White-spotted Hermit Crab (Dardanus megistos)

no experience with them, but he is super cute. I looked on this website and this is was they said about them:

i also read they can get up to 8 inches. They eat tube worms, mollusks, and small fish. Should be kept alone since they can get aggressive to other hermits. Most active at night.

I want him!!!

i kept one for a number of years (i was misinformed about them being reef safe). they get huge (bigger than a baseball) and will eat any fish they can catch (being true to form as opportunistic omnivores).

i finally tossed it in with a 2.5' snowflake eel, thinking both would be safe, but the eel actually ate it, which was fine with me, as it had been quite destructive over the years no matter where i put it.

personally, i'd worry about it getting ahold of your cowfish...

This should ALWAYS make you suspicious!

Your crab will not be affected in anyway by the cowfishes slime coat. Greg (Saxman) and I have both kept them (the crab). They are honestly able to hunt and eat that cowfish. Scouts honor. Mine was nowhere as big as yours and it got a fish way bigger than your cowfish. If you are willing to take the risk....cool, of course that is up to you. But don't do so believing in any way, shape or form that your cowfish is either bit safe with that crab.

we have one too and he's crazy. all we have with him now is a yellow and blue hippo tang in a 90g, but will eventually be getting more fish.

Never had one myself, but from what I know, the bigger hermit crabs get, the meaner they get... Might want to keep a close eye on him...

OMG!!!! A fellow Newfie! Whadda ya at? :-)

I personally wouldn't trust anything with that crab.

we traded ours in last week cause we ended up buying a juvy. red coris wrasses. i was sad though cause he had tons of personality

By now you should be pretty well aquainted with your Dardanus Megistos. Maybe you can help me. I have been in and out of the saltwater hobby since the middle nineteen fifties. My favorite animal is the octopus and I have kept several over the years. Some years ago I acquired a Dardanus Megistos hermit crab which lived in my care for about a year or more. I would like to obtain another one at this time, but to order one on line would cost about four or five times the price of the crab in overnight shipping charges. I live in Homeland, California and there are no retail tropical fish stores in my immediate area and those that are not too far away do not stock the Dardanus Megistos. They feel it is aggressive and not reef friendly. I'm sure there are people who bought this magnificent creature not realizing the long term involvement since they live so long and require constant attention to their shell requirements, and would now like to put it up for adoption. How do I contact someone like that? I cannot find any forum or message board that has an adoption category. I will greatly appreciate any assistance anyone can provide that will allow me to acquire a Dardanus Megistos hermit crab at a reasonable cost.
Thank you for your kind attention and consideration.

i got a medium sized one with an order that included a small urchin, and that night he was over picking at the urchin, even breaking off its spines, and that happened again the next day. i separated them but the day after that, only a few spines were left. in a big tank they are a bit safer bit in a small one you are better off with a scarlett hermit crab. im trying to get rid of mine because he is attacking the other fish

Donate....i had one eat $40 in tube worms.....lol i was misinfromed about how reef safe they are.

I tossed mine into my "destructive critters tank" that I had at the time, and the SFE in residence promply made a meal out of it.  Then I only had to worry about having a nasty-a$$ SFE...