Odd Occurrence + Hermit ID

[zombot]

So i got one of the anemone hermit crabs given to me and couldnt identify which one he was.

I had a feeling he wasn't actually a true anemone crab because he didnt match any of the ones i researched.

A few days later he decided to change shells and didn't take the anemone with him and seem content cruising round in his new home which makes me think he was some other crab who just decided to move into an empty anemone crabs shell.

He's very slow and quite shy for a hermit crab and was wondering if anyone knew what he was.

He looks very similar to the first and last crab in this link.

http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/crustacea/othercrust/anomura/hermit/clibanarius.htm

But not quite.

Any ideas?:hmm3:

 

[zombot]

Anybody?

 

[Betta132]

Not a true anemone hermit, I don't think...
Probably just your average large hermit. Is he staying in that small tank, or are you putting him in something else? He's large enough to be dangerous...

 

[zombot]

Atm that's my temporary invert holding tank / hitchhikers i found in previous live rock or had in my sump ( constructing new sump and tank so inverts and refugium critters moved out)

Believe it or not, there's two tiny emperor shrimp that live with him inside that shell and have been for sometime now. It's pretty funny and adds to the oddity.

I thought he'd be an angry little bobby bouche like most hermits but from the time i've owned him his behaviour is like budda on qualaudes.

I've even caught one of my blood shrimp molting on top of his shell, and proceeded to sit right in front of the hermit for most part of the time the shrimp waited for his new body to harden.

We'll see.

He was living in my display before but i put him in my refugium. He got sumped because his favourite spot to sit was on top of my zoa garden. He wouldn't eat them, he'd just crawl to that exact spot in the middle of them and sit his *** down in the middle of them and just sit there ****ing of the zoas. Then walk around for a feed before returning to that exact spot in the zoas and sit there for another few hours before repeating the whole process.

He'll go back into the new tank and see what happens.

Would be nice to get some sort of ID on him though

(He could have come from the Barrier reef or indo or Fiji reigon seeing as im from Australia)

 

[Calappidae]

It's very hard to id hermit crabs. It's like when you look up the picture of one species.. you get another or several others. Then you find some that look exactly like it.. but then have a different eye color or no hair. This guy will definitly get big like all hairy hermit crabs. Maybe not as enormous like the commonly sold ones (I've seen hermits basket ball size in person before!!) but definitly big enough to damage rockwork and scratch glass.

I find that really interesting how emperor shrimp are hosting him. I've ordered hermit crabs in the past and when acclimating 10 or so amphipods would run out of the shell (Back then I thought they were mantis shrimp even setup a species tank and everything for them.)

 

[zombot]

Haha I know exactly what you mean with the ID thing.

I just checked the tank and it appears he has molted.
From what i've seen, the orange colour bands have gotten wider on him but slightly washed out orange tone. And his claws have changed from being black with white spots like the rest of his body to being black with brown and white vertical stripes

He's also lost 90% of all that hairy-ness haha. Hermit crabs are hilarious.
I see one of the claws of the emperor shrimp sticking out so they're still around too.

He's probably my favourite thing in my tank atm.

Or at least closely tied with my two hitchhiker Urocaridella Antonbruunii shrimp i found randomly floating back and fourth in front of the tank one day

 

[Betta132]

I'd keep an eye on him... Maybe let him live in a refugium if he gets too bulldozer-y.
You found something that emperors will host on? Awesome! And even more awesome that you seem to have found a gentle hermit... Even my tiny redlegs are little spitfires.

Okay, those are an AWESOME thing to find hitch-hiking... Just bam, random free shrimp.

 

[Calappidae]

If those are true emperor shrimp, note their price tag is within the 80-200 dollar range.

Free unaffordable shrimp!

 

[Betta132]

Even better!
I also meant the floaty ones. I think I saw one of those at my LFS... It looked REALLY fragile to me, like just rippling the water would hurt it. I bet most fish would eat those... I'm surprised they survived for long enough to pop up.

 

[zombot]

Their tank mates are all peaceful. Tiger Blenny, Slender Splitfin Anthias, Leopard Wrasse, Blue Eye Cardinals etc.

Invert wise is a different story.

At the moment i've got the hermit with the emporers (they go for about 100 bucks each here)

A dwarf yellow tip hermit who isn't really dwarf haha

The two bruun shrimp hitchhikers (trying to get more but my LFS's only see them a few times a year)

4 anemome shrimp (the clear with white spots bright purple tails) forgot what they're called

Two blood shrimp (so far so good with the other shrimp)

And one shrimp i need an ID for but it's almost impossible because he's so small. Looks like the bacj half body of a ghost/glass shrimp with thr front of the bruun shrimp.

Will get some photos when i can.

 

[zombot]

Also a collector in my area has some Spiny Tiger shrimp for sale.

Never heard of them before. Any input Cala?

 

[Calappidae]

Also a collector in my area has some Spiny Tiger shrimp for sale.

Never heard of them before. Any input Cala?

Bongo shrimp is a more common name.

They're basicly harlequin shrimp. Except they're more specific as they only eat asterina and micro brittle starfish.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/-fdRuTPNaOk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I don't have any experience with these species in terms of how much they need fed (harlequins would need 15 asterinas a day..) They're starting to become a thing in the hobby they used to be a rare case to come across but I've been seeing more and more of them lately.

If I had to be the guy to name them they'd be zombie harlequin shrimp