Misbehaving Halloween Crab

[brclark82]

I added a Tiger Conch today and my Halloween crab went into a murderous rage immediately. I have only had him a couple weeks and I have been meaning to toss a couple extra shells in for him but haven’t come across any cone shells that would work yet.

Well after tonight’s incident I order a bag of shells online I believe will work. I understand this may not be work for sure but thought I would give it a chance.

My question is this…I currently have him in a quarantine tank that’s just a couple gallons of display tank water and a bubbler. I haven’t fully setup my quarantine tank yet with any filtration or anything else. Is he ok in there with just the bubbler for 3-4 days? Should I give him an algae pellet at some point?

 

[TnFishwater98]

How old is your tank? He’s obviously hungry if he instantly jumped on the Tiger Couch. Does the couch have any algae on its shell?

 

[brclark82]

How old is your tank? He’s obviously hungry if he instantly jumped on the Tiger Couch. Does the couch have any algae on its shell?

Yes the conch does have some algae on his shell but he doesn’t seem interested, he went over and flipped the conch on his back before I intervened…then I watched and he moved about as fast as I’ve seen a crab move back to the conch and flipped him again before I put him in quarantine

When I first got him he wedged himself between 2 rocks for about the first 4-5 days and honestly I thought he was dead. Then one morning I saw his molt and he had moved but still didn’t do much for a couple days. For the last few days he has been much more active. I have a decent amount of algae and have tried spot feeding some mysis but he hasn’t really seemed interested.

He has also started picking the purple off my rocks recently so maybe you’re right and he just doesn’t have whatever food he’s looking for. I did pick up some algae tabs yesterday after he started picking at the rocks and I saw him messing with one but not sure if he liked it or not. I may just give him back to the lfs, I would rather have the conch

 

[TnFishwater98]

Well, looks like you’ve been providing food. How big/old is your tank? May not be providing it enough algae? It might need a bigger shell but you mentioned you have recently added more. Hermits always seem to check out other shells and will flip it all around. I guess while checking out dimensions and picking algae out of it, however you implied it was looking up to no good.
So it’s either hungry, needs a bigger home, or you got a mean *** Hermit. A crab is a crab but it should be able to keep its mind/attention on scavenging and not murder, IMO. Halloween hermits can get aggressive but in my experience they usually keep to themselves. If it was me, I would try feeding him and putting him back in the tank. Watch it a bit. If it jet-lines to the couch then it might just have a taste for couch I like Halloween hermits but they have behaved. Just to narrow down more possibilities, age/size of tank. GL

 

[TnFishwater98]

Well, looks like you’ve been providing food. How big/old is your tank? May not be providing it enough algae? It might need a bigger shell but you mentioned you have recently added more. Hermits always seem to check out other shells and will flip it all around. I guess while checking out dimensions and picking algae out of it, however you implied it was looking up to no good.
So it’s either hungry, needs a bigger home, or you got a mean *** Hermit. A crab is a crab but it should be able to keep its mind/attention on scavenging and not murder, IMO. Halloween hermits can get aggressive but in my experience they usually keep to themselves. If it was me, I would try feeding him and putting him back in the tank. Watch it a bit. If it jet-lines to the couch then it might just have a taste for couch I like Halloween hermits but they have behaved. Just to narrow down more possibilities, age/size of tank. GL

* I have had to move certain hermits to other tanks because I felt/saw it being aggressive towards other HC & snails. So just like humans you come across bad actors in certain saltwater species from time to time.

 

[brclark82]

Well, looks like you’ve been providing food. How big/old is your tank? May not be providing it enough algae? It might need a bigger shell but you mentioned you have recently added more. Hermits always seem to check out other shells and will flip it all around. I guess while checking out dimensions and picking algae out of it, however you implied it was looking up to no good.
So it’s either hungry, needs a bigger home, or you got a mean *** Hermit. A crab is a crab but it should be able to keep its mind/attention on scavenging and not murder, IMO. Halloween hermits can get aggressive but in my experience they usually keep to themselves. If it was me, I would try feeding him and putting him back in the tank. Watch it a bit. If it jet-lines to the couch then it might just have a taste for couch I like Halloween hermits but they have behaved. Just to narrow down more possibilities, age/size of tank. GL

Actually I haven’t provided him a bigger home yet, I have the bigger shells in order which is why he is currently in quarantine until they get here to see if that will appease him. He does seem like he may be getting pretty big for his shell so hopefully that works. I just want to make sure I don’t kill him waiting for them.

 

[TnFishwater98]

Actually I haven’t provided him a bigger home yet, I have the bigger shells in order which is why he is currently in quarantine until they get here to see if that will appease him. He does seem like he may be getting pretty big for his shell so hopefully that works. I just want to make sure I don’t kill him waiting for them.

Pics! I love Pics!

 

[StatelineReefer]

If it's got claws, it's got flaws...

Also...

If it's got claws, it breaks laws...

Providing your Halloween Hermit a variety of shells to rehome into is a good idea, but sometimes these guys want the happy meal with their mobile home.