Red Crabs vs Blue Legged Crabs

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Badbrad8500

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I'm noticing my red legged crabs are becoming pretty big, while at the same time my blue legged ones are apparently decreasing in number. Is there some sort of crab warfare going on in my tank, or am I just paranoid? I feed 4 chromis, 2 clowns, yellow tang, and hawkfish a cube of mysis every other day. Maybe not enough food for all the crabs? Should I get rid of just the red ones?

Thanks in advance.
 
Crabs won't normally attack another creature unless it needs a new shell and likes the one another crab is wearing. I usually throw a little seaweed in the tank for crabs to pick on between feedings. Wrap the seaweed around a small rock or marble and secure it with a rubber band. Hope this helps.
 
Its natural. Lack of food, shell envy, or waking up on the wrong side of the bed can cause them to throw down. This is why I dont have much to do with hermits.

Tapatalk
 
I prefer the true scarlet's, they cost more but are not as aggressive as the red or blueleg's so they wind up living much longer overall and won't rip your snail's out of their shell's as readily. In the end they are still crab's and will eat something if not enough food is available.

Cheers,
 
I was discussing this with the LFS on Wed, but twice in the last week I have seen my fish kill 2 of my blue legs. While I was looking for my new 6 line wrasse I saw my blue leg crawl around the bottom side of a rock. He lost his grip and fell. When he crawled our for a second to flip over, my foxface swooped in and started eating him. Then the Tangs joined in. Then the next day while I was watching TV I saw all of the fish rush toward something...turned out to be them ripping apart another blue leg.

I discussed how much and often I was feeding the fish with the LFS and they agreed it was the right amount, but they didn't believe the fish were killing the crabs. Anyone else ever see this?
 
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