Dwarf Blue Legged Hermits

[westiemarble]

Hi,

I have had 3 dwarf blue legged hermits in my 12g nano for about 2 months without problem. However, for the last 3 days the two largest ones have been locked together so tight that the two shell openings are flush to each other and they have not moved from the same spot. The third hermit, the smallest, has been constantly sat with the other two and not moved either. They are in an area I can't really get to but I've just managed to knock them with a fish net handle and legs and antenna moved and waggled on all 3 so they are still alive!

Does anyone have any idea what the hermits are doing?

 

[ben1987]

ounds like the two together are fighting for shells. Did you put spares in with them?

 

[GShorty1981]

Dwarf? are they diff. to normal blue legged hermits?

 

[westiemarble]

ounds like the two together are fighting for shells. Did you put spares in with them?

Yes, I have 10 shells of differing sizes in and around the tank in the hope that it would protect my Trochus from the hermits.

 

[westiemarble]

Dwarf? are they diff. to normal blue legged hermits?

From what I've read - Yes. You can get several types of blue legs - Zebras being the biggest and most vicious (I think).

The dwarfs are obviously smaller and have orange bands around their 'thighs, knees and ankles' of the front two legs you can see with black dots on the blue parts.

They have been great at eating rubbish off the sand and algae off the LR.

 

[ben1987]

they are one of the best CUC to have imo. I have 8 of them and they never stop munching. They have grown quite big now. They are at least 1cm big and far my active than my red legs

 

[westiemarble]

Hi,

I have had 3 dwarf blue legged hermits in my 12g nano for about 2 months without problem. However, for the last 3 days the two largest ones have been locked together so tight that the two shell openings are flush to each other and they have not moved from the same spot. The third hermit, the smallest, has been constantly sat with the other two and not moved either. They are in an area I can't really get to but I've just managed to knock them with a fish net handle and legs and antenna moved and waggled on all 3 so they are still alive!

Does anyone have any idea what the hermits are doing?

I've just decided that after 4 days locked together enough was enough so I managed to get at them and knock them apart. The slightly larger of the two did a 100 metre sprint to the other side of the tank like an American sprinter on drugs. He doesn't look damaged in any way.
The one I assume to be the agressor then turned on the much smaller one sat close by and did the same to her (she has longer eye lashes than the other two ). So I parted them and she ran the other way.

Could it be a shortage of food making one try to kill off the others?

Anyone got any idea what's going on?

Cheers

 

[Donya]

Hi,

I have had 3 dwarf blue legged hermits in my 12g nano for about 2 months without problem. However, for the last 3 days the two largest ones have been locked together so tight that the two shell openings are flush to each other and they have not moved from the same spot. The third hermit, the smallest, has been constantly sat with the other two and not moved either. They are in an area I can't really get to but I've just managed to knock them with a fish net handle and legs and antenna moved and waggled on all 3 so they are still alive!

Does anyone have any idea what the hermits are doing?

I'm assuming this is Clibanarius tricolor, although I also saw zebra hermits mentioned. It would be good to know exactly what species you have, or at least the genus, since behavior differs quite a lot between species. At any rate, a first good step would be to offser some food and new shells and see if the behavior continues. Without a better description or a species ID, it could be a hermit stressed for food/shells or a frisky male looking for a mate.

The description of the shell openings being flush sounds like courtship to me, not aggression, since for one hermit to be evicted from its shell it has to have room to hop out. Shell fights among that genus usually last minutes to hours in some cases, not days, unless there is some serious stress factor between the individuals. Although I've not observed breeding behavior in C. tricolor specifically, courtship in other very closely related Clibanarius species can last days and even weeks in some cases. In the Clibanarius species I've observed along with other genera, shell-stealing and other aggression can look similar, usually involving vigorous rattling of one individual by another, but there are some differences. Courtship tends to be more coreographed-looking based on the species I've observed it in, and can involve elaborate "dances" of the male clacking his shell on the female's. Those dances are often very short, fast, and easily missed between long periods of little or no movement, and I've occasionally disturbed courting pairs by mistake, thinking that something else was going on.

 

[westiemarble]

Yes they are Clibanarius tricolor. Since I parted them they appear to be happy living together and I've not seen similar behaviour. They have plenty of different size shells available and plenty of food a well so what they were doing is a mystery.

Cheers