scarlet marine hermit pic!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 11:17 pm

I wanted to share a pic of my scarlet hermit crab in our reef tank. Marine hermits, like land hermits, grow larger according to the shells they can find. When my land hermits outgrow their shells I put them in the reef tank for the marine hermits.

This guy has gotten pretty large and I've had him for about 2 or 3 years. He's climbing on a live Acropora coral.

And this isn't a hermit but I thought you might like it anyway. It's a species of crab that live within Acropora corals. They feed off algae on the coral and also help protect it against crabs that might eat the coral. Without the living coral colony though, the crab can't survive.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 8:28 pm

They are sooo much fun but can be very expensive AND addicting! I set up my first, a 30 gallon fish only with a chocolate chip star, some hermits and a mandarinfish. I don't know of anyone else who's had a tank like that because most people want corals and lots of fish.

I will post a pic soon of the whole tank. It changes a lot so I don't have a recent pic of it on here.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 4:48 pm

I will have a reef tank some day but right now it would just be to expensive and time consuming.

I think I will wait till ritierment......haha

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri May 02, 2008 3:09 pm

LOL yes they are time consuming and expensive... given the money we've put into this tank, I told the BF we need to up our amount of insurance on the house.

And may I say, they are a HASSLE to move. Any tank isn't fun to move, but marine tanks are especially delicate.

On a side note: Silent, I see you're down in Ventura County... I lived there when I was younger and have been thinking about going back. How do you like it there? It's probably changed a lot since I was last there!

annopia · Post by **annopia** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 12:33 pm

awesome! i am going to be starting a marine tank this fall with marine hermits. theres a store near me that sells five or six different species that are all so unique and beautiful, including the scarlett hermit and the blue-legged.

Caroline

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 2:50 pm

I would REALLY like a small (20ish gallon) SW tank for marine hermit crabs. My understanding is that SW tanks are complex and require a lot of equipment. If I just wanted a couple of hermit crabs (rather than fish, corals, sea horses etc) would I still need a very complex set up?
Also can someone explain the difference between "reef safe" hermit crabs and hermit crabs that are not reef safe????

annopia · Post by **annopia** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 4:32 pm

luvmycrabs wrote:I would REALLY like a small (20ish gallon) SW tank for marine hermit crabs. My understanding is that SW tanks are complex and require a lot of equipment. If I just wanted a couple of hermit crabs (rather than fish, corals, sea horses etc) would I still need a very complex set up?
Also can someone explain the difference between "reef safe" hermit crabs and hermit crabs that are not reef safe????

im going to be doing the same thing-smallish side tank with only live rock, dead coral, and marine hermits. what ive heard is that smaller tanks are actually somewhat more difficult to "maintain", because any shift in salinity or some trace element is magnified in the smaller tank, since there isn't as much water as a buffer. but you'll still need a filter and stuff-ive recently bought a book on setting these things up, but have yet to read it.

im pretty sure "reef safe" refers to whether the crabs will eat the live coral and other parts of the tank. ive been exploring online and most places say that no hermit is 100% "reef safe", they will all eat slow moving small fish and live coral on occaision, some more than others. if, like me, youre not doing live coral or fish, i don't think the definition of "reef safe" means much.

Caroline

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 9:32 am

I know I'll need "the basics" filter, heater, lighting. It's all the "marine stuff" that scares me, skimmers, refugium, coolers. Those are things that are beyond my current comfort level LOL