What Hermits are "reef safe"?

AtomHeart · 03/23/2009, 08:51 AM

Hi there...

My tank has completed its cycle, and water parameters are fantastic. I have an algae bloom that is receding now, and have a batch of snails working on helping that. I recently got my first small batch of hermits just to liven things up in my tank, since the snails aren't too high action.

I asked for 6 scarlet hermits...bright red with yellow eyes, etc. The LFS employee plucked them out of the tank that said "scarlet hermits", and marked up the bag and I was on my way. What I got when I arrived home and started introducing them was:

4 Scarlet Hermits
2 Brown legged hermits with orange tips to their legs
1 white hermit with a big encrusted shell that looks like a rock and has a tiny zooanthid growing on its back

They are all doing great, and feeding like mad on the algae and crap in the tank and don't seem to be bothering anything else that's in there.

My biggest concern is one hitchhiking crab that has survived all attempts to catch it. I figured it had died, when I pulled a "corpse" out from under a rock, but alas, it had only shed its skin and now is much larger. About an hour after adding the hermits, this big bruiser stepped out from his home rock, and grabbed a hermit by its shell and was dragging it back to its lair, when I walked up and it abandoned the attack. It is very hard to even catch a glimpse of this guy, so I'm not sure how to catch him, but I'm hoping I didn't just add more crab problems with the new hermits that are different species than I expected.

Sugar Magnolia · 03/23/2009, 09:16 AM

You're going to have to catch that crab, otherwise, you're just feeding him with the snails and hermits. I had a xathid crab in my tank for over a year and it ate at least 25 margarita snails and unknown amounts of hermits.

You can try propping a tall glass near his burrow and putting a piece of fish or shrimp in there. If he climbs in to eat the food, it won't be able to get back up the slick sides of the glass. I ended up having to remove most of the rock from my tank to get mine out.

Good luck!

AtomHeart · 03/23/2009, 09:22 AM

That's what I was afraid of. I was SHOCKED at how much bigger it was after molting. Problem I'm having with him is that his flight instinct is so high. I have never seen the whole crab...only his legs or claws going around a corner. He's VERY skiddish. I've constructed the crab trap you describe using a water bottle and a raw shrimp, and caught all my other hitchikers, but not THIS crab. Last attempt just left the shrimp in the crab trap for 2 days, and I didn't want an ammonia spike from the shrimp carcass to start killing off everything else, so i gave up and took it out before it started rotting too bad. I just don't know. I know exactly which rock he lives on, so I could theoretically take that rock out but there is a lot of other delicate life on that rock that I don't want to jeapordize. How frustrating.

Now I have the added issue that the crab trap will be catching all my hermits, so when the bad crab finally does go in, it will have all my hermits to feast on.

rickh · 03/23/2009, 01:57 PM

The reef safe hermit is a dead hermit. Sorry.

AtomHeart · 03/23/2009, 02:03 PM

LOL...fair enough. By reef safe, I mean relatively reef safe. My Mithrax crab is definitely NOT. I have not heard of nor have I been able to find a white hermit anywhere. Maybe it is just an albino scarlet reef hermit. It does have those silver-blue eyes. Haha.

The other two seem to be "dwarf red-tipped hermits".

03/23/2009, 08:51 AM	#1
AtomHeart Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Denver, CO Posts: 173	What Hermits are "reef safe"? Hi there... My tank has completed its cycle, and water parameters are fantastic. I have an algae bloom that is receding now, and have a batch of snails working on helping that. I recently got my first small batch of hermits just to liven things up in my tank, since the snails aren't too high action. I asked for 6 scarlet hermits...bright red with yellow eyes, etc. The LFS employee plucked them out of the tank that said "scarlet hermits", and marked up the bag and I was on my way. What I got when I arrived home and started introducing them was: 4 Scarlet Hermits 2 Brown legged hermits with orange tips to their legs 1 white hermit with a big encrusted shell that looks like a rock and has a tiny zooanthid growing on its back They are all doing great, and feeding like mad on the algae and crap in the tank and don't seem to be bothering anything else that's in there. My biggest concern is one hitchhiking crab that has survived all attempts to catch it. I figured it had died, when I pulled a "corpse" out from under a rock, but alas, it had only shed its skin and now is much larger. About an hour after adding the hermits, this big bruiser stepped out from his home rock, and grabbed a hermit by its shell and was dragging it back to its lair, when I walked up and it abandoned the attack. It is very hard to even catch a glimpse of this guy, so I'm not sure how to catch him, but I'm hoping I didn't just add more crab problems with the new hermits that are different species than I expected.

03/23/2009, 09:16 AM	#2
Sugar Magnolia Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Northern VA Posts: 17,691	You're going to have to catch that crab, otherwise, you're just feeding him with the snails and hermits. I had a xathid crab in my tank for over a year and it ate at least 25 margarita snails and unknown amounts of hermits. You can try propping a tall glass near his burrow and putting a piece of fish or shrimp in there. If he climbs in to eat the food, it won't be able to get back up the slick sides of the glass. I ended up having to remove most of the rock from my tank to get mine out. Good luck! __________________ Adrienne The only thing to fear is fear itself....and spiders.

03/23/2009, 09:22 AM	#3
AtomHeart Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Denver, CO Posts: 173	That's what I was afraid of. I was SHOCKED at how much bigger it was after molting. Problem I'm having with him is that his flight instinct is so high. I have never seen the whole crab...only his legs or claws going around a corner. He's VERY skiddish. I've constructed the crab trap you describe using a water bottle and a raw shrimp, and caught all my other hitchikers, but not THIS crab. Last attempt just left the shrimp in the crab trap for 2 days, and I didn't want an ammonia spike from the shrimp carcass to start killing off everything else, so i gave up and took it out before it started rotting too bad. I just don't know. I know exactly which rock he lives on, so I could theoretically take that rock out but there is a lot of other delicate life on that rock that I don't want to jeapordize. How frustrating. Now I have the added issue that the crab trap will be catching all my hermits, so when the bad crab finally does go in, it will have all my hermits to feast on.

03/23/2009, 01:57 PM	#4
rickh Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Lost_in_Michigan Posts: 1,306	The reef safe hermit is a dead hermit. Sorry.

03/23/2009, 02:03 PM	#5
AtomHeart Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Denver, CO Posts: 173	LOL...fair enough. By reef safe, I mean relatively reef safe. My Mithrax crab is definitely NOT. I have not heard of nor have I been able to find a white hermit anywhere. Maybe it is just an albino scarlet reef hermit. It does have those silver-blue eyes. Haha. The other two seem to be "dwarf red-tipped hermits".