hermit crab

[Sinn]

i woke up this morning,

lookin at the back part of the tank, i saw my hermit crab,

its legs, head and body - without the shell!

but then, i think i saw a few pairs of legs coming out of the shell,

so i took the shell and put it in front,

the next time i checked, it moved to the back again...

so...

the question is, do hermit crabs molt that way ?

[X_Japan]

hermit crabs are not true crabs.

but they do molt just like crabs

X-Japan

[UFO]

I heard hermit crabs is good in removing hair algae. Where did u get it from?

[Tanzy]

I've got a few species of hermits in my tank and I've never seen them eat hair algae or any slime algae. What they do eat is detritus and uneaten food that contributes to algae.

[UFO]

Where do u get it from

I don mind having some to clean the detritus on the sand bed.

[Tanzy]

Forgot to mention that they rarely come down from the rocks on to the sand. They will only touch the sand if there is fresh food on it.

[eprouve]

You can try Hong Leong. Henry's got some "Zebra" and "Halloween" hermits in his Hawaiian shipment last Friday.

[kais]

small one at $9 each.

kais

[junlover]

hermit crabs serve e same purpose as shrimps?

meaning being a "cleaner" of e sandbed.

[hongqixian]

Hermit crabs eat anything and about anything they can get their opportunistic claws on. Only a few types, the zebra/left handed hermits and Mexican Red-legged hermits eat algae and considered reef safe, but they will attack snails if they get the chance. I don't like hermits because they knock things over and will eat say, a tubeworm if the covering has a small hole.

[UFO]

thks guys, especially hongqixian info. I think I will forget abt hermitcrab from now on.