Algae Eating Snails

[SkiFletch]

I lost my zebra hermits a while back, i wonder if that was at the fault of some blue legged hermits?

Hmm...unless there was a massive size difference, it would usually be the other way around if the zebras are Calcinus seurati. C. seurati has a pretty large strength advantage over similarly sized and smaller Clibanarius tricolor. Zebra hermits will also go after each other though - they need a pretty large space to themselves to be happy.

I'm so done with hermit crabs. Even with extra shells the little SOB's just killed each other for fun in my tank. I let them have their genocide and now only have one reclusive redleg left. He gets to stay, but I'm not adding anymore prey for him...

Redleg = Paguristes cadenati? I've never kept P. cadenati myself, so I'm not all that familiar with the querks of the species. I'm curious, which species lost the crab war?

The common blueleg hermits lost the war, and the smaller redlegs. The last remainder is a redleg in a BIG trochus snail shell. I witnessed the little things fighting twice. They grab each others shells, smash them together, and eventually reach inside and pull out the other. Pretty wierd. Thought I had a mantis shrimp, the shell smashing was so loud. Turns out it was just the hermits committing genocide

 

[Donya]

2 Common Hermits

I've seen quite a number of different species called that. Joys of common names...

The common blueleg hermits lost the war, and the smaller redlegs. The last remainder is a redleg in a BIG trochus snail shell. I witnessed the little things fighting twice. They grab each others shells, smash them together, and eventually reach inside and pull out the other. Pretty wierd.

Interesting. I'll have to set up a species tank to watch some of those eventually. Was this shell clacking with the aggressor approaching from behind, or was it done face-to-face?

In the different species I've watched over time, there seem to be a number of shared behaviors, the two distinct orientations of shell clacking being quite common but done for different reasons in different species. In Clibanarius vittatus, the "headbutting" type of shell clacking with the shells face-to-face is frequently aggressive, but in Clibanarius erythropus it seems mainly to be a part of the elaborate courtship dance that males do. I've wondered if behavioral differences like those could be responsible for some of the hermit wars that take place in mixed-species environments. Seems a little odd that the large cadenati would take out its own species, but I guess that could be down to territorial issues.

Thought I had a mantis shrimp, the shell smashing was so loud.

You should hear my Pagurus longicarpus go at it. Depending on the rate of shell clacks and orientation of the shells, it's either courtship or some argument over food/shells/territory. They're an impressively scrappy species, so I frequently have a little clack track in the background when I'm in the room.

 

[SkiFletch]

Face to face. They basically slammed together the areas that used to be where the snail doors were, so face to face. Also the fights typcially happened shortly after lights out, although sometimes happened in daylight as well. Best I could tell it was a territorial thing and since I really didn't feel they were all that great at algae scavenging/eating (compared to snails), I won't be spending any effort getting more