Mobile Bay Reef Keepers

i caught these locally and both were surprise finds. of the 50 or so tiny hermits i caught, 2 were white with large right "hands". the decorator crabs (if thats what they are) were only found on a piece of vegetation. neither of them appear to do anything other than eat my rather abundant algae. these pictures arent the best. anyway, anyone know if they are safe? how big they get? nothing but xenias and a few shrooms in there now and they never bother with those.

Eeekk, looks dangerous.

theyre not as big as they look. the crab is less than an inch wide and the hermit about 1/3 of an inch.

Yes that is a decorator crab. They will not hurt anything but they will sometimes pull corals among other things off or rocks and put them on there back. I have one before that had sea mate on its back and had him for over a year in a softy tank with no problems. Where did you find them?

at the west pass in gulf shores. they were hiding in some vegetation. saw the small claws and figured they couldnt do that much harm. theyre actually pretty good at thinning out the hair algae.

I think they're kinda cute......and if they clear up all your algae, can I borrow em?

cute?! i wouldnt say that about them. but if youd like one after the algae dies down, youre welcome to one. they look like walking peices of rock with whatever they can find stuck to their backs. theyre not skittish though. always in the front of the tank.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

watched the decorator crab pull a bristleworm out of a hole, or at least half of it, and eat it! kind of neat as i didnt think many things would eat them. ive got plenty, so no loss.

Old post i know but is that white hermit reef safe? I don't think it says in the post or maybe I missed it. I have a few of those white hermits and they seem to be taking over my other hermits. Anyone have info on these?

The ones i have had never hurt anything. I've also seen them being sold as reef safe from some Florida sites. Sad thing is, they never made it long in my tank. Not sure why. Perhaps they have a more specialized food requirement.

they need a lower salinity that is why they dont last long in the average reef tank

That would make sense as they were caught in the pass. It has a lower salinity at certain times of the day as the tide goes in and out. Thanks.

I caught some of those on dauphin island back in the summer and put them in my predator tank. needless to say the triggers wait till they come out, shoot at them and then pop them in the head and thats it. Now i have the huge hermit crabs from dauphin island and the triggers get one every once in a while but the others are vigilant knowing what will happen if they stay out when one goes by.