Hermit Crab Identifications

[dadummy]

here's a couple from the refugium, not sure the exact I.D., possibly : Phimochirus holthuisi, the Red-striped Hermit Crab. Tropical West Atlantic. To one inch in length. One cheliped enlarged (usually right). Eyestalks white with dark band, eyes grayish blue.
any info would be helpful, especially if this critter is reef safe?

 

[wax32]

Hmm. I have never seen that guy before.
They look small. How long have you had them, and where did you get them?
I'll try to do some research see what I can find.

 

[wax32]

Can't find anything at all on that genus name and the only things with that species name are shrimp and lobsters.
I'll keep looking though!

 

[chipmaker]

Thanks for all the hermit rundowns. Much appreciated. I was just about to go to the wet web media site for a looksea on the two I received today. And like you stated, the Hawaiian Zebra Hermits are really very interesting. The shells on my two used to be worn by nerites at one time. I placed some empty nerites in my one tank with blue legged and they won;t use em, these two had no problems with netrite shells though

 

[dadummy]

yup, they are small, little bigger than the blue legs. They have been living in the refugium for say 3 months and have been supplying them with whelk shells. One came in some macro I ordered when the fuge was set up. Then one day we went to a park along the intracoastal waterway, have some lunch and let the boy go down the slide. After filling up the belly and wearing down the little guy we walked down to the water. The tide was low, and it appeared to be cerith snails, lots of cerith snails. Well after looking and looking , did not find one cerith snail, all the shells had hermits in them.
I have searched the web myself, and haven't found many answers

 

[beth]

I've gone ahead and copied this to the Archive where it will continue to update as new posts are added here.
Good job, wax!

 

[wax32]

Originally Posted by chipmaker
Thanks for all the hermit rundowns. Much appreciated. I was just about to go to the wet web media site for a looksea on the two I received today. And like you stated, the Hawaiian Zebra Hermits are really very interesting. The shells on my two used to be worn by nerites at one time. I placed some empty nerites in my one tank with blue legged and they won;t use em, these two had no problems with netrite shells though
Yup I have had Zebras wear nerite shells too. Very observant!

 

[wax32]

Originally Posted by dadummy
yup, they are small, little bigger than the blue legs. They have been living in the refugium for say 3 months and have been supplying them with whelk shells. One came in some macro I ordered when the fuge was set up. Then one day we went to a park along the intracoastal waterway, have some lunch and let the boy go down the slide. After filling up the belly and wearing down the little guy we walked down to the water. The tide was low, and it appeared to be cerith snails, lots of cerith snails. Well after looking and looking , did not find one cerith snail, all the shells had hermits in them.
I have searched the web myself, and haven't found many answers
Those sound a lot like the hermits we have here in coastal Louisiana. Ours look pretty similar to those but they get HUGE, I mean they wear souvenir sized shells. We catch them hanging onto the legs of oil platforms when we are fishing for speckled trout.

I'd say they are probably pretty safe, just watch how big they get. If they start knocking stuff over, take em out.

 

[wax32]

Originally Posted by Beth
I've gone ahead a copied this to the Archive where it will continue to update as new posts are added here.
Good job, wax!
Thanks Beth. I have had fun doing it.
I have one more semi-common hermit in my tank that I am trying to get a picture of. I have no idea on it's ID, but it is one I see a lot in my local LFS.

 

[turboeel]

Wow this thread has helped me a lot. Thanks Wax.

 

[turboeel]

Originally Posted by dadummy
yup, they are small, little bigger than the blue legs. They have been living in the refugium for say 3 months and have been supplying them with whelk shells. One came in some macro I ordered when the fuge was set up. Then one day we went to a park along the intracoastal waterway, have some lunch and let the boy go down the slide. After filling up the belly and wearing down the little guy we walked down to the water. The tide was low, and it appeared to be cerith snails, lots of cerith snails. Well after looking and looking , did not find one cerith snail, all the shells had hermits in them.
I have searched the web myself, and haven't found many answers
Oh and buy the way, I had those before and I had to get rid of them since they ate lots of my Tubro Snails. They get big fast.

