Breeding Hermits?

[matthewdmueller]

Has anyone had any success with breeding Hermit crabs, any type? I would think that with the amount of money that I have spent on the buggers, I could have set up a breeding setup and grown a bunch of them on my own. I did a seach and didn't find anything. Are they all just picked from the wild? Anyone have any informative links into the subject? I think this would be a fun little project if it wasn't to difficult. I am thankful for any information on the subject.

 

[billsreef]

It might be doable, but the wholesale prices on hermits would keep it from being economically viable. The breeding part is easy, but rearing the larvae is the hard part. They go through several planktonic stages. Some crustaceans have fairly short larval stages and are realitavely easy to rear, and others have very long complex larval stages. Even if the hermits turn out to have short enough larval stages to be somewhat easy, it would still require much more in resources than the current market rate for them.

 

[jdoenumber2]

I just saw my red legged hermit release a bunch of fry. I was bored and grabber my flashlight at night and to my surprise i got to witness this. I will make updates if i ever see them when they grow up. It was definitely something cause they were all twitching and looked like little fleas.

 

[billsreef]

Unless you remove the larvae to a seperate rearing tank to raise them, they will end up reef food long before they get big enough to settle.