hermits...where to buy big ones

[mike90]

does anyone know any good online sites that sell decent size hermit crabs? everywhere i look it's only for the really small ones. i have a 90 gallon tank with a lot of sand to cover so i wanted pretty decent size crabs. any ideas??

also what is the life expectantcy on hermits?

 

[Anonymous]

Why do you want large hermits if I might ask?
They will wipe out your snail population (if you have a snail population) and IMO snails are much more valuable than hermits.

 

[Anonymous]

I have had the small ones live for a few years.

Those big ones can be pretty darn destructive if you are planning a reef, will this be a fish only tank? I don't know where to get them offhand, sorry. I see them at the fish store from time to time though.

 

[mike90]

well right now i have a white colored hermit. hes about the size of a nickle and he's very active and always moving around the bottom of the tank. im not sure what kind he is. he is white with the curved legs. so you are saying that i should just stock up on a lot of the little ones? i already have plenty of snails but they are never on the sand.

 

[Anonymous]

You could try these which I know get pretty big,

http://www.marinedepotlive.com/marshall ... crabs.html

but I have to echo what everyone else is saying about the bigger the crab, the more destructive they are in a "reef" tank IMO mostly due to size. I traded all my electric blues because they were knocking over everything in sight.

 

[WRASSER]

mike90 you can go to the intercoastal were you live at and look for them there. In West palm beach i found them as big as a small lobster, with claws that could take your finger off.Look around in the water and out of the water during low tide. You might catch them trying to get back to the water :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

well right now i have a white colored hermit. hes about the size of a nickle and he's very active and always moving around the bottom of the tank. im not sure what kind he is. he is white with the curved legs. so you are saying that i should just stock up on a lot of the little ones? i already have plenty of snails but they are never on the sand.

Yes, I feel the little ones are more appropriate for reef tanks, but snails are the very best.

 

[EVO]

You can get giant ones sized from golf balls to baseballs at the petco! $6.95, don't expect any thing to stay not eaten in yout tank though! HAHA! I used to like the big ones before I had a reef. First they will eat your snails, then any thing else at all, even sleeping fish if they can catch them. Oh yeah, they'll alos pull yout small hermits out of their shells... if you're into that sort of thing. I think those are great for kids to put in a fishbowl, you pretty much can't kill 'em, just change the water once a month and toss in some pieces of shrimp. XD

 

[EVO]

oh wait... I have to correct myself. I had a big hermit that got killed... by a bigger hermit XD

 

[mike90]

mike90 you can go to the intercoastal were you live at and look for them there. In West palm beach i found them as big as a small lobster, with claws that could take your finger off.Look around in the water and out of the water during low tide. You might catch them trying to get back to the water :wink:

good idea. i will definitely try this out

 

[WRASSER]

i went the beach and found like 200 blue legs. devided them up according to the size of the tanks and dropped them in. It has worked out pretty good for the most part. I found out that 5 blue legs per gal. is even way too much for a tank and gave a few away to other reefers.
If you want to put the blue legs in a tank do it slowly, like put ten in at a time and wait a few weeks to make sure it is going to work. Dont get me wrong they cleaned up my 150 too good. and i think they are irritatingmy star polyps from opening all the way. We will see how it turns out, the polyps are still not coming out and i have slowed down in taking the blue legs out. Good luck and have fun doing it :!: :wink:

 

[Tackett]

just fyi. I would stay away from anything but the tiniest scarlets.

all hermits are hellians. And if you get a bunch of hermits, you will just wind up with one big one eventually.

snails are boring, but much more beneficial.


just my opinion.