Crab Snack

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debdp

Premium Member
Well I was sitting in my chair enjoying my 24g. One of the hermits got stuck on his back and was trying to turn over. No biggie happens all the time and they usually flip over. Except this time my cleaner shrimp saw it as an opportunity. I didn't realize at first what the shrimp was doing until it was too late... it was a blurred jumble of shirmp legs and hermit shell moving around... when it finally stopped the crab was dead and the shrimp was enjoying his snack so I took a pic. The other hermits came scrambling out of nowhere to come get any leftovers and of course fight for the empty shell.
 
Ouch! You may want to keep that shrimp better fed! I had one that did the same to any snail that turned over. Hand feeding him stopped that. Of course, he was a total pig, and took to trying to steel food from everyone else from then on...
 
This is very true. I had kind of cut back on heavy feedings due to time constraints and in my other tank it cost me some snails... only these guys didn't wait till they flipped over, one figured out how to pry them off the glass :) so I have now gone back on heavier feedings for all three of them.

For such small creatures they have voracious appetites. I find feeding them until they quit accepting food and go back to their rock is the best... but I'm blown away by how much food they can consume in one sitting.

Keeping animals is a daily learning experience I suppose.
 
until I spot feed my Cleaner shrimp (3) they each had a path they would follow. They would go from coral to coral sticking their claws inside the mouths of my coral and "stealing" anything that was not too far gone to dig out.

Needless to say my coral hate this, so I now hand feed the cleaners and they stopped.
 
Deb, are you sure the crab wasn't just molting? When one of mine molts, there's a fight for the cast-off exoskeleton.
 
@Ashlar wrote:
Deb said:
Positive... I had been watching the crab before the shrimp came along. The crab was in its shell trying to turn over after it had fallen from a rock and landed on its back. Something I've seen many times before. They take their little claws, grab onto something and flip over. Snails I'll flip over, but these guys I figure can handle themselves. Unfortunately, I should have interfered. I just didn't expect my shrimp to go after it and so lightening fast.
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