One of the coolest things in my reef...

[Diana]

Is my coral hermit crab. It's hard finding info on these guys, you don't see them too often. I've had him for a couple months now.

-Diana

 

[Diana]

Found a species name... although it is not a professional source.

"Manucomplanus varians lives in a staghorned hydrocoral (Janaria mirabilis)"

 

[kevindub]

Very cool! Do you know if it needs to change shells or does this one grow with it?

 

[Ben1]

Nice picture. neat hermit too.

 

[Anonymous]

That is cool!

Louey

 

[leftovers]

the reason they are hard to find is their notoriously short lifespan in the home reef.... otherwise they are a great addition...

 

[Anonymous]

the reason they are hard to find is their notoriously short lifespan in the home reef.... otherwise they are a great addition...

+1

They are one of the "rental" item for the tank, unfortunately. The coral need special care to do well, for example. I think the crab does need to change shell when it outgrow it.

 

[Diana]

I have not heard they need to change 'shells' unless the host coral dies, but I have heard they can utilize snail shells?

If I did not have bryozoans growing on my live rock I probably would not have purchased this guy. It seems my aquarium is able to sustain at least a small population of similar coral, so I figured I would give him a shot. Its not something my lfs regularly brings in, and I certianly hope they don't decide to. But for now he is mine, and the coral seems to be surviving, so I will not complain. He sure is neato.

 

[SnowManSnow]

gotta say thats pretty wiggy.. but he scares the heck out of me haha

 

[Microcosmos]

Very cool! Thanks for posting a pic of that!