What clean up crew can I keep with a large hermit crab?

[TheStripedHermit]

Not even conches are safe from my striped hermit who now lives in a 3inch shell however he does eat a bit of algea but not enough.

So does anyone here have any clean up crew that can live longer than a month around my hermit? Theres only so much algea you can remove daily ☹

 

[TriggerFinger]

Will it eat small hermits also? What about urchins?

 

[ApoIsland]

I like the urchin idea. Not sure exactly what I had but it was a monster hermit with red legs and blue spots that demolished everything I put in the tank except a red Hawaiian reef lobster.

 

[JumboShrimp]

I feel you. A 3" Hermit Crab is super strong, and fearless. He will flip a Conch twice his size and have a snack. They are great for scavenging and polishing off tiny bits of fish food, but basically rules out most other CUC members-- so it's almost a choice between algae and detritus.

 

[CMMorgan]

I like the urchin idea. Not sure exactly what I had but it was a monster hermit with red legs and blue spots that demolished everything I put in the tank except a red Hawaiian reef lobster.

You had a red hairy leg hermit... I had one. We named him Crabzilla. He was so destructive that he eventually finished out his days in a JBJ 35 gallon all in one. He would eat anything - emerald crabs, snails, fish... even a tube anemone three times his size. Even after all of that, I still miss the little fella. He would tap on the tank and beg like a dog.

 

[ApoIsland]

You had a red hairy leg hermit... I had one. We named him Crabzilla. He was so destructive that he eventually finished out his days in a JBJ 35 gallon all in one. He would eat anything - emerald crabs, snails, fish... even a tube anemone three times his size. Even after all of that, I still miss the little fella. He would tap on the tank and beg like a dog.

It was like a pet. when i came home always front and center waiting for food. Very cool but very ravenous.

 

[sagedrake690]

You could buy a tupperware tote for footprint space and make a tidal flat like I have for my horseshoes. It takes like no water and allows them to go on land. You get to see an amazing side of them and you can put other tings in the tank now. I have a red dragonet, 2 peppermint 1 nasarius, 1 nerite, 2 small hermits, a male and female fiddler crab and 3 small horseshoes in a sand flat crabitat tank with 3 inch of water. I also have an empty 55gal i use to perform experiments on lol.

 

[Hincapiej4]

You could buy a tupperware tote for footprint space and make a tidal flat like I have for my horseshoes. It takes like no water and allows them to go on land. You get to see an amazing side of them and you can put other tings in the tank now. I have a red dragonet, 2 peppermint 1 nasarius, 1 nerite, 2 small hermits, a male and female fiddler crab and 3 small horseshoes in a sand flat crabitat tank with 3 inch of water. I also have an empty 55gal i use to perform experiments on lol.

I didn't understand the first sentence in this. Could you clarify, I don't get what you mean.

 

[ApoIsland]

You could buy a tupperware tote for footprint space and make a tidal flat like I have for my horseshoes. It takes like no water and allows them to go on land. You get to see an amazing side of them and you can put other tings in the tank now. I have a red dragonet, 2 peppermint 1 nasarius, 1 nerite, 2 small hermits, a male and female fiddler crab and 3 small horseshoes in a sand flat crabitat tank with 3 inch of water. I also have an empty 55gal i use to perform experiments on lol.

?

 

[Clownfish_Boy]

I have a red dragonet, 2 peppermint 1 nasarius, 1 nerite, 2 small hermits, a male and female fiddler crab and 3 small horseshoes in a sand flat crabitat tank with 3 inch of water. I also have an empty 55gal i use to perform experiments on lol.

How does your dragonet eat in that setup ? Do you have pods or feed him frozen ?

 

[sagedrake690]

I dose pods on occasion. They stay pretty well populated though. a half thing of pods lasts months. I dose brine shrimp eggs as well and over time they hatch into thousands of squirts. as long as the flow is low the brine shrimp can survive for a while. I change the tank around regularly to give them all something new and change the flow rate once or twice a day up or down a tiny bit to give varying water currents (usually with weather. I will make it rougher on stormy days and calmer on clear days)

 

[sagedrake690]

some things like frag tanks take up floor space, while some like a 55gal take up volumes of space more in height. For some things, footprint space is better. Some coral do well in the reef areas where they get exposed to air. watch david attenbaro' documentary on the coral reef. They are more like a sand flat/tidal area corals that regularly can be exposed to air during low tide. These are usually carpeting corals not large branching ones.

 

[CMMorgan]

You could buy a tupperware tote for footprint space and make a tidal flat like I have for my horseshoes. It takes like no water and allows them to go on land. You get to see an amazing side of them and you can put other tings in the tank now. I have a red dragonet, 2 peppermint 1 nasarius, 1 nerite, 2 small hermits, a male and female fiddler crab and 3 small horseshoes in a sand flat crabitat tank with 3 inch of water. I also have an empty 55gal i use to perform experiments on lol.

PLEASE post some pictures. I used to work in an aquarium. We had a horseshoe touch tank. I loved those little guys. I have long thought about how to set up a tank here but I have not worked it out yet. I have this idea that when I have grandkids, I want to recreate something like that for them. AMAZING creatures. Fun Facts - horseshoe crab blood is used in treatments for hemophiliacs. They are also more closely related to spiders than crabs.

 

[sagedrake690]

Bro I loooove horseshoes. They also regrow limbs like octopi and grow a gell like protuberance from a lost limb that slowly takes shape! Mine came wild and missing a bunch of feet. The end result will be a large kiddie pool. Make sure you have sand sitters for large thick areas of sand. No matter what you do, you will have anerobic conditions unless you are able to reduce the sand bed to 1/2 or less. They like to burrow and can handel quite a lot of harsh metals that others cannot. They also can survive copper unlike most crustaceans.

 

[sagedrake690]

The key to avoiding hydrogen sulfide buildup, is to drain all water while its clear and crystal. Set it aside and take out the animals, rocks and plants. They do require cage cleanings. So take the sand when it gets dirty, rinse it under the tub, swish it around and let all the scrap and HS gass off and then drain the water. Wash the sand and drain the water untill the water begins to run clear after stirring up the sand. Wash with rodi and a few drops of water conditioner and drain. Replace the water and redo the fungshue of the tank and put the animals back in. It helps to have separate feeding tube. They are seriously messy lol.