emerald crab agression towards it's own

I purchased two emerald crabs on Saturday and it appears that one has now down in the other. I observed the smaller one hunkered down in a small cave while the larger was waiting outside, It seemd to be making some efforts to get closer to the small one when I turned on the lights. I just went to take a look, 4 hours later, and there is no sign of the smaller one in the cave and the big guy was lurking nearby.My tank is 65 gal and while only 8 weeks old, I have lots of algae for everyone to eat so I'm not sure if it was just hungry and decided to snack on the smaller one. I also have about 60 lbs of lr with lots of places to hide. I even placed them at opposite ends of the tank. Eralier in teh evening the large one was at the opposite end of the tank so it must have tracked teh small one down because there was little change that it just stumbled on him by accident. I have only 2 clowns and a yellow tang. I'm worried about the tang because it was hovering below an overhang close to the crab when I turned the lights on. Might the crab nip at the tang when it's sleeping. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Should I return the crab to my lfs?

 

i just had the same thing.i bought 2 emerald crabs and one killed the other.the guy at the store told me i'd have a better chance if i bought more,like 5 at a time but i figure he just wants to sell stuff so idk.

 

thanks ziggy. 5 @ $16 each is a little expensive!! i guess i should have been leery when the lfs clerk out them in separate bogs..

 

HOLY CRAP BATMAN!! $16? Wow. I just bought two today at PetCo for $5 a piece.

Where are you located?

 

Yeah, I've never had a problem with them attacking each other before. Just a problem keeping them alive in general. IME they seem to starve rather quickly - maybe i have the wrong algae.

 

I live in Canada, jonjon. We have limited lfs here, but the one I buy from (Big Al's) is expensive but their staff is knowledgable and they stand behing their product.
Actually, a few weeks back I did see both of them lurking in caves, so it looks like I was wrong about one attacking the other. However, I've not seen either since then so they might have met their end!