What to do about a bully

[Sensi]

I posted another topic about finding my crab Barbosa naked in the moss pit. I think I found the culprit. Elizabeth has been aggressive even when she's the smallest in the tank. She got her current shell by chasing another bigger crab out of it. There is no lack of shells. In fact, I just bought a bunch of new ones. We had just finished watching a movie tonight when hubby got up and then yelled for me. Barbosa's shell was empty, he was naked in the hut and Elizabeth was right there. I put her in iso. I kind of feel bad about it but I"m afraid she may kill him overnight. What do you do about an aggressive one? Kind of like the little dog with the big bark. Hoping that she'll learn her lesson but feeling like I'm giving her credit for being able to be logical?

[wolfnipplechips]

Sorry about this. Hope the bully calms down. I had a problem with a bully crab a while back, and some people offered suggestions. It might be hormones, it might be not enough protein, it might be that she is just a little pain in the butt. What species is she? How often to do you feed animal protein? When was her last molt? If it keeps up, you should isolate her if you can for a while.

[wolfnipplechips]

I guess since you're probably not on, and I'm going to go to bed soon, I'll just give some more info without waiting for you to answer questions. So sorry if I suggest things that you are already doing.

Make sure you are feeding protein every day. This is a major part of the hermit crab diet, and if they don't get it, they will go after other crabs.

Is she an E (compressus)? They get rather feisty when it comes to shells because where they are from, shells are scarce, and they modify them so that they can keep them longer because finding a new one is a dangerous game. They heavily prefer shells that have been worn by other crabs because it means the shell is suitable, and a sure thing. Maybe you don't have the right type of extra shells? E's like "D" shaped openings like moon snails, whelks, thais.

If she has just molted or is getting ready to molt, she may be cranky. Some crabs get that way, and I don't know why. Their hormones are just out of whack.

My suggestion, if the aggression keeps up, would be to isolate her a while (a month or two) in another tank if you have one. This often calms aggressors down or lets their hormones have time to regulate, but occasionally, a crab will just not live peacefully with any tank mates and may need to be permanently separated.

[Sensi]

I have a variety of different shells. A variety of sizes and shapes so there should be something for everyone. I have 6 PP's and one E. I know..too many for my 10 gal. I'm working on getting a 75 set up. The crab in question is a PP and has done similar things more than once. I give them something with protien about every other day. Should it be every day maybe? They get a variety of different foods and have egg shells at all times. Scrambled eggs, bananas, oranges, blueberries (their favorite!), chicken, ground beef, tuna, bloodworms, greens worm castings....too many different things to mention all of them, actually. They are very picky eaters. The victim crab molted more than a week ago. None of the other 5 had bothered him at all. :::shrugs::: She is in iso right now to keep them both safe. Being deshelled twice in the same week can't be good for Barbosa's wittle crabby heart. Funny how attached we get to the little buggers. My oldest is more than four. My youngest I've had since summer. I sure love the little guys.

[annopia]

it could very well be a space problem, that has been known to make crabs aggressive.

however, some crabs are just aggressive, for no reason. i had a situation similar to yours...a very small PP causing problems, attacking molters, including a crab 4x her size. she probably killed 4 crabs. i figured out, eventually, that her problem was that she doesn't like Es...any other species is fine, but not Es. so she hasn't been around them in awhile and has been fine. that was very very random, and it may be something equally random in your case.

i think putting her in iso is a good idea. is your iso big and with good conditions? if so i would keep her in there until you can upgrade, offering lots of protein.

annopia

[wodesorel]

You said she had just molted - was it a normal molt with her spending a few weeks underground? Did you give her a bath at any point in the last week? I've had freshly molted crabs get bullied and flat-out attacked before, and I really think it was because they had come up too early for some reason or becuase they were not able to get that molting smell wiped off. When all it took is a bath for the other crabs to back off and start acting normally again, it had to be something that washed off. This isn't always the case as I've had completely random acts of aggression as well, but it's something to consider.