meanest tankmate

[ajmaterials]

I seem to remember a post not too long ago where members were chiming in with the meanest of the mean from their tanks. I couldn't find that post to revisit it, but had a new one to add.
My strawberry hermit crab. Meanest b@$%@#d in my tank. Not too long ago he dispatched a 3" volitan lion, leaving absolutely nothing left, but his most recent escapade has spurred me to put him on the message board. Last night, my crab took it upon himself to surgically remove 2 out 5 of my 10" green brittle star's legs. I walked in on the tank with him standing in middle clutching what was left of one of the legs. My star which has always stayed within the rocks was now wandering aimlessly around the tank. After closer inspection, I noticed the the very tips of his remaining 3 legs had been cut off. Correct me if I'm wrong, but does a starfish not see through "eyes" at the ends of thier legs? If this is the case, then I can only believe that my crab waited patiently and intentionaly took off each of the stars eyes to blind him and lure him out of the rocks for an easy target.
The star is now in quarantine and seemingly doing fine. Silver lining, I might get to witness the regeneration powers of the starfish. Should prove interesting.

 

[psusocr1]

no stars dont have eyes at the end of their legs..
and strawberry hermit crabs are ntorious for bieng the meanest crab going..i used to have one iand i got him otu of my main tankw ithin an hour!
they get HUGE, and they will beat ANYTHING up in your tank..it wont stop either they are killing machines

 

[nictavius]

I had a strawberry that recently just died, but he was a mean son of a gun.....He ate my brothers full grown maroon clown that was about 4-5", and I had a green brittle starfish that was eaten by him also....But, he didn't just eat the tips of his legs.....He at the entire legs....Those are some crazy hermits.....But, I think they are the best invert for very agressive tanks.....

 

[ajmaterials]

just looked it up, starfish do have a photosensitive receptor on the end of each arm, an "eye" of sorts, allowing them to tell the difference between light and dark.

 

[46bfinga]

Ive tried those crabs in my tanks several times and they always end up eel or trigger food. Very cool to have though,even though they normally only last a couple months at most.

 

[wanabebell]

ive always been worried about them picking at my eels
and if they dont i think my harlequin and trigger might pick on them to the point where they dont come to eat

 

[katiev]

How large to strawberry hermits get? Would this be a good choice for a tank with a puffer, or would it be mortal kombat style until one of them is dead?

 

[psusocr1]

mine was only a little smaller than my fist

 

[aw2x3]

Damn, I miss mine.
I started out with 8 of them...dubbed the Special Forces Clean-up Crew because of the nature of my tanks. They were all aprox. a little larger than tennis ball. I believe the tankmates, at the time, were a 13" Red Coris Wrasse, 5" Queen Trigger...and I can't remember the others.
Over the course of several months, the "Team" was picked off, one by one, until there was one lonely survivor.
This crazy thing would steal food from my Queen Trigger and the fight to defend it, often chasing the fish around the tank, when they tried to retake the food. There were a few fish he killed, out of revenge, for his fallen comrades.
He finally died, for unknown reasons after more than 2 years in my tank and he had grown to be considerably larger than a baseball.

 

[topofsteel]

I have one, he's great! When I feed my fish he literally jumps off from wherever he is to the tank floor and runs over full speed waving his arms and claws, it's great. I wonder if he gets enough to eat.

 

[nictavius]

I had 3....but, the one I had for about 2 years died also....unexpectedly.....but the other 2 are going strong now.....Great Hermit for agressive tanks....

 

[pappa d]

im debating about putting one in my tank with a 4"dogface pufferfish and a 3 1/2" maroon clown... im having doubts now hearing that it at a 4 inch maroon.....WHAT TO DO WHAT TO DO!!! those are great pics by the way AW

 

[jrthomas40]

my flame angel is really mean to my clowns and clowns only...he herds them to the corner and if they try to leave he will shoot all the way across the tank just to push them back in the corner