2 questions:

[Sparkie]

1) How often do hermit crabs molt/change shells?

2) I am topping off/replacing water in my tank every day (about 1/4 to 1/2 gallon or so), is that too much/often?

 

[sir_dudeguy]

i'll start backwards because thats how i read stuff half the time lol.

so...
2) No you are not doing it too much at all. The more often the better in fact. You're not having too much evap per day so you dont really need to do it more than once a day, but once it starts getting over like a gallon or 2 a day, i top off in the morning and evening to keep it as stable as possible. Oh, but how large is this tank? Cuz if it's like a 5 gallon, then a half gallon a day would actually be quite a bit, in which case i'd say top off before it gets that low, cuz it may cause too much of a sg swing...do you get what i mean?

1)...it can very. I used to see mine molt probably 2 or 3 times a month, but i was overfeeding the tank and they were still growing, so that might have been part of the cause. But they're full sized now and dont hardly ever molt anymore.

hth
mike

 

[Sparkie]

That does help, thanks.

My tank is a 72 gal, so I dont think that it is too much of a sg swing, but wanted to check.

Which brings up more questions (so supprising I'm sure)

Where can I get extra shells for the hermits? The one that I have came on a piece of lr that I bought. S/he is only about 1/2 inch long right now. The only extra shells that I have seen in the stores are way too big for it right now.

I want to add more hermits to my tank. How many and what kind should I add.

I also want to add some shrimp (I really like the Peppermint and the Blood Red's), is it ok to mix species of shrimp and how many can you add to a tank?

I have been looking a LiveAquaria for shrimp and hermits. Anyone had good/bad luck with them for hermits and shrimp?

Sorry for the numerous questions.

 

[sir_dudeguy]

i personally hate hermits. Everybody said they'd be fine, especially the scarlet reef hermits. They all suggested i put a bunch of extra shells in there so they wouldnt fight eachother for them and mainly so they wouldnt kill my snails for them...so i did, but no matter...they've still killed about 15 of my cerith snails and i'm finally down to only 2 hermits left in the tank...all the rest have been found and pulled out. But i tried 4 or 5 different hermit verieties, and all of them were wearing cerith snail shells in the end

imo, i'd go with snails instead...they're much better cleaners anyways. I'd get about 35-35 cerith snails (the best imo), about 10-15 nassarius (they'll stay under the sand so dont worry if you dont see them) and about 20 or so astreas...well i like to get lots of snails as long as they've got enough food to eat. Many people will say "only 1 snail per gallon" because they need enough food to go around. I've got plenty of food in my tank for them so i go kinda overboard on them...i got about 70 or 80 snails in my 55. imo this is no problem because go out in the ocean...they're all gonna be crouded in one spot so crouding them is no issue, and i've got plenty of food, so they're not gonna starve.

Shrimp...if you want a peppermint shrimp, you can get one and they're good for aptasia (pest anemone) but you're not ever gonna see it hardly..they only come out at night for the most part. The blood reds come out more i think, but i'm thinkin i've seen that they can be kinda aggressive towards other stuff...not sure tho. Cleaner shrimp would be the way to go tho imo. They're really active, clean the fish, and will also clean your hand when you put it in the tank lol.

But many people mix shrimp, but i do think you gotta be carefull about it, i just dont know what goes whith what for them.

One more thing...you've got a 72 gallon tank, but you're only getting a half gallon a day (yes only...i get almost 2 a day on my 55). You dont happen to have any glass tops on your tank do you? If so, do you have a sump?

 

[Sparkie]

I do have a 20 gal sump and glass tops. I am also only using NO lights right now.

 

[sir_dudeguy]

hm...with a sump you usually will get more evap than that, tho your normal output lights dont cause that much heat so idk...But once you get real lights, remove the glass..it'll block too much usefull light. But just for future reference, i wouldnt put a glass top on a tank if you dont have a sump also...(which you do so it doesnt really matter) but without a sump, you wouldnt be getting good gas exchange, which would lower pH and also cause heat problems (trap heat inside with no evaporation and you get higher temps)

 

[Sparkