[StuHoffman24]

Alright guys,

I'm here, about 10 minutes away from bagging up 3 of my Blue Legged Dwarf Hermit Crabs, and sending them to the nearest LFS I can find on google maps. I'm hoping by starting a constructive thread about this I will 1. Blow off steam, 2. Hear everyones personal experience and opinions on BLHC, and 3. Give me constructive feedback on whether or not It's time to let go of them, and find something that will replace them in the CUC; or live and deal with them and change other things in the tank.

my setup:

15 gallon long Nano Reef
20 gallon Fluval Aquaclear HOB Filter
100 Watt Adjustable/Submersible Heater
DIY 1 gallon Protein Skimmer
Current USA Orbit Marine LED 24"-36" Fixture
15 lbs live rock, 10lbs live sand

Green Zoas, Orange Zoas, Green Star Polyp, Small Torch nem, Capnella, Green Actinodiscus, and feather Duster

one ocellaris false perc
one Yellow watchman
three Blue hermits
Brittle Sea Star
Bristle worms
Collinista Snails
Orange chestnut snails
Stomatella snails

Okay my rant:

I am having a lot of trouble staying level headed about these little critters. I have several fresh frags of zoas inside of my DT next to small pieces of LR that I am hoping the zoas will bud off onto and continue to cover. leading up to the real issue, I have a lot of copepods that live inside of my LR and LS (Live Sand) this includes under the Zoa Frags, and small pieces of LR. All three Hermits can be seen almost daily rummaging through and under these pieces, scattering my sand bed, frags, and rocks, leaving complete demolition behind them. I have had two polyps now be punctured through due to their persistence and not so graceful footing.

I am ready to return the three little pigs to the LFS nearest me, tomorrow. and replace them with someone that might be slightly less destructive. thinking either skunk shrimp, pistol shrimp(which might pair with the Yellow Watchman) Nassarius Snail, or any recommendations you all may have. :nuts:

 

[This lil fishy]

Sell em. I don't have a reason.

 

[PhaneSoul]

reason 1 - you will only get like a dollar for them lmao.

if their that bad id just get rid of them and get a serpent star. my fav CUC member! not much to look at during the day (he will pop out during feeding once and a while) but when the lights go out he will scotch around. he isn't one for making a huge mess either

 

[StuHoffman24]

Spot on with that one PhaneSoul. I had a Serpent Seastar Hitchhike in about two months ago, and haven't seen him since, all i remember is him falling off the rock and flying into a little cave in the front. I totally agree, at this point I'd have to pay them to take'em back. :doh::arg:

 

[PhaneSoul]

I love my lil serpent star I hand feed him every few days. I make him work for it lmao. I know where he likes to hide and ill grab a piece of shrimp and make him crawl all the way out to the middle of the tank before he can have it lmao. that's how I got my avatar picture

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[StuHoffman24]

Alright, I'm sold on the idea. I unfortunately wont get that chance to feed him though, at least not with my hands in the tank, My Ocellaris will have none of that, he goes after my hands and arms if I get to close to his torch nem, Zoas, rocks, or gravel, or tank really... He loves everything in his tank, just not my hands.

 

[This lil fishy]

How big is he?

 

[PhaneSoul]

Mine is about 5-6in across. I've been told he will get about 12in across within 2 years, I can't wait

 

[StuHoffman24]

Looks Like I'm going to have to upgrade my tank just for a Sea Star. :banana:

 

[Cerus98]

Dunno if I have five reasons but a few good ones are that they are great scavengers, one of the few reef safe varieties, inexpensive, easy to care for and pretty neat looking. OK I guess that's five reasons

I would set up a little frag tray in the aquarium since the crabs aren't intentionally bothering the corals. They're just doing what they do.

