Thank you! We keep some seaweed and algae sheets in their tank and we also feed them krill with feeding tongs periodically. They also have plenty of empty shells in the aquarium as well, so maybe this is why we haven't seen their aggression. I appreciate your help! I'll definitely keep looking into their preferred habitat.
Thank you so much! This information is very helpful and I will most definitely read through the link you provided!Looks like the right species to me - ReefCleaners sells these guys and has some good comments on their keeping on their page (linked below), so I'd give that a read through - but they are hermit crabs (and a relatively large species), so there's always a chance of aggression from them. They are marine hermits, and to my knowledge don't need land, but they do live in the shallows (intertidal zone, seagrass beds, etc.) and are occasionally found on the beach at low tide. They prefer whelk and conch shells and when full grown may need shells that are four inches. Generally, as mentioned, feeding well and providing plenty of shells can help keep hermit aggression in check. Not sure how they do with fish, but these guys are mentioned as being coral safe.
Thin Striped Hermit (Medium)
Resides : Rocks and sand Consumes : Detritus, Hair Algae, Film Algae, and some species of Cyanobacteria Max Size : 3 or 75mm Origin : Caribbean Availability:...www.reefcleaners.org
Thank you, thank you, thank you!! Do they do well with fish and corals? I really want to add more livestock, but I'm afraid of losing fish! My largest is in a 4"-5" shell and I believe it's fully grown. So far my 55g tank has 4 hermits (all different sizes), live rock, and CaribSea Arag-Alive sand.
I completely agree. We typically just bring home a shell or two as souvenirs when we visit the beach and we've never accidentally brought anything home with us I can tell you we will not be bringing anymore shells home from beaches unless they are store bought from souvenir shops or something. My boyfriend had them in hand for a little over an hour while he walked the beach and checked them every few minutes to make sure that they didn't have anything living in them, but unfortunately it didn't end up that way. We felt absolutely horrible once we realized that they had something in them after he got home, so we immediately started to prepare to make them the best home possible while they were in quarantine. We had trouble finding the correct species at first, but when we saw the thin-striped hermit crabs online they looked exactly like the ones we brought home. I noticed that it said they were a pretty aggressive species online, so I was concerned that maybe we had misidentified them. According to the research I've found on this particular species, the males have hairier legs and claws than the females, so maybe that's why? I'm still researching to make sure I have this species because I don't want to accidentally have them in an incorrect environment. I really appreciate your help!
You should not have any problems with them catching/eating fish. They can however go after sick fish that cannot swim away.
I've never seen them hurt coral. They'll disturb them by walking over them or occasionally picking out algae strands but I've never seen any active eating or damaging. Certainly none of my corals have ever shown signs of being nibbled.
Awesome! Thank you for listing your current livestock for me as well. I was concerned with any livestock that dwells in the bottom of the tank because of the hermits.
