can a hermit crab eat a cleaner shrimp

[Darren88]

hi i got a new cleaner shrimp today put him in the tank went out for dinner came home and saw that my cleaner shrimp had died and a hermit crab was eating him now what i want to know is did the hermit crab kill the shrimp or was it the stress of being in a new tank.

ps.i bought a red scooter blenny too and he is doing just fine in the tank

[Vitaminz]

Ideal tank perimeters are needed with these shrimp they are more susceptible to perimeter swings. A pH of 8.1-8.4 should be establish and very stable to support these invertebrates. A temperature ranging from 72-78 is the best temperature to keep the shrimp thriving. A salinity of 1.023 -1.025 will be ideal and little to no nitrates should be present in the tank. Acceptable nitrate levels in a marine tank with fish should never be higher than 5-10 ppm.

How did you put the shrimp in? (dropped him in, or acclimated him)

What are your water perimeters?

Do you use a skimmer?

Do you add extra chemicles?

Your hermit crab is a scavenger, so it will look for anything that not moving for an easy meal. Did you ever consider that maybe he molted, and what the hermit was eating was it's old shell?

Hope this helps,

Jeff

[Wingin' It]

Shrimp are easy to kill...though Hermits don't typically do the killing. Something else killed the shrimp...probably the stress or possibly the other things that Vitaminz stated.

[rayfong]

Yes, hermit crabs are scavengers. When I had a salt water tank, I kept skunk cleaner shrimp and peppermint shrimp in the same tank as my hermits. The key is to drip acclimate them over an hour or so instead of just floating the bag and releasing as the parameters at the LFS and your tank will be very different.

[MMAX]

Lots of people think their shrimp have died when they moult. Are you sure the crab wasn't eating the shrimp's old exoskeleton? Do you have lots of live rock/hiding places in your tank? When a shrimp moults, he'll hide for a couple of days until his shell hardens. Very unlikely that a hermit will kill a shrimp although they will kill snails and steal their shells when they need a bigger home. And like someone else already said, a slow drip acclimatization needs to be done--I slow drip everything I put in my tank, fish and inverts.

[JLake]

Agreed, slow drips are great insurance. I slow drip most fish and every pleco!

[JohnnyReeftank]

How do you slow drip?

[Vitaminz]

I usual put the fish, or fishes in a ice cream bucket, depending on the size of the fish, emtpy the bag with the fish and wanter into it. Then I grab my airline tube and valve (to slow down, or speed up the flow) to achieve a drip, from my tank wanter down to the ice cream bucket. That is the way I do it, other people might have some other ideas.

Jeff