 

[StuHoffman24]

The problem with having a frag tray inside of the DT is that they wont be budding onto the Live Rock that I have already in the setup. If there was a way to elevate them or put an electrical fence around them, I probably would. As far as BLHC go, they are pretty awesome, I have always owned blue legged hermit crabs and very much enjoyed collecting different shells for them to climb into. But, they have finally worn out their welcome in this particular tank. They are "reef friendly", yes, they have never tried eating a polyp, to my knowledge, they do clean up well, they are a dime a dozen, extremely easy to care for, and funny to watch when they battle for shells. Everything you have stated is 100% agreeable, and I would suggest them to anyone needing a quick addition to any startup tank for a CUC, or those with tanks with large Base Rock and Higher columned more established corals, nems, or mushrooms as they tend to enjoy prancing, and dancing on everything. Thank you for Five good reasons though, it definitely weighed in decision scale. :beer:

 

[ChiWing]

If they were rummaging under those small pieces of rock then there was probably something of interest to them - probably excess food. So if they hadn't gotten under there and eaten it, it just would've rotted and fueled algae/excess nutrients. Mine crawl directly through my colonies of zoas/palys all the time picking out excess food and algae - not once have they ever "punctured" one. They just annoy everything until they're done scavenging and nothings any worse for the wear when they move on.

I wouldn't put a serpent star in a 15g tank - they get too large.

 

[90ReefZilla]

Mine killed a snail for its shell and the snail was more expensive than the hermit crab! I got a rock from a pet store. He was silly enough to sell me a rock out of the hermit crab tank. When I put it in my bucket I heard all of he shells hit the bottom. I had about 30-35 small hermits come out of that rock! It was cool at the time. I bought the rock 2.5 years ago and still have hermits from that experience.

I never had an issue with a hermit crab until 2 days ago. So I figure I will name him crabzilla. I like hermits because they eat all of the left overs from the fish. I have learned to live with them. And everyone that comes over sees one or two and asked me what they are.

 

[Razz]

Maybe I'm lucky,but my dwarf blue leg hermits have been model citizens...started with 20 but no idea how many I have now...I also have scarlet and thin striped hermit crabs and they are not a problem either...(thin striped were hitchhikers from a reefcleaners order...heh heh) On the other hand, the Electric Blue hermit was a prick...killed snails and didn't bother taking the shells...

 

[Holygral]

I have had 2 serpent stars for 8 years, they have to be 12-14 inches by now,

 

[Jvhammy]

Spot on with that one PhaneSoul. I had a Serpent Seastar Hitchhike in about two months ago, and haven't seen him since, all i remember is him falling off the rock and flying into a little cave in the front. I totally agree, at this point I'd have to pay them to take'em back. :doh::arg:

I found a hitchhiker star. Tiny. About 1/4" across. I have only seen it twice in the last 10 days. I'm not sure if its a good one. Its tan/beige with a darker stripe in the middle. When I do spot it, its been high up in the tank and within minutes its usually out of site again so it seems to move pretty quick... I can't match it up on the hitchhiker list. You think it could be a good one like yours?

 

[ChiWing]

I found a hitchhiker star. Tiny. About 1/4" across. I have only seen it twice in the last 10 days. I'm not sure if its a good one. Its tan/beige with a darker stripe in the middle. When I do spot it, its been high up in the tank and within minutes its usually out of site again so it seems to move pretty quick... I can't match it up on the hitchhiker list. You think it could be a good one like yours?

Search "mini brittle star" and see if that's what yours look like. They're pretty common hitchhikers and good little scavengers.

 

[PhaneSoul]

I agree with chi, good guys to have. I saw a black stripped brittle star in my tank at one point in time. Haven't seen him since. I hope I don't kill him with this rock work I'm doing.. I always look to see if he comes out at night. But I just see my ninja turtle lookin star, never see the black one

 

[Jvhammy]

I just googled it and no that's not it but I think its a asterina star.

 

[eduro867]

i had about 10, now im down to only 6. ime they dont really do much anyways, and theyre not worth the algae bloom every time one of them dies and cant be taken out without tearing apart your rockwork.