homicide in my tank. who to blame?

[eddiebfl]

im new to the saltwater family. i have a 55 gallon tank with about 50ib of live rock, protein skimmer, 20 scarlet hermit crabs, 20 blue legged crabs, 2 emerald crabs(pimary suspects), a serpent star. yesterday i purchased 2 damsels and 2 clown fish. this morning one came up missing. i think it was either the emerald crabs or the serpent star? should i get rid of both?

[VoodooChild]

I really doubt the emerald crabs did it. They're pretty herbivorous and even if they did get a taste of blood, they're pretty slow. I'd say something just died for another reason, perhaps shipping stress, and with the amount of inverts in your tank, the body could've been cleaned up overnight.

[kreblak]

Agreed, in between 40 hermits and a pair of emerald crabs, the carcass could have been mopped up in a matter of hours. As far as what killed the fish, it could have been nearly anything: stress from shipping, stress from acclimation, or stress from harassment by its tankmates. Something like 90% of saltwater fish that die from "unnatural" causes are fish in their first week in a new aquarium. Give it some time, and see how things hash out.