hermit crab

Question
About 3 weeks ago I purchased one hermit crab. It was about the size of a dime. We noticed that we didn't see the hermit crab anymore. I checked the tank for it and all I could find is an empty shell. There is no crab anywhere. We have two clowns, one damsel, one scat, two brittle stars, and anemone. Could something have ate it or where could it have gone? All of my levels test fine.

Answer
Brenda,
If you can't find the hermit crab in any other shells then only a couple of things could have happened.  He died of some natural or unnatural causes.  Eaten?  Not likely, but if anything in your tank was capable of doing so it would be the brittle stars.

How big was this crab?  Were you feeding it anything or just allowing it to scavenge?  If it was larger and you were not feeding it anything specific it might have starved.

Best of luck with your tank.

Regards,
Scott Johnson
Aquarium Crazy Fish
www.aquariumcrazyfish.com