Hermit Crab question

[shluffer]

I have what I think is a Dardanus megistos (white spot hermit crab). He is rather large. He seems to be aggresive towards my fish in such a way that I am concerned about adding anything that can't move fast (or that relaxes on the sand). I would like to move him into my sump, But i'm concerned that he will be able to climb out (he climbs the standpipes in my DT).

Does anyone know if he will climb out of the water? He would need to climb an additional 7 inches after breaking the water surface. I'm thinking his shell may be to heavy out of the water.

The other question I have: am I correct that he is aggresive towards slow moving / unaware fish?

 

[barnabus's gimp]

I have had many of these types of hermits. they are awesome and grow to be pretty huge, I have an extra large shell that my last megistos (Heracles) bearly fit into, they are very strong and super aggressive, if you think the shell on that crab is too heavy imagine a crab moving a 6 pound boulder to get to some food underneath. it is amazing what these crabs can carry.

as for the fish, my crabs were well fed and had a huge assortment of fish to eat, in the end it ate a few fish but that is expected, I have a dogface puffer (humphrey) that would take chucks out of a leg or two on various crabs that would get too close.

small aggressive fish are ok to have and some larger fish, the reality is that the crab will attack and eat anything that it think is worth it, it will climb any surface it can to explore its territory, I have had megistos escape from a rimless and end up in the bathroom 20 feet away, so really they can travel pretty far out of water when need be. I would suggest getting some of that white grid material at home depot to close up the to of your sump. they are very active crabs and I would reccomend them to anyone who does not have a reef tank, they are good in fish FOWLR tanks.

 

[shluffer]

Thanks for the input.

I'm not sure I can get the eggcrate on top of my sump. My other solution is to put him in his own 10 gallon. Is that enough space for him?

 

[barnabus's gimp]

sure, they are really good scavengers, but with enough rock to climb on and sand to dig in it should be fine.