Silly Crab

[oeb]

I have two red-hairy hermits that molted a couple weeks ago (a couple days apart) and seemed a little cramped in their shells, so I ordered some new ones for them. I picked out quite a variety not having an idea what they would prefer, and now one of the crabs changes shells daily. At least for the past few days.

Well anyway, one of the shells I picked out was a bit longer than it looked in the picture, so I thought "the crabs will likely never take this one, but it looks cool so I might as well drop it in." Well don't you know, this morning after days of trying on all but that shell, he's been sporting it all day.

A couple questions -

Is it normal for crabs to change shells that often? Like is he just crazy and active, or unhappy with the shells?

And also, both crabs molted within two days, no chemical additions or anything, but may be after two weeks when I got them from a LFS. Does that raise any red flags with anyone? Also my coral banded shrimp molted somewhere in there as well. They all seem to be doing well. Water params available upon request.

A pic of the crazy crab and his partner in crime.



"The snail bandits flexing before the remains of their carnage."

[BillyD]

hehe, Nice looking shell there! I think its normal for them to molt about once a month or so. Mine molted about a week after the addition aswell. but if you add iodine to much they will molt to often, which is bad for them.

About the shell switching, i dont know. mine usually kill snails and grab their shells.

[BayBud]

Hermits and shells are a funny thing.
rom my own observations i've noticed alot of very strange behaviors, for instance one of my hermits always favors a long Cerith type shell, when i bought him he was in in a long shell so i guess he just likes them.

The funny thing was watching one of the hermits who usually lives in a more rounded shell try the long shell, long story short he just couldn't get to grips with it! He kept banging into things, getting wedged.
He switched to a shell of a similar shape to his favored and he is as happy as anything now.

I suppose ultimately what im saying is its to easy for us to assume there is a set behavior to these animals, perhaps subconsciously we see them as simple and incapable of individuality (even to a small degree)

I wouldn't worry over much about the hermits changing shells, they are very fussy over their shells, i guess they haven't got much else to fuss over lol

[phoenixhieghts]

hermit crabs always change shells, untill they find on ehtey like, then when they molt again, they will wanna change again!!
Carefull with the type of hermit crab you have - they grow very big!

[jcdillin]

mine do the same thing, the guys from the lfs gave me a few extra shells and they are always trying them on and swapping shells, it's really funny how they keep trying till they find one they like.

[My2heartboys]

Yeah, they are funny. At one point I had quite a few hermits in the tank and almost had more shells than sand. I thought it would keep them from killing the snails....long story short....it did and didn't.

Anne

[bmshehan]

That pics makes me laugh everytime I see it. Just opposite of "fat guy in a little coat!"

[amcarrig]

Originally Posted by bmshehan

That pics makes me laugh everytime I see it. Just opposite of "fat guy in a little coat!"

Great movie

[oeb]

Thanks for the comments.

Has anyone ever thought of doing an anti-refugium? I want to get these guys out of my display tank, but I really don't want to give them up. They are way too entertaining.

I'm dealing with another issue at hand right now (tang w/ich), but would 10 gal plumbed into my current tank be enough room for these guys to do with as they please?

So my final vision would be under the tank sump w/refugium for algae. And then a beside tank anti-refugium for the crabs. Sounds like I'm setting myself up for a flood. :|

Edit:

I just looked up what movie "fat guy in a little coat" is from. Ha ha!

[oeb]

Update -

I decided to get rid of my crabs. Over the course of two weekends (they waited until Saturday night on both occasions), they nabbed two clowns and a newly added wrasse, which all seemed to be otherwise happy and healthy prior to their demise. I think my tang is what kept the crabs at bay for so long. Well I exchanged them at another fish store a couple weeks ago for credit towards some more live rock.

Here's the funny part, the smaller of the two didn't want to leave. So bad in fact after re-arranging my rock just to get at him, when I would pick him up, he'd jump out of his shell. Sneaky little... mmph. And of course, a pic -