L.I. Sound hermit crabs???

[cb747]

I have quite a few LI sound hermits in my reef sense last summer. My salinity is 1023. They seem fine

 

[e.muehlbauer]

1.023 is a little low for a reef, and close to LI Sound salinity. My tanks are usually 1.025-1.026. I get my hermits from the mouth of a tidal creek on Peconic Bay, where salinity is more like 1.017-1.019. If you can keep them alive, they are definitely entertaining, running all over the place. Take care, Eric

 

[Paul B]

Chris I am glad you have luck with LI hermits. I have been collecting them all my life and can't get them to live for a few months. The snails I collected three years ago are fine but I can't use them in my reef because the hermits eat them right away. As for the grass shrimp I can collect them by the hundreds and usually have a bunch of them in my LI Sound tank. They live forever if you can keep them from jumping out. If there are no fish they stay put. They are great food for lionfish, triggers, eels and are about the only thing clown groopers will eat. We can also collect fiddler crabs which are excellent octopus food. The fiddlers can be kept for a few years but you need a tank that is half water and half beach sand. They spend most of their life on land. I can probably fill a fifty gallon drum with those. Horseshoe crabs are also easy to collect but do not do well. Baby blue claw crabs are fun because they swim (and eat fish) so you can't put them in a reef and the Japanese Shore crabs are the crabs you see when you lift a rock on a muddy beach. They were brought here about 25 years ago by accident and took over the habitat of the green crabs that used to be under every rock. My boat will be in the water soon if anybody wants to go collecting some night. I have a great place in Port Washington. You will have to swim to shore though.
If you bring a few hundred dollars for gas it would help too :Blurp:
Just kidding.
Have fun.
Paul

 

[cb747]

Paul one evening when you go ill have to join you My buddies boat wont be in the water till atleast memorial day. he has to redo the floor and also i keep telling him its water pump time. We dont know how old it is...........
As for the crabs most of the ones i added last summer are still alive. I lost a few but they were the minority. I collected a bunch of glass shrimp too and they take the journey to the sump and make for some good detrivours.

 

[Paul B]

Chris, I am going for knee surgery tomorrow so I am not sure when I will be able to install the outdrive so it may take a few weeks before I get waterborne too. I also took some seats home to be recovered.
I will let you know.
Paul

 

[cb747]

Yeekes good luck on your surgery! If you need anything feel free to call

 

[Paul B]

Chris I am having the marina install the outdrive this year even though it's against my better judgement. I am very proud of the fact that no one has ever touched my house, car or boat but since I can't bend my leg I can't install the thing this year and if I wait I will lose too much summer. It is a Volvo Duoprop and weighs about 200 lbs. I am really concerned about letting someone touch my boat. I like things done a certain way and I am very picky. If you like we can go out collecting one afternoon.
Paul

 

[cb747]

Paul i can give you a hand with the outdrive. Then you know itll be done the way you want it! Seriously!
Im free most afternoons so pick a day and ill come pick you up

 

[Paul B]

Chris, Thanks I will think about it. I have a friend who has been helping me for many years but it takes two people, two people with good knees.
I will talk to you,
Paul

 

[cb747]

Sounds good Paul

 

[Paul B]

Chris, you are always right there to help. Thanks

 

[lfsmarineguy]

Paul, are you guys collecting from the sound or the south shore? I am on the south shore and sometimes go to OBI (cuz at low tide you can almost walk across the stretch of water) I've gotten butterflies, big eye catalufa, and threadfin lookdowns, as well as the local pipefish and puffers and what not. Just curious. I tried keeping some in small tanks but they usually don't do so well but there are always a TON of hermits walking the beach there.

 

[e.muehlbauer]

Just got back from Cutchogue today. Went out nominally fishing, mainly collecting Ulva and Enteromorpha for my tang, and mud snails. Didn't see a single hermit....its still too cold for them. Take care, Eric

 

[Paul B]

Lfsmarine guy, my boat is in the Sound but I know where you collect. That place is also the best place for seahorses. I am only going for amphipods, bacteria and mud. For fish I would go to OBI.
I used to dive there about 10 years ago.
I need a little more work on my boat before I will launch. I need to install the outdrive and I removed some of the seats to be recovered. In two weeks it should be ready and in the water (I hope)
I really want to compound and wax it too but I need to bring my generator down the marina because there is no power where my boat is. I have a busted knee and can't really bend it yet so everything is a job for me this year.
E.Muehlbauer, hermit crabs have been disappearing from our waters steadily now for about 10 years. I don't know what it is but they used to be very common, now if I see two a day it is a lot, I used to see a hundred in an hour.
Paul