SeaMountain Posted April 16, 2003 Share Posted April 16, 2003 The Blue Leg is sporting a new shell! Get home earlier to go click off a 4-miler, heading to the Bolder Boulder ahem... And I notice a Red Leg bouncing up and down in the front left corner of the tank... sans shell!!!! Yes! Hopelessly drifting with the current minus his shell! A quick glance over the LR and I spotted his shell... "Okay... Which of you Red Legs shell-jacked and capped this guy!?" I though to myself. He slowly turned around to face me from atop his perch. And to my surprise it was one of the smaller Blue Legs wearing the shell! We got ourselves a new Tank Boss! No one is talking either. Just going about their business with their eyes on the algae... Link to comment
Xavier Posted April 16, 2003 Share Posted April 16, 2003 Yet another shell-shock by the aquarium branch of the crypts makin' a hit on the bloods... Link to comment
FlyGTI Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 That brings to mind a relevant question. How much time does a crab without a shell have before he goes to the big tank in the sky? Is there a way that, if you catch it, you can force them into a new shell? Do they have to pick it or will any old shell do? I've lost a few this way and some of them were alive when I found them, I think. If I could have gotten them near a shell, perhaps they could have lived? Later. Link to comment
lizbeth Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 I keep a shell pile in all my tanks. I keep all the shells deposited in that spot. So far I've never had a naked crab die (that I know of). Link to comment
SeaMountain Posted April 17, 2003 Author Share Posted April 17, 2003 This guy was a goner when I arrived home. Could have been because they were new additions, but I doubt it. They Crew was in-tank for 5 days and water parameters tested okay. Although I haven't tested Ph yet... Temp 78; SG 1.023; Ammonia 0; Nitrites 0; Nitrates 10. But I did roll by the LFS yesterday after work and picked up a few shells. Nice, clean fancy ones in case one of them needs to 'move it on up'. The shells didn't look too big when I grabbed them... But once I dropped them into the tank... Man they seem gargantuan! I don't see why they would live without a shell. A shell is simply protection from predators and if you have a predator fee tank, they should remain okay for awhile. But I think they would STRESS-OUT being naked when every instinct tells them to grab a house. What is funny though is the Blue Leg who now has the new crib... The dang thing is about three sizes too big! Looks like a little kid peeking out from his Daddy's cowboy hat! LOL Plus he can barely drag the thing along! Funny as heck! Link to comment
Xavier Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 I dumped a bunch of shells in the tank as well.. they've since played dress up many times.. they seem to pick the shell.. I've watched them pick up a shell.. turn it around, look in side, even get in, and decide they don't like it and keep their other shell.. I don't keep them stacked anywhere, since they tend to move them around themselves.. I have shells all over the place now.. I nabbed a bunch from my father's house from when we would go on vacation.. he pulled out the basket one night and I sifted through them and found some really interesting shells.. may of them have been taken into use by the hermits and it looks really cool... Personally, I think it adds a touch of realism as well to see shells around the sand.. Link to comment
FlyGTI Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 I must get all of the crabs (and snails, for that matter) that came from the shallow end of the gene pool, because none of 'em live. They're always either flipping over onto their backs and starving (the snails), or they're crawling out of their shells thinking that they're about an inch away from a new shell, when it turns out that they're about ten inches away. They'll rarely make it. Maybe they're not stupid. Maybe they're near sighted. Dumb crabs. Link to comment
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