Hermit crabs

[ClownfishLouise]

I have a 23 gallon reef tank. I’ve had it for 7 months and everything is going peachy. I have two clown fish and at the start I had 5 hermit crabs. I added three more after 2 died. Now I have 6. They were all small when I got them from the store. But two of the hermits have become gigantic. ( see photos) And I just lost another one yesterday.

1. The first question is are the hermits too big?
2. My salinity is 1.026 and I’ve checked the other parameters - ammonia is non existent and everything else seems ok. Should I be worried?

Thank you!!

 

[Reefing102]

Those are some big hermits. A lot of people don’t keep the larger ones as there is a belief they become fish eaters. If you’re not experiencing any issues, I wouldn’t be concerned but just thoughts

 

[griss]

Agree with Shane. One appears to be a thin stripe hermit. Just make sure to provide upgrade shells for them if you keep them. If you’re concerned about hermit size, try to limit your future purchases to blue leg hermits which don’t get very large.

When you say all parameters are good, what do you mean?. Could you post your test results? What test kits are you using?