Hermit Crab Observations

[Catspa]

Ok, I’m the type of guy that spends hours everyday in front of my tank, cause its on my desk, and as a U. student, I do a lot of procrastinating. At any rate, thought I’d pass on a couple of my observations:

 

The more you feed your hermit crabs, the more algae they will end up eating – it appears from my observations that the amount of algae my hermits eat has a direct correlation to how much food i feed them. If I don’t feed them much, they don’t eat much algae, if I feed them a lot, they end up eating an equal amount of algae. So point here, is don’t try to skimp on the hermit food, with the belief that this will motivate them to eat more algae – this isn’t the way it works. Also in regards to feeding, as may of us already know, if the type of crab is listed as a omnivore, it means that they need more then algae to servive, it means you have to ensure an appropriet amount of food reaches them, else they will starve and/or canabalize each other. – and when I say an appropriet amount of food – its usually a lot more than you think – those little buggers can really pack it away.

 

There are three common types of dwarf hermit crabs – blue legs, scarlet, and zebra. Strangle enough, zebra’s are usually advertised as herbivores, but that certainly hasn’t been my experiences – I have quite a few Zebras and they are most certainly omnivores, and are more than twice as active as any of my other hermit crabs. Basically, my dwarf Zebra hermit crabs run circles around my blue legs, and scarlets, BUT before you go out and buy some, realize IMO that they are very aggressive, and even the smallest of them can bully bluelegs that are 3 times there size. To this end, I’ve lost a number of blue legs, and scarlets, since the introduction of my zebras – to the point that I would not recommend having them in the same tank, But if you do put them in the same tank, make sure you ensure that ample food reaches the bottom, (else the Zebras will kill the blue legs) and also make sure you have oddles of shells available – basically make sure that no zebra has an excuse to go after your other hermits or snails because they will. (one killed and ate my conch )

 

Lastly some individual observations

 

Blue Legs – Fairly hardy – Omnivore – do a good job savaging – are fairly active – will die eventually if you don’t ensure that adequate food reaches them on a regular basis - are the most common in the trade

Scarlets – least hardy of the hermit crabs – Herbivore - not as active as blue legs – very docile – have to ensure a healthy supply of algae – else they will starve – they are more susceptible to medications that are hard on inverts -

Zebras – Extremely Hardy – Omnivors (NO they are not Herbivors) – Fairly aggressive - extremely active – do a good job of scavaging and steeling food from other hermits – will kill other types of hermits if adequate precautions are not taken – there large claws allow them excellent defence, and permit them to dispatch other types of hermit crabs that are 3 times there size.

 

 

So any comments? agree, disagree..etc.

[Catspa]

actualy on second thought, even though the zebras are amazing at scavaging and such, i would NOT recommend them if you have any intention on also keeping any nubi's, cucombers, or Anemones - i just cought one of my zebras molesting one of my new anemones (hecteractus magnifica (sp?)) - not sure if it was eating it, but it was herasing it enough that the anemone was chaised over 6 inches - untill it went up the glass...

[BustytheSnowMaam]

I'm sort of a hermit nut so I liked reading your post. I agree with all of your conclusions- except I've found as long as there are plenty of alternate shells, my zebras will leave my blue-legs alone. Zebras are definitely omnivores as you observed, and mine dined on my yellow star polyps, margarita snails, baja snails, and evicted/killed one blue-leg. I have one remaining baja and I'm constantly moving it out of the zebras' reach. I think to be honest if I could do it again I would not have zebra hermits in my tank, since they're cute but rather a pain in the butt.

 

An observation I've made (this was reinforced by some info I've read somewhere) is that when you see a hermit seeming to attack another, grasping its shell and making in-out movements, this is the hermit's way of helping the other hermit molt. After the female molts, she is ready to mate (this is why the male helps her out with the molting process).

 

Two or so weeks later, you will see the female ejecting larvae about an hour after lights out. She'll move in and out of her shell rapidly and as she moves in, it forces the larvae out. If you take a flashlight and "point out" the larvae to your clownfish, they will follow the flashlight's beam and feast on the babies. The male blue-legs in my tank are much larger than females (this is my tank, I don't know if the general rule is true).

 

Tasha

[chufa]

I have 2 blue legs. One is much larger than the other, and has fatter claws. I will see the smaller one ride on the larger one's shell almost every day.

 

I have a common striped hermit that came with the blue-legs. He's a bully. Killed one of my scarlets, and often harrasses the other hermits and my peppermint shrimp.

[Catspa]

hi tashayar, i've yet to see any of mine mating, well i think i have, but have yet to see any results, but then again i haven't made a habit of lookin in my tank after the lights are out (but i'll start paying more attention). In regards to having more shells, it doesn't seem to be a problem in my case, i've got over 2 dozen differnt sized shells in my tank, and i only have 6 zebra hermits... it appeared that most of the blue leg killings happend just after i moved my tank to my school apt. The blue legs that were killed were my largest ones, having shells just over an inch - but i've got plenty of other shells they could have tried on...oh well. On a side note, I often seen my hermits jumping in and out of shells trying them on for size.

 

 

 

Its interesting, but for weeks i been thinking about writing on this forum about how amazing zebra hermits are, compared to blue legs - they do 10 times more scavaging and such then blue legs, *BUT* in the last 2 days I have changed my mind - and i'm probable going to get rid of them all!! they are just becoming too agressive, - i woke up today, to again find some of them attacking my anemone. Ever since i moved my tank to my school apartment (about two weeks ago) they have been killing stuff - to date they have killed at least 4 super large blue legs, at least one fighting conch, on snail, and now are after my anemone... So i'd advise if you have other senstive inverts, that you do NOT get any zebra (striped) hermits, but if you are going to have a fish only tank, and want a couple of hermits for a clean up crew then get them - because one zebra hermit, can do the work of 5 blue legs.

[spoondigity]

-Abusive

-pushy

-just plain bad tempered

 

Dave ESPI's a Dwarf Zebra for sure.

 

X)

[Sahin]

Thanks for posting all the interesting info everyone. This made for a nice read indeed.

[BustytheSnowMaam]

Zebras are a bit more *charismatic* than blue-legs- always on the go, fearless, good scavengers, as you said. Mine are just plain weird/ornery. Sometimes one will sit in the same place for days, and when I knock him down he'll climb right back to the same spot (usually a bare spot in between my GBPs). Their larvae are neat-looking with large blue eyes.

Tasha