Rip Hermit Crab; Cannibalism??

[WormLicker]

Okay, so I only have two hermits.

Well. I only have one now. I'm not even sure what variety they are, but one is extremely dead today. What the heck happened? They have been well fed and these two seemed to get along ok.. nothing else in my aquarium could have done this?? I have only snails(Cerith and a bumblebee), a cleaner shrimp and one very small Percula. I don't see an empty shell, either. Is it possible I have some kind of mystery hitchhiker, or is the other crab the culprit?

[Seadragon]

I try not to accuse any one thing until I see it with my own eyes.  Innocent until proven guilty sort of thing. Before, I’ve witnessed my large Blue Leg Hermit Crab molting, then getting bullied by another large Blue Leg Hermit Crab, then the bully killing and eating the one that molted.  Now, I don’t have any Blue Leg Hermit Crabs in my tank, just Scarlet Red Hermit Crabs with claws so tiny they’re basically harmless.

 

I also saw a large Zebra Hermit Crab bully my Scarlet Red Hermit Crab before and they’re gone now too. 😉

 

And then I witnessed a Nassarius snail eating one of my Scarlet Red Hermit Crabs that probably just molted, and after doing research on that behavior, I no longer have Nassarius snails in my tank.

 

So, yes, it could have been your other hermit crab.  Or it could have been a natural death.  You only got one hermit crab left so I doubt it’ll be much of a problem. 😉

 

[WormLicker]

2 minutes ago, Seadragon said:

So, yes, it could have been your other hermit crab.  Or it could have been a natural death.  You only got one hermit crab left so I doubt it’ll be much of a problem. 

LOL, this has me absolutely cracking up. You are correct, with one I guess it's not an issue 🤷😂

[Kindanewtothis]

I found a scarlet dead out of its shell. Two suspects: another scarlet and an halloween.

[Murphs_Reef]

I didn't keep more than one in a nano. They do get spicy and try to steal each others shells.

 

Only now I have plenty of floor space I have a large electric blue, Halloween and 4 zebras.. but they still bump into one another from time to time and do the "I want your shell" thing. They can be a pain when constantly together in a small space. 

 

You could try to put more empty shells in to give them options....