(Bio)³ Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 I noticed a couple weeks ago that one of my hermits is a bully. He seems to hunt down other hermits and hold their shells until they emerge so he can attack them. My other tank seemed to be gathering shells and I couldn't figure out why. Today with the new tank in the living room I was watching and saw the hermit attacking another one, after separating this hermit off others 3 times today I had enough. I ripped him out of the tank and dropped him into a small plastic container with a small hole in the lid. He can now be seen floating at the surface of the tank, trapped in his plastic prison, spinning circles in the current. I'll let him out tomorrow morning, he will get a few mysis tonight to have food. After he is released if he decides he still wants to attack his fellow hermits, he will be captured and sent to H.I's tank where he can attempt to bully the 2 foot zebra eel, the mystery wrasse, the harlequin tusk, and the dragon wrasse. I will have no bullies in my tank, and I will show them there ARE bigger creatures in this world that won't put up with their ****! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cMidd Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 This made me smile, haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaarrrggg Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 What sort of hermit is he? I leaned first hand that you need to be v careful with unidentifed crab bullies. I had a hitchhiker one in an order from reefcleaners (li'l bugger was pretending to be a snail.). He was really pretty and energetic so I kept him around. He grew fast and I'd occasionally catch him bullying some other hermits (blue leg and scarlet) but I'd just tut at him and separate them with a chopstick. The final straw came when he pounced on my new barnacle blenny. Again I kicked him off with the chopstick, but the damage must have been done because I never saw the blenny again. I ended up putting him in a glass tumbler prison while i identified him. Turned our he was a starry hermit which get HUGE and mean!! Great crab for a FOWLR, but certainly not reefsafe. I traded him in at RCA, I hope whoever bought him was warned what a little monster he is! Crikey... come to think about it... I hope he isn't the crab you have now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(Bio)³ Posted February 13, 2012 Author Share Posted February 13, 2012 HAHA this little guy came from RCA about 2-3 months ago. I fed him and dropped him back in to watch what he did, within 30 seconds he was chasing down a snail and attacking it. He is back in the container now and will be taken to Hydro's tank tomorrow. I don't know what type of hermit he is but he looks similar to the others in the tank, scarlet I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bannerfish Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Some of those crabs are little ********! I'm glad you were able to catch yours lol. I have an emerald who's getting pretty big I can't have zoas in that tank because of this batch of emeralds, they you're then up as soon as I out then in the tank. I saw him arguing with one of my damsels today, damsel won even though he's smaller....this time.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subsea Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 I had a deep water biotheme tank on a drillship that I worked on. Because the Marine Department on the ship could operate a duty free store, they made a lot of money selling duty free cigarets. They would use it to buy flowers and other gifts during illness or death of crew members family. The Captain of the ship was intrigued with my reef tank stories and he wanted one set up with the cigaret money. We had a very nice invertebrae tank set up until a mean hermit crab entered the picture. One by one, the feather dusters disappeared. The straw that cost him his first claw, was two ripped off arms of my Serpent Star. When he eat my Yellow Cucmber, he lost the second claw. During this time, I was working 21 days on and 21 days off, with minimum maintenace done when I was not there. After six months, it became apparant that all crew members and departments enjoyed the marine tank with some of the critters collected by our Oceaneering Department ROV (Remote Operated Vehicle). One day after the one year aniversary of this tank, a large Isopod was put into the tank. This canabalistic invertebrae was as long as a hot dog and resembled a rolli polli pill bug but was much bigger. Its digestive system was copper based and when it died, it killed everything in the tank. As I was on days off when this happened, I was most disappointed with the chain of events. In anycase, the hermit crab with no claws was the only surviore of the copper damage. PS As I was Subsea Department Head, everyone thought I was tough to work for after giving evidence of cutting of claws for bad behavior. Patrick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(Bio)³ Posted February 13, 2012 Author Share Posted February 13, 2012 You can see the little prison floating at the top, every occupant in the tank no matter where they are can look up and see what happens to those who are mean. It's fun to be silly some times. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaarrrggg Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Oh crap I think that might be him!!! The timing would be about right and they did put him in with the scarlet hermits; despite me stressing that he was a starry hermit and NOT reefsafe. Did he come in an awesome looking shell by any chance? Hang on I'll find a pic... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaarrrggg Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Is this the little sod? That was an early pic, he got a bit larger and darker after it was taken. The distingishing features are the pretty blue eyes and dots on his claws. This was his first stint in the joint... Oh and this is what a full grown starry hermit looks like...! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(Bio)³ Posted February 13, 2012 Author Share Posted February 13, 2012 He didn't come in a shell that looked like that but he does have dots on his claws, not sure about the eye color. I decided however to leave my old biocube running to cure live rock in. Since there is still tons of left overs in there to eat and nothing to kill he will roam that tank alone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subsea Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Nice pictures. Even though I no longer buy hermits, the kids always check them out as "neat". I remember a fresh water ten gallon tank with a Red Slider turtle that I collected on one of my fishing trips with my two girls who were five and two. During a crawfish boil, one of the older nephews had released a large red crawfish into the tank with Red Slider, When I was made aware of the tradegy, I walked into their room with four young kids witnessing The Crawfish eating Red Slider. As I searched for appropiate words to console my daughters, Andrea, my youngest said "neat" as she witnesssed the digestion of Red Slider. What can you say? It is a rough world in our tanks. Eat or be eaten. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaarrrggg Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Awww poor turtle! Funny that the kids found it more interesting than horrifying though! My evil crab was put in a tank with a bunch of hermits at RCA, so it's possible he nicked a shell from one of them and went undercover (he's sneaky!) Good plan on keeping him seperated. It will be really interesting to see if it is the same crab and if he does grow into a monster. Oh correction! I meant a "starry EYED hermit" ..they get 3-5" http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/249678/i/1/product.web Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobR Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 So have you sent the little devil to play with the big boys yet? Great stories everyone, thanks for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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