Dang Hermits!

[Donya]

Well I wanted to get a couple sturdy-looking blue hermits that I saw at the LFS...I needed something more aggressive to be an above-ground janitor in my bristleworm bowl. They were at the front of the tank and of course ran off when the hand reached in. So, I got home with a couple that had been dug out of the rubble, neither of which would show more than their tiptoes while in the bag, and they finally came out of their shells and turned out to be two different species and not the ones I had seen in the tank...I have ID'ed one but the other is still a mystery. This is the first one, a Calcinus elgans:

http/www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Di...cfm?pCatId=1479

and the other has vertical zebra stripes on its legs. It may be Clibanarius eurysternus...it is obviously a Clibanarius species rather than a Calcinus, but the only web pages talking about it are in Japanese, which doesn't help me a lot

I temporarily put both crabs in my bristleworm bowl until I can see exactly what their eating habbits are. However, I would like to move the blue one out to my 5 gallon if it's personality is as it seems...which is to say, it's a huge sissy compared to all the other hermits I've had. The bristleworms and Clibanarius will push it around, which isn't great. Only problem is, I'm not sure what exactly the dietary needs are of the Calcinus. The Calcinus seems to want seaweed & other algae over meaty foods, so that's a good sign but...can anyone who has had Calcinus elegans fill me in on their experiences with it?

If I have to I will take the Clibanarius back and trade for something, since it is more aggressive than the Calcinus, although I won't be able to do that immediately due to my ugly schedule on weekends. I would like to keep the Calcinus...the blue legs with magenta hair look pretty neet lol. I just want to make sure I give it what it needs, since I'm not finding a lot of good info in searching and nothing in my books.

 

[Donya]

I had to move the electric blue hermit out to my 5 gallon anyway because the harassment started sooner than expected. That hermit has started stripping the LR clean of microalgae in places, which is intriguing to watch, but still confusing. It's uninterested in most of the types of veggie-based food I offered it, no interest in meaty foods either. Just microalgae. It's got enough of that to last it a while, but I'm reading mixed info on the diets these guys need so any experiences others have had with those hermits would still be useful

 

[N1z]

I have one! and only one hermit lol, havent bought any too lazy. Any who i dont feed mine, i simply let him graze on the rock, but i dont have macro algeas, ive had him now for over a year.

Also i know ski bought some of these and he will agree they dont touch snails ive found mine really how do i say nice.

 

[Donya]

Thanks for the reply! That's interesting...hmmm. I hope the microalgae I've got provides enough food, since mine definitely isn't touching the macro or anything else in the tank.