 

[tnt]

Originally Posted by dadummy
here's a couple from the refugium, not sure the exact I.D., possibly : Phimochirus holthuisi, the Red-striped Hermit Crab. Tropical West Atlantic. To one inch in length. One cheliped enlarged (usually right). Eyestalks white with dark band, eyes grayish blue.
any info would be helpful, especially if this critter is reef safe?

I have 4 of these in my semi-aggressive tank. They're striped hermit or thinstripe hermit, clibanarius vittatus. They seem to grow very fast, not considered reef safe, and can reach the size of a tennis ball. I think they are a gulf species and are pretty common.
Mine seem to keep the sand and rocks pretty clean. They don't eat hair algae and enjoy a piece of meat once a week. They ate a hawaiian featherduster, tube and all, in 3 days. I have a picasso trigger they have held their own against for about a year now. Better have lots of shells for them to choose from. One killed one a turbo snail for his shell in spite of all of the empty shells. Very interesting to watch though. Seem pretty hardy.
Here are a couple of pics of one of my hermits. His shell is about 2.75 inches long.

 

[turboeel]

Originally Posted by tnt
I have 4 of these in my semi-aggressive tank. They're striped hermit or thinstripe hermit, clibanarius vittatus. They seem to grow very fast, not considered reef safe, and can reach the size of a tennis ball. I think they are a gulf species and are pretty common.
Mine seem to keep the sand and rocks pretty clean. They don't eat hair algae and enjoy a piece of meat once a week. They ate a hawaiian featherduster, tube and all, in 3 days. I have a picasso trigger they have held their own against for about a year now. Better have lots of shells for them to choose from. One killed one a turbo snail for his shell in spite of all of the empty shells. Very interesting to watch though. Seem pretty hardy.
Yes. I collected mine in the Florida Keyes. They grow fast and will get pretty big. I had to give them to my friends aggressive 140 gallon.

 

[wax32]

Originally Posted by turboeel
Oh and buy the way, I had those before and I had to get rid of them since they ate lots of my Tubro Snails. They get big fast.

That's good to know, I imagine they are what we call "Grand Isle" hermits down here. (That's where we catch a lot of them. )

 

[wax32]

Originally Posted by tnt
I have 4 of these in my semi-aggressive tank. They're striped hermit or thinstripe hermit, clibanarius vittatus. They seem to grow very fast, not considered reef safe, and can reach the size of a tennis ball. I think they are a gulf species and are pretty common.
Mine seem to keep the sand and rocks pretty clean. They don't eat hair algae and enjoy a piece of meat once a week. They ate a hawaiian featherduster, tube and all, in 3 days. I have a picasso trigger they have held their own against for about a year now. Better have lots of shells for them to choose from. One killed one a turbo snail for his shell in spite of all of the empty shells. Very interesting to watch though. Seem pretty hardy.
Thanks for the info. I have heard of that species before. I'll look it up now.

 

[wax32]

I can't for the life of me find a picture of that species, online or in any of the numerous books I have in my library. If anyone has a link to a page with a PICTURE of this crab post it up:
Clibanarius vittatus

 

[wesa]

Wax,
I have a picture of my own hermit with a tape measure below him to show size. It's too large to post here. If you know how to make it the correct size for posting I will send it to you & would love to have you use him as an example of a big boy.

 

[wax32]

Sure send it to me and I'll edit it. wax32 AT zooxanthellae.com

 

[wesa]

Great tnx. Be on it's way within a minute.

 

[wax32]

http://www.zooxanthellae.com
Dardanus megistos, "White Spotted Hermit"
Photo courtesy of wesa
This crab is not considered "reef safe". As you can see, they get big. I'm pretty sure they get bigger than this. They are also known as the Shell Breaker.
Thanks for a great photo Wesa.
Do you have any problems with this crab? Is it in a large "aggressive" fish tank? What corals (if any) is it kept with?