Hermit Crab Identifications

wesa · Mar 11, 2006

It's been very docile. Eats the krill I give him. I have very few mushrooms & no corals at the moment. I'm setting up a 90 gal. aggressive & that will be his new home. I have never seen him attack anything in my tank although something is sure eating the tail on my little yellow damsel, Pudge. If he wasn't so darn hard to catch & I wasn't in the middle of spring cleaning he'd be in the quarantine. Tomorrow he'll get saved. The hermit though has never shown aggression. He's just a plow & has rearranged the rock on me several times. When he molts he goes in a cave & buries himself in the sand. Lately he's been hanging on a ledge on the very top of the rocks. The only one I've ever had the good fortune to see prior to him is kept in the Waikiki Aquarium. Had no idea about these fellas cuz I was used to the little Hawaiian hermits.

nm reef · Mar 11, 2006

I'll say it again....outstanding thread wax.........very well done!

wax32 · Mar 12, 2006

Originally Posted by Wesa
It's been very docile. Eats the krill I give him. I have very few mushrooms & no corals at the moment. I'm setting up a 90 gal. aggressive & that will be his new home. I have never seen him attack anything in my tank although something is sure eating the tail on my little yellow damsel, Pudge. If he wasn't so darn hard to catch & I wasn't in the middle of spring cleaning he'd be in the quarantine. Tomorrow he'll get saved. The hermit though has never shown aggression. He's just a plow & has rearranged the rock on me several times. When he molts he goes in a cave & buries himself in the sand. Lately he's been hanging on a ledge on the very top of the rocks. The only one I've ever had the good fortune to see prior to him is kept in the Waikiki Aquarium. Had no idea about these fellas cuz I was used to the little Hawaiian hermits.
Good info! I think the main reason they aren't considered "reef safe" is, like you mentioned, their ability to bulldoze your tank, due to being large sized.

wax32 · Mar 12, 2006

Originally Posted by NM reef
I'll say it again....outstanding thread wax.........very well done!

¡GRACIAS!

dadummy · Mar 12, 2006

thanks for all the info,
glad the little boogers were left in the fuge, gonna return them to thier home, can't wait to see that big boy.

wesa · Mar 12, 2006

Geez, I was just feeding the Big Boy tonight & realized a very important fact I forgot to let you all know about with him. Yah, he's a bulldozer with rock, but he sifts & cleans the bottom sand better than a entire clean up crew. So basically, he is a crew all by himself. Thanx so much for letting me share him with you and thank you again Wax for all your hard work. This is a fabulous thread. OBTW, I also bought a little blue kneed hermit at the same time I bought the Big Boy, over a year ago. He is still small & a real joy. To read he could get as large as the Big Boy is amazing but I haven't seen evidence of that yet. Maybe if he's the only large one in a tank that will happen. We'll see & I'll let you all know if it happens.

socal57che · Mar 12, 2006

Hey wax, I just sent you a pic of a hermit. (actually 2)
I couldn't positively match them to a pic and never really wondered (or cared) what they were called until I started reading this. :notsure: Anyway if you can ID them I would be grateful.
Thanks

wax32 · Mar 12, 2006

Originally Posted by socal57che
Hey wax, I just sent you a pic of a hermit. (actually 2)
I couldn't positively match them to a pic and never really wondered (or cared) what they were called until I started reading this. :notsure: Anyway if you can ID them I would be grateful.
Thanks

Working on it.

wax32 · Mar 12, 2006

Originally Posted by Wesa
Geez, I was just feeding the Big Boy tonight & realized a very important fact I forgot to let you all know about with him. Yah, he's a bulldozer with rock, but he sifts & cleans the bottom sand better than a entire clean up crew. So basically, he is a crew all by himself. Thanx so much for letting me share him with you and thank you again Wax for all your hard work. This is a fabulous thread. OBTW, I also bought a little blue kneed hermit at the same time I bought the Big Boy, over a year ago. He is still small & a real joy. To read he could get as large as the Big Boy is amazing but I haven't seen evidence of that yet. Maybe if he's the only large one in a tank that will happen. We'll see & I'll let you all know if it happens.
Big hermits in general do an awesome job of keeping the sand turned. Does the white spot hermit eat cyanobacteria? Does the blue knee? I know I have seen blue knees do it.
Thanks again for the compliments.

wesa · Mar 12, 2006

I've never had the misfortune of having cyno in my tanks so have no clue if they eat it or not.

wax32 · Mar 12, 2006

I wish I had your luck!

wax32 · Mar 12, 2006

Here is your crab socal57:
http://www.zooxanthellae.com
Clibanarius vittatus, "Thin Stripe Hermit"
Photo courtesy of socal57che

tnt · Mar 12, 2006

Wax,
I added a pic of clibanarius vittatus (striped hermit) to my post.

socal57che · Mar 13, 2006

Looks like tnt found it. (clibanarius vittatus) Turned out to be the pic you were looking for. Thanks guys. Excellent thread.

tnt · Mar 13, 2006

socal57,
your crab looks similar, is it the same as mine?

socal57che · Mar 13, 2006

Most definitely. Mine (I have 5) don't bother any of the softies (I don't have many) and do an excellent job picking garbage from the sand and crevaces. They don't bother the snails either. One has taken up residence in a hole near my zoo bed and he climbs all over them getting in and out. They always open back up.

wax32 · Mar 13, 2006

Hmmm. So tnt and socal have the same crabs as dadummy?
And all of those are Clibanarius vittatus?
Cool Beans!

I can't find pictures of that bugger anywhere on the web! Good job guys.

wax32 · Mar 13, 2006

OK. So here is the official post, let me know if anything needs to be added:
http://www.zooxanthellae.com
Clibanarius vittatus, "Thin Stripe Hermit"
Photo courtesy of tnt
Eventually grows large (fist sized), so shouldn't be considered reef safe. Doesn't seem to bother corals but has been reported to eat feather dusters and snails. Make sure you have LARGE shells on hand. May do best in aggressive fish-only type tanks. These can survive in cooler temperature waters. They are often collected on beaches and piers in the south eastern USA.
More pictures:

Clibanarius vittatus, "Thin Stripe Hermit"
Photo courtesy of socal57che

Clibanarius vittatus, "Thin Stripe Hermit"
Photo courtesy of dadummy

wax32 · Mar 15, 2006

Here is the other crab in my tank that I have NO CLUE as to his ID:

Unidentified Hermit
I have seen them in a few stores, mixed in with Scarlet Hermit shipments. The one I have is small, in a cerith snail shell. It is yellowish in coloration and has a velvet-like appearance. Sort of fuzzy looking. Both claws are tiny like a scarlet hermit. I have talked to another person who had a larger one and they said that the crab grew fast in their tank and was semi-aggressive.
Obviously this isn't the best picture. I will keep trying for a better shot. This guy is really camera shy.

ctgretzky9 · Mar 17, 2006

Originally Posted by wax32
Ahh. The scarlet hermit: sissy of the hermit crab world.
:hilarious
Great description!
On the "halloween crabs"...lfs has a couple...$10 ea. He has told me over and over...because i want one so bad...they will munch on zoos and even mushrooms :thinking:
In the meantime, I have what I thought were zebra hermits, but your pics dont match what I have...not that there aren't probably 100 varieties of a zebra probably, this guy is about 3" or so...here is a bad pic, but the only one I had on file

Hermit Crab Identifications

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