Hermits chillin' in the SPS

[onthefly]

I know that SPS commensal crabs exist, but I have 2-3 BL hermits that are trying to turn a couple of my larger SPS frags in "Yo MTV cribs". I give them the boot and they're back with the hour.....this has gone on for 2-3 weeks now.

 

Anyone else have hermits take up residence in the SPS?

[MrKrispy]

my scarlets do the same thing occasionally, but it only lasts for a few days.

[surfy]

LOL,

My bl (the only one I have) does that once in a while too. Those stupid things will climb up/on everything.

Just watch them closely to be sure they arn't picking the polyps off the corals. If so I would banish them to the fuge.

[onthefly]

Yeah.....they're not picking! If anything, they just sit there retracted in their shell. At first I thought they might be getting stuck, but they return so damn fast when I take they out......funny!

[skeletor]

Yep, my BL's do the same thing, sometimes they will sit in the same spot for a day or two. I have some red bugs on my acro's, and it seems that my BL's hang out most on the SPS with bugs. could be they are eating them at night when the bugs are supposed to be most active. anyway, they haven't done any damage and I think I caused the corals more stress when I try and get them off so I just leave them there now. Hermit crabs aren't the smartest of creatures, but they sure are fun to watch :-)

 

-skeletor-

[pyrrhus]

my emerald does teh same thing, and my hermits constantly host in my sarcophyton, go figure.

[movingshadow]

funny you mention that... my hermies sit up in the crevices of my monti plate from time to time too... I though it was stuck cause it stayed there for so long, but you pick'em off and they come right back... weird...

[coral reef]

yea i have had the same thing happen with me tell me somethin has anyone ever noticed crabs hostin sps because they are very small and dont know what they are

[onthefly]

Well commensal acro crabs exist. That is the biggest problem with the interceptor treatment for red bugs.....everyone loses there commensals.

 

I saw a couple of molts, and I'm wondering if the crabs perch in the acros for protection? Since the molt, they left the frags alone. They don't pick, although like skeletor said, my frag with the most red bugs had the most hermit activity. Also, like skeletor, I caused more damage trying to remove them.

[DitchPlains]

Yeah my two brand new blue leggs, have made homes under my Yellow Fiji Leather and my Torch, they just chill right under the fronds of the leather and under the tentacles of the Torch. My red Legged hermit ( only one) is friggin Arnold Schwartzanegger, he's killed two other Red Leggs, and one Astrea, and there was no shortage of shells, I must have 6 shells two of which are from turbo's ..lol He's a brute, forget nightime feeding this dude comes out all day long and eats, he's on roids if you ask me. "Wsyteral, they give that stuff race horses for christ's sake." lol Good luck OTF, perhaps you need to give them a good poke with a chopstick to knock'em off the sps...lol I've had to do some behaviour mods on my red legged or he'd eat everyone in my tank...lol My old Emerald used to hang upside down from my arch or LR, and try to catch my clowns with his claw...lol I thought it was hysterical as did my clowns, their more then three times his size, needless to say he now resides in my freinds tank...lol

[coral reef]

hehehe check this out hes been there for 2 days now

[onthefly]

Yup.......dumb ass crabs! Nice seriatopora BTW!

 

Also, is the a A. humillus on the left?

[coral reef]

i belive so i never trust what other people tell because most of the time they are wrong

[onthefly]

It looks like one, just much more purple...they tend to have a lavendar color....nice!

[MrKrispy]

I am having a helluva time trying to get my purple humilis to color back up, been a few months now. (250W 20k over a 20L)

[surfy]

Do you run any type of P04 export, fuge, media?

Any temp, salinity, PH swings?

[onthefly]

MK - is it browned or just blandly colored? Where in the 20L is it....off to the side or dead center?

 

Is there the possibility for red bugs? Every LFS up here has them, and every frag I've ever got from local reefers has them. I just treated my system yesterday......already seeing HUGE difference in polyp extension in my acros (even with the ones where I couldn't see any bugs).

 

I also just got a refractometer and my SG was alittle high, lowered it and thing started to look better in hours (not days!), specifically my monti's.

[kris_willard]

BL Hermits are evil! I had 2 the one killed his buddy the when i place 15 turbos in the tank he proceeded to kill them all except 3 until he found a shell that "fit just right" I actually got a picture of him in action murdering my snails.

[onthefly]

They're not that bad...provide them with a "used shell lot" of various sizes and they'll never touch your snails. I've had them for year and only once saw they yanking a snail out.......I thought it might have died anyway.