i keep finding red leg hermit crab shells in my aquarium

[theredone]

so ive had my tank for about 3 months an on occasion i find empty shells from my hermits and i cant find the hermit i thought my serpent star was eating them but i have no evidence my tank levels are great but i do regular water changes so i may never see any ammonia or nitrates any ideas if its because they need new shells were can i get them and maybe theres something more suitable for scavenging

[Stumped]

Originally Posted by theredone

so ive had my tank for about 3 months an on occasion i find empty shells from my hermits and i cant find the hermit i thought my serpent star was eating them but i have no evidence my tank levels are great but i do regular water changes so i may never see any ammonia or nitrates any ideas if its because they need new shells were can i get them and maybe theres something more suitable for scavenging

It sounds like you haven't provided your hermits with any extra shells. If you're going to keep hermits you're going to need to provide a lot of extra shells and even then they'll still kill eachother off (and snails). Just ask your LFS for some extra ones (make sure they're larger than what your hermits are currently in), they almost always have a bunch laying around.

Also, keep in mind that regardless of how many shells you provide they're still prone to killing eachother off until they reach a certain level that will become stable over time (that obviously varies for every tank).

[theredone]

thanks

[jdallred]

Red/Scarlet Hermits will out grow their shells and need to have larger shells to move into to be able to survive. You can usually get shells from local fish stores (LFS), other local reefers, or as a last resort online.

[Stumped]

No problem, also I remembered that Live Aquaria sells extra shells so if your LFS doesn't have any you can always just order some from there.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...56&pcatid=1756

[Caetano_Thiago]

yup yup...