Who is eating my hermits?

[SWFan]

Hi folks,
I currently have a 90G with a pair of clownfish, one chromis, one yellow tang, one skunk fish, one peppermint shrimp, one cleaner shrimp, and one coral banded shrimp + a some CUC. I have only had the aquarium at my place for 2 weeks, but I see hermit limbs every couple of days, and it looks like im losing them.  I have been generally feeding my tank twice a day (one time frozen brine, and one time flakes).  Is this natural to lose these guys, or am I doing something wrong? Cheers!

[jimskoi]

If its the blue leg hermits. They are most likely eating each other. They are known for that.

[Darth]

do you have empty shells, they will "mug" each other for a better house

[SWFan]

Its the red leg, and there are empty shells in the tank. Thanks for the comments so far.

[Dakotamay]

Are you sure it's not just sheds?  Hermits do shed as they grow. Like a cleaner shrimp does. It can look like the hermit is dead.  Or are you literally seeing less and less actual hermits moving around?

[SWFan]

Not sure if this is related, but as I was looking around the tank to count how many hermits I have got left, I see my cleaner shrimp eating a nassarius snail.  Saw him eat two in one day!

[Dakotamay]

I've never heard of cleaner shrimp being hunters. Though anything is possible. I did a search on Google to inquire and there are others that have had it happen. Just put cleaner shrimp eating snails in to the search.

[JetJumper]

They tend to only eat things if they are already dying or dead... my guess is when you moved the tank it has affected some things and there is die off.. have you tested the water lately?

Salinity:
Ammonia:
Nitrites:
Nitrates:
Phosphates:
ALK:
Calcium:
Magnesium:

etc...

[SWFan]

Ya I did a google search last night and I read the same thing.  It didn't seem like it was a common thing, and they only go at it if they are dieing.  I have recently added additional snails, so I am not sure if it was eating old ones from the move, or the new ones (I did follow the floating acclimation method). 

I have only tested Salinity, Ammonia, Nitrites and everything was great.  I will try to monitor and do some of the other water tests.

[Greatwhite]

Hermits disappear all the time... Mine have been known to climb up the overflow, and drop down into there...  I'm certain that there's a bunch living in the corner overflow now.  You just need to keep on replenshing the cleanup crew every couple/few months!!  I have a couple scarlet crabs who have upgraded their shells twice now, and are about the size of a loonie...  But the blues disappear all the time.