A Few Qs

[weezawoo]

I will check out your journal later and it will be a little while til i need some so plenty of time for it to grow
got to much work to read now

 

[seffieuk]

If it helps Wee, I have five halloweens (Sorry Donya, cant recall the latin ) in my tank of 400 litres, they are more than enough - I sourced their shells off ebay.

Although, I wouldnt be without my small bunch of snails - two money cowries, two mexican turbos and half a dozen Nass vibex.

Must admit to learning something new about cowries yesterday, saw what I thought was a very odd looking creature in the tank, black and hairy but snail shapped but most defo looked like a slug! All of a sudden the slug part started receeding to reveal a cowrie, amazing, did some reading to find out they raise their foot over their shell for protection - cool huh

Seffie x

 

[weezawoo]

Thanks Seffie! Is your tank quite heavily stocked and does the amount of fish you have make an impact on how many CUC I need?

The cowries don't look too ugly actually haha!! Bet that would be bloody scary if yours went like that and you didn't know what it was!

Right Im off to read the reply above

 

[weezawoo]

Thanks Donya for all that info! Just had a read and written it all down It sinks in better when I write it and I love wrighting stuff in a notebook, bit of an obsession!

The red legged I have seen and was thinking about is definately P. Cadenati from looking at google images. I hadn't ever seen blue legged but only been told they can be non reef safe so maybe to avoid. I was advised though that Ciliopagurus Strigatus were completely reef safe so its back to finding reliable information.

Is there any recommended number for a group of hermits like fish like to be in groups of say 5+ or could I theoretically have 1 of 3 different types that will get along? (not that I will only have 1)

Also if I was to go for the C. Strigatus (halloweens) can they co-exsist with some P. Cadenati?

Seffie could you please post the link for the shells you bought from the bay please in case I get some halloweens? I have looked at shells on there but no clue which I should be getting for when I get my Cuc!

Thank you again for the great help!

Out of curiosity George, do you know which 'red legged' you have just so I can get an idea of how they get along as per Donya's post
Also let me know how much you want for the Xenia, I can send over to you for when you are ready and my tank is too! I can also get some research in on it and what I need for it

 

[HappyGeorge]

In my 360l reef tank I have Clibanarius tricolor, Ciliopagurus Strigatus and P. Cadenati. They never seem to bother each other at all. The total number I'm unsure of but it's about 2 Halloweens, 10 Blues and 10-15 Reds I'm fairly sure you wouldn't have a problem, I stand to be corrected but I'm not aware that most hermits would bother each other except in competition for shells and given that the Halloween shells are a unique shape and size I'm not sure the problem would ever arise.

As for the Xenia it seems to grow anywhere, it luuuuurves my reef tank which has a 6 x 39W t5 ATI light unit and a vortech, so in areas of high flow with reasonable light it grows like crazy. I also dumped some in my FOWLR just to see what happened and its growing in there too, in an area of low flow under t8 lights, so I'm pretty sure it grows anywhere.

 

[weezawoo]

Thank you! I think I will experiment with the same mix as you if you dont mind me copying you haha
My lfs is close if I have problems.

So if I kill xenia then Im rubbish

 

[HappyGeorge]

.

So if I kill xenia then Im rubbish

I don't even know how you would kill it, it's a good job I love it, it takes more pruning than my garden.

Having said that I have heard of people not being able to grow it?

 

[weezawoo]

I hope Im not one of 'those' people haha

 

[Donya]

I have been having the same trouble getting possitive id's on hermits and snails. I do use this for LR stuff and snails, but sure Donya will tell me if it's any good.Hitch Hiker guide

Ah - for IDs! Yes. Maybe I misread; I was thinking of sites that give detailed behavior/care info on CUC animals, which is what I'm not aware of a lot about. However, just for IDs, that's definitely one of the more user-friendly sites and is pretty correct too. Only problems I've seen are that the level of info is a bit vague sometimes, and (although not to do with the site linked specifically) there are some mis-IDs on the French site it links for hermits. Clibanarius striolatus and C. vittatus are listed as "Clibanarius sp." and then father down C. vittatus is put in a bizarrely incorrect genus. There may be other mis-IDs I don't know enough to pick up on but so far those are the only ones that have stood out to me and others I've had to use as references have checked out with other sources. CalPhotos is another great site - can't recall the exact URL offhand but if you google "calphotos" it should be the first one up. If you search on a species name like "Clibanarius" or "Calcinus" it has some great photos. The hermit photos are a bit lacking right now compared to that other site, but but more are constantly being added.

Gastropods.com is my main snail ID resource, but saying that it's not very newbie-friendly is an understatement, since finding the correct family to look at for an arbitrary snail is not always easy unless you're already familiar with it. Once you have a family name it's great, since you just click "thumbnails" and bam - wall of images! I keep wishing there was something as comprehensive for crustaceans. There are a few that try for limited regions, but they are hard enough to navigate that I usually give up and look elsewhere.

 

[ALW]

100-120 hermits (you can mix species but it's a bit hit and miss, you'll have much more luck just keeping the same)
20 brittle starfish
15-20 Shrimps
5 Pink and brown sea cucumbers
4 Sea urchins of whatever your favourite species is

Does this seem way to many hermits?

Far too mnay inverts. You want one/two brittlestars. Drop the hermit down to about 10 (They will attack and kill each other if you place too many in), you need some snails. Also too many urchins they will starve you might getaway with two but i would say one. I would also drop the shrimps down and would ony have one sea cucumber.

 

[seffieuk]

Oh cricky, a link for the snails, it was such a long time ago, I will try looking at the weekend

Re the xenia, it does better in tanks that have some nitrate, so 0 nitrate usually means you cant keep the stuff! My nano always had 0 nitrates and I could never keep the stuff alive

 

[weezawoo]

I think from the advice here I will not be getting 100 odd hermits haha! I am getting water tested tomorrow so if all is ok then I will start with probably 2 hermits just to have something in there to start with on Friday.
At the moment though there isn't anything I can see for them to munch on but I am sure they will find something!

What about shrimps? Should I add some, which ones and when? As little snails as possible is good but am happy getting some that clean the glass mainly

 

[fishy55599]

5 mexican turbo snails
20 nassium snails

that is really all you need the 20 nass are for the sound so you wont see them much
i think you could get at least 15 hermits

cleaner, peppermint shrimps will be fine

Oh cricky, a link for the snails, it was such a long time ago, I will try looking at the weekend

Re the xenia, it does better in tanks that have some nitrate, so 0 nitrate usually means you cant keep the stuff! My nano always had 0 nitrates and I could never keep the stuff alive

im glad i dont have 0 then

 

[woody88]

Oh cricky, a link for the snails, it was such a long time ago, I will try looking at the weekend

Re the xenia, it does better in tanks that have some nitrate, so 0 nitrate usually means you cant keep the stuff! My nano always had 0 nitrates and I could never keep the stuff alive

I agree. Since ditching the nitrate remover my nitrates have risen to 10-15 and since then my Xenia has thrived.

 

[weezawoo]

atm I have 0 nitrate I found out today! Im happy to keep it at that if I can haha!