scarlet hermit crab newbie question

[carroll]

I have learned alot on this site thanks!
My scarlet hermit crab tries to grab my sailfin when she is eating algae off the rock. Will the crab hurt the fish?

She is the only fish in my tank it is a fowlr tank
thanks

Let me know if I should keep them apart

[leebca]

Hermit Crabs are opportunistic feeders. This means they will eat whatever they can get their claws on. They eat algae if meat isn't available. They do harm to fishes, snails, and corals when they get older.

I would not recommend keeping HCs unless you just want to keep a tank with only them in it.

If you'd like to read up more on clean up crews (and HCs) read through this short article:
http://www.reefland.com/rho/0305/medprod3.php

[carroll]

Thank you
The scarlet hermit was listed as a herbivore so I thought it would be okay. Then I saw it trying to grab the tail fin of the little tang and it was oblivious to this crab trying to pinch her so I moved the crab. My shrimp is dead today. I added him three days ago and he was fine. Moving around and other than the tang was with him every minute he seemed fine. I turned the light on in my tank and he is laying on the bottom not moving. Do you think the crab got him too?
Thanks again Lee

[leebca]

Shrimp molt. So, be sure you're not looking at a molt. When the shrimp molts it hides a few days until its exoskeleton toughens up.

If it is dead, it could be the crab, but most likely it would be either it wasn't acclimated properly or there is something in the water it didn't like. Shrimp are more sensitive to water quality than most marine fishes.

[carroll]

I acclimated over a 45 minute time period slowly adding my water to the bag and floating the bag the whole time. Would it die 3 days later from bad acclimation? I did have my water tested before I added the little shrimp. I will look again since I have never seen one shed but it looks like the whole critter to me.

Sorry for all the questions new to the hobby.

[leebca]

Death from a bad acclimation can take up to several weeks, with the shorter the time, the more likely acclimation is the cause. It doesn't have to be your acclimation, it could be a bad acclimation into the local fish store tanks, too. That's why it's a good idea to leave the fish/invert at the store for at least 2 weeks.

Acclimation of invertebrates has to be slower than that for the fish. Take a look at this acclimation procedure for fish: It Was Acclimation, I know. . .

Just as an abbreviated idea of what it takes to acclimate an invertebrate:
1. float bag to equilibrate temperature (about 15-20 minutes);
2. Add water to bag at 5 min intervals. Add about 2% of the total bag water at a time until the bag is nearly full;
3. Dump out half the bag's water down the drain;
4. Repeat 2
5. Repeat 3
6. Check pH. If there is still a variance (pH of bag and tank are different by more than 0.15 pH units), repeat 2. and 3. then add add inverts (with no water if the invert can stand to be taken out of the water) to tank.

For a small bag, the process should take about 4 hours.

Inverts can't handle some trace elements that are at high levels (e.g., copper, heavy metals, etc.) besides the usual poisons (ammonia, nitrites, etc.).

Questions is the reason we're here to help. Ask!

[NeroIsKing]

Also Tangs are known to kill shrimp. I've seen this happen numerous times.

[carroll]

I thought they had a good relationship. The shrimp cleans the tang ?
Thanks
I did notice that the tang was with that shrimp 24/7. Would the tang eat the shrimp? The tang has shown no interest in the shrimp now that it is dead

[NeroIsKing]

I've witnessed with my own eyes a purple tang kill a cleaner shrimp. Usually they get along, but it can happen. And no it didn't eat the shrimp, just killed it.