Steve973 Posted February 16, 2004 Share Posted February 16, 2004 Hey guys. As I'm cycling, I added about 10 blue leg hermits. They don't seem to mind the ammonia levels at the moment (and I'll be doing perioding water changes), and they began crawling around and eating right away. My thoughts were that they could help clean up some of the crap as my rock is curing. I'm not sure if this is a valid thought, though. So, how big will these get? And has anyone had any good or bad experiences with these guys included in the reef? Please advise, and thanks in advance... Link to comment
zzpw3x Posted February 16, 2004 Share Posted February 16, 2004 Hermits are pretty tough guys. I've had them in tanks as they have cycled before and they seemed to handle it fine. Hopefully this thread does not become an arguement for fishless cycling.... Dale Link to comment
Steve973 Posted February 16, 2004 Author Share Posted February 16, 2004 The reason why I thought I could put them in there is because there was some sorta crab that came in on my rock (I have no idea what type), and it seems to be doing fine. I'm also going to be doing periodic water changes to keep the ammonia from getting too crazy. So, do you know of the size they'll get, and if they'll become too aggressive? So far I have approximately 10 in my 18 gal tank which has 27 lbs of rock. Link to comment
Steve973 Posted February 16, 2004 Author Share Posted February 16, 2004 The aforementioned hitchhiking crab appears to be brown, but also looks like he's covered with a bunch of crap. I don't know if this is just camouflage or dirt. If I can get a picture I'll post it from identification. It's about an inch across and it seems to hide most of the time. Link to comment
Blinkgyrl2987 Posted February 16, 2004 Share Posted February 16, 2004 I have added blue leg hermits to my aquarium also... the 1st two that I bought....I got them during my cycle also and they are still alive and doing great... ( I assume like you said that the high ammonia levels don't effect them) However just 2 days ago I added 5 more hermits... for a grand total of 7.( Now that my cycle is over) They all did fine yesterday... in fact I had bought bigger shells for them to move into and as soon as I added the new hermits a few of them changed shells right away! However i am a little worried because some of the shells that they changed into were significantly larger than the ones they had been in! And i thought to myself well geez! how do they carry that thing around! I too am curious to how big these crabs will get.(Maybe someone will be able to answer our question).. Will they grow to the size of their new shell? I hope not... ( I think I'd be afraid to have a crab that big in my tank with my snails) Unfortunately I found that one of my hermits had died this morning... and it was one of the ones that had changed into a huge shell.... Does anyone know what could have caused this? Its making me seem discouraged about the chemistry of my water.. all parameters were zero last week( thought that cycle was over)... and now that my tank is yet again getting covered in brown algae ( diatoms which is usually a signal to an ending cycle) I'm wondering why I have more ammonia now and nitrate than I had last week. Almost like adding the new critters caused a spike@! Does this make any sense? PLease help me ( well us) Hermit Problems! thanks Megan Link to comment
KrackerG Posted February 16, 2004 Share Posted February 16, 2004 Originally posted by Steve973 The aforementioned hitchhiking crab appears to be brown, but also looks like he's covered with a bunch of crap. I don't know if this is just camouflage or dirt. If I can get a picture I'll post it from identification. It's about an inch across and it seems to hide most of the time. check out mine...is it anything alike?? LINK: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...&threadid=25654 Link to comment
Steve973 Posted February 16, 2004 Author Share Posted February 16, 2004 I suppose it's a little similar, but the legs look stubbier. Link to comment
Steve973 Posted February 16, 2004 Author Share Posted February 16, 2004 From looking around a little more, I think it's a "hairy crab" and I hear they are nocturnal, so I'll turn the lights off later, and see if I can find it, then maybe take a picture. Link to comment
cas59adam Posted February 16, 2004 Share Posted February 16, 2004 blinkgyrl, your blue leg hermit may have just molted, its sometimes tough to tell the difference. My blue legs will usually molt and tuck themselves into their shell for quite awhile, they are more vulerable after this. Keep an eye out maybe this is all that happened Link to comment
Puffy Posted February 16, 2004 Share Posted February 16, 2004 prob flushed the live critter.............lol Link to comment
Blinkgyrl2987 Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 no this one was dead.... he was hanging half way out of its shell and not moving!.... I'm not that freaken stupid...so no Link to comment
movingshadow Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 hmmm hairy crab... you might want to do a search and then decide whether or not to keep him... as far as the hermits go, they are resilient little bastages, ferocious too... mine are called the reservoir dogs for various slaughterings of snails and cleaner shrimp.... Link to comment
seaker Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 damn blue leg ripped my astraea snail out of its shell. I thought they were good for a nano reef and didn't get to big. I posted what happened in a thread. I'm gonna get a different clean up crew. they sure look good though Link to comment
nanocat Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 Blinky, you've hard the hardest time with your cube. You should be having an ammonia, it's been like 8 weeks now right? If you're registering ammonia it's most likely from something dying (like the hermit)...you took it out right away, right? Wish I could help...you've just had the worst luck The diatom bloom will pass. That's the good news. Link to comment
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