foreground. The bigger one is hovering over doing I don't know what.

They always seem to hang out together, so I thought they might be friends. But at the moment I'm assuming the big one is looking for an easy meal because... nature.

Should I separate them, or might they be doing something less violent (though possibly still worthy of a R rating)?

pseudorand · Aug 20, 2020

I decided to move the big one. When I picked her up, she held on to the little one, leaving part of herself exposed to do so. I put the little one back where it was and the big one on the other side of the tank. Half an hour later, the big one is back in the same place and has flipped the little one over again, exposing the opening to its shell. Clearly crabs know their habitat and can remember where they've been and what they want.

Now I just need to know if they're cannibals.

SMSREEF · Aug 20, 2020

Hermits are cannibal in my experience.
Do you have a sump that you can put big guy into for a few days?

pseudorand · Aug 20, 2020

Now I feel dumb, as that seems obvious. I sumped the big one with a few crab pellets.

I think I was blinded by the hope of baby crabs. I know it's unlikely any would survive, but I need more. I have about 5 or 6 total in my 120, including two huge ones (the big red one being one of them). I used to have more. Now I guess I know where they all went.