No more crabs....

[SouthBayPhoto]

Well...Mike's right...no more crabs is a good thing I guess. :eek3:

Question...do black brittle stars normally eat hermit crabs?

The one blue-legged hermit that I had left in my 46g took out one of my Astraea snails and took over his shell last week.

Well, he must have gotten his because this morning I look in the tank and all I see on the gravel near the live rock is what's left of the hermit crab. I never saw him really out of his shell, but it looks like it was the lower half of his body that was gone. All the legs and claws and such were there, and part of the white body, but that was it (all of it out of the shell, of course). The shell was half a tank away too.

So, I don't know who did it. I don't know if it was the black brittle star or the fish in the tank. I figured that the black brittle star would have eaten the entire crab though, but maybe not.

Any ideas?

[Poseidon]

Was it a molt?

[SouthBayPhoto]

UHHHHH.....

Never thought about that. Would all of the colors stayed the same and such? I swear it looked like it was the crab with the back half of the body ripped off or missing.

I flipped over the shell he was in and it looked totally empty. So, unless he's hiding somewhere without a shell, I don't think so.

But, I never even thought of a molt. I just pulled what I thought was the lifeless body out of the water and threw it away. :eek3:

[Poseidon]

I'm betting it was a molt, and he has a new shell from somewhere. Crabs are to evil to die that easy....

[charlie]

You guys just have no respect for the life of a crab!!!!!

I agree with Mike, I think it was probably a shed. They are really shy after they shed, and tend not to come out for a while until their body gets back to normal. It is actually pretty funny to watch them change shells.

[SouthBayPhoto]

You gotta be frickin' $h!tting me!!!!! :eek3:

He's actually alive. You guys were right...it was a molt. I looked back in the tank tonight after only the actinic was on and noticed the shell (the one he was last in) wasn't where I left it at this morning. Next thing I know, I see it against the glass and him playin' around in the crushed coral.

I just about $h!t myself! I could have sworn that was his lifeless body lying on the substrate that I pulled out this morning. It looked EXACTLY like him.

I admit that I did see the red-legged one change shells really quick before, but it was towards the middle of the tank, under either the moonlight or actinic, and they are so small that I couldn't really see what he looked like. So, I figured that the blue-legged was toast and someone ate half of him.

That is awesome....I've never seen a molt before. Totally cool!!!! I'm glad I didn't throw out the shell too.

I'm still amazed at how lifelike it looked. I know people have mentioned here before about shrimp molting (especially the CBS) and the molts look similar to the shrimp, but hell...I didn't think they looked like they are friggin' cloned!

[Poseidon]

See... Told ya so. They are little demons, they are hard to KILL, much less have them die naturally!

[weez1959]

I pretty much thought the same thing as you tthe first time I saw a molt, I was sure it was a dead one!
At the time I was upset "awwww, my poor little crabbys are dying " but now I wish they'd all drop dead!
Whenever I see one now I pull it out and put it in the sump. I guess it will get over crowded in there eventually so I'll probably bag them all and trade them in for snails since they've killed so many or I'll leave them and they can duke it out for prime real estate since the section they're in is only about 15 gallons

[SouthBayPhoto]

I'm still just amazed it was a molt.

Well, you definitely learn something new every day in this hobby/passion!

In my 46g, I only started out with 2 hermits. A red-legged and a blue-legged. Always thought the blue-legged was way cooler.

One mornin' I thought my red-legged was attacking one of my Astraea snails, so I smacked him on the head with a stick and out of the tank he went. Straight into the pooper. Never saw the blue one touch anything. All was good in the land of Oz.

Next thing I know, last week the blue-legged was roaming around in the smallest Astraea shell. Little bas*ard! However, since I thought his colors were so damn cool...I let it slide.

Then I thoguht he was toast, but ends up being the molt...looks like this little guy is hangin' on for a while. Question is...when I finally start the 90...does he come along?

[Samper]

ROAR I've come to haunt your dreams!

I've been slowly banishing them to the fuge and have gotten some really good shots of them. I just thought I'd post one.

[TimH07]

why does everyone hate them so much? i had a major hair algae war on my hands months ago, threw a hand full of them in and in a DAY no more hair algae. they've claimed 1 snail, but such is life on the reef.

[weez1959]

I don't hate them at all. I think they're really cool little dudes!
The problem is when they finally eat everything in sight (algae) and start feeling cramped in thier shells they WILL attack your snails for the snack and new house.

[Samper]

I don't hate them either but they are very opportunistic and destroy snail populations over time. I think a mixture does a much better job but I get tired of seeing crabs in my snail shells.

[TimH07]

i pre-emptivly put in a fist full of different sized shells and so far they just keep swapping out the empties laying on the substrate. i'll keep my eye on them for sure!

[weez1959]

I did that too but the little buggers seem to prefer the in home dining experience!

[Poseidon]

I did that too but the little buggers seem to prefer the in home dining experience!

Exactly!

[SouthBayPhoto]

Yup, when I found my red-legged attackin' one of my snails, I tossed his little butt out into the ocean. Never had a problem with my blue-legged attacking until a week or two ago. Hopefully he's content with only taking out the one snail, or his happy butt goes out too...cool molting or not.

[Chubosco]

Heck with the blue leg, I would be getting rid of the brittle star. They grow large and become predators. Unless of course it is the mini brittle star that stay small and cute!

[SouthBayPhoto]

I haven't had any issues with him as of yet. It's about 7 inches tip to tip, but I haven't seen him out in a while to measure him.

I generally target feed him a couple of times a week. Just did tonight. I wave a piece of raw shrimp down there near the LR and the tenticles come shooting out and he wraps up the shrimp and takes it back into the rock like it's a to-go box. LOL

[johnmaloney]

Keep the hermits in the ocean, and away from your snails or you are throwing money down the drain. There is nothing a hermit crab can do that a some snail can't. And the snails don't kill the clean up crew team mates.

Can you tell I don't like hermits? I want to join a People Against Hermit Crabs organiztion, but I haven't found one yet.