i don't know whats up with my crabs

[Reefyyy]

i had 3 hermit crabs as of a couple months ago, then two a short while after introducing them into the tank, and now I'm afraid i only have one. I am leaving him for now because he is in his shell and when i shook it he didn't fall out but I'm worried for him. I'm aware it is day time and they are nocturnal, but even if this one is still alive and is just off molting somewhere or something, i want to know a possible reason my other one died so early! list any reason and i will give you an answer about questions you ask and stuff. thank you!

 

[Uncle99]

Crabs eat crabs, crabs kill for shells

 

[Reefyyy]

Crabs eat crabs, crabs kill for shells

yeah but i think one of mine is cannibalistic because i just watched it eat my other one. i have one crab now. they have shells in the tank. i feed them every day. and yet still, he decides to kill and eat the other one which may have been what happened to the other one. I'm annoyed now. I'm going to keep an eye out to see if he changes into the other shell. although maybe the other one is the cannibal and already switched shells and ate the dead body to hide the evidence. idea right now. I'm just annoyed.

 

[Uncle99]

Opportunistic is what they are, if I can catch it it’s dinner including it’s own kind.
Since a decade ago, I removed every crab and hermit in my system.
After removing just this group, mysterious disappearances ceased.
I have Mexican turbos and Astrea that are years old now, no corals retracted, no overnight death.....hum?
Don’t need them. Even the Emeral Crab, never touched any bubble algae, but was happy to join feeding time.
Vibrant cleared all my bubble algae.

 

[Mikeltee]

It's just a crab... just go for the snails. Turbos last a decade but their price reflects it and you must have a bed of larger shells for them to grow into.

 

[Reefyyy]

It's just a crab... just go for the snails. Turbos last a decade but their price reflects it and you must have a bed of larger shells for them to grow into.

cool i will think about that but the hermit crab that still lives is the only creature in the tank now other than some very small frags of coral. I'm thinking of eventually getting a shrimp but i want a bigger tank right now because i only have a pico reef so it would be best for the critters to have more space in my opinion. my upgrade to a 5 gal at some point because yes my tank is a 2gal and its very very small haha.