missing fish

on friday i went to the LFS and picked up a small cleaner shrimp and a bi colored blenny. they are nowhere to be found, and i have a tiny 12 gallon tank. recently i saw a small crab waddle around between the rocks, and he is kind of impossible to catch. could he be the reason they disappeared?

i have a pistol shrimp and a randalls goby that live inside their "burrow" and a bigger cleaner shrimp.

any suggestions on why they disappeared?

 

Did you check around the outside of your tank to see if they jumped?
Your two additions should be visible quite frequently as they really aren't very timid! I don't think your crab is responsible for the death of both additions! What kind of crab by the way?

 

How packed together are your rocks? They are timid, but its possible they are still adjusting to the tank and are hiding somewhere in the rocks, where it seems impossible to find them. Try putting small amounts of food in there, if they are in there they will come out soon.

 

It is also possible that they died and were consumed by your tank. Ive lost big fish in the past and nothing was ever seen from them again. If you have crabs(even hermits) and shrimp, they are omnivores, when something dies, its an easy meal for them and they'll pick it clean, you wont even find bones.

 

Shes got random snails (margarita cerith etc) 3x bumblebee snails, 2 cleaners (maybe just one now and 2-3 hermits

 

The dead body of the fish and cleaner could have been dragged into a hole inside the live rock (by the crab), to a point where it can't visible be seen.

The pistol shrimp could have gotten your cleaner also.

 

possible, but the pistol is only like 1/2" (its a tiger)

 

It could have been the pistol when it comes to the cleaner shrimp! My hitchhiker pistol is tiny, I mean tiny and not only did a cleaner go missing but I also only have one pepperment shrimp left too. Pistol shrimp don't depend on their size, it's the sonic boom from their claw. When a pistol snaps his claw it stuns the pistols prey long enough for them to drag them into the den and have a nice meal.

 

He's still unable to make concussion bubbles. Like everybody said...it is possible, but the cleaner was 3x bigger than him.

Shes got this really big rock with a slit about 1/2" by 1" that makes a cave in the rock. I think thats where the blenny is (unless this crab got it). She said the crab was as big as a medium sally lightfoot, but from what I asked her, it looks like a box crab :/

 

Didn't know the pistol was that small. If they did in fact die and it wasn't seen, its very plausible that the crab took them inside the rock. I have seen it happen, in my own tank.