Do emerald crabs kill fish?

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redBernadino

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jan 22, 2005
Messages
14
Location
San Jose, CA
About a week ago I added a tiger goby to my tank, and just last night, I woke up to an emerald crab eating the goby. I have 3 emeralds in my tank (60 gallons) but not much algae. Will they attack fish if they get hungry enough? I would think it would be pretty easy to snatch a goby hiding under a rock...
 
It's possible....usually takes a good size crab though. Most likely, he was just doing his job of clean-up when you found it. Innocent until caught in the act you know. Sorry for your loss though.

Fireman
 
It would pretty tough for an emerald ot catch a healthy fish. Most likely was sick or dead before the crab go t ahold of it. Sorry
 
Yea, that's what I thought too. He was swimming around the bottom and sifting the sand all day/night, and then woke up and he was being eaten. Very weird.
 
NOT WEIRD!

Did you read my previous posts asking for help with my dieing fish? Well, I'm not 100% sure yet but, for three weeks my fish have been dieing and I couldn't figure it out. My water is just fine. The lfs ask me if I had a crab and the light went on! It then hit me that my first death was 2 days after I added the Emerald crab LM Blenny)! The crab is a big sucker too!

My last fish (perc clown) I introduced last Monday night - perfectly healthy. Tuesday morning he was swimming high in one corner and looked all but dead. Frustrated, I've been getting. After my conversation with the lfs, I brought in the Em crab one afternoon. Several hours later, my clown was swimming around just happy as could be!!

The lfs made a good point; the crab doesn't have to actually hurt the fish but just the fact that he continues to harass and prey on them causes stress and eventual death - especially with surface fish. E.g. blennies, gobies, etc.

It's been three days now and everything looks far better for that clown. I haven't yet made a conclusion but I'm almost there
 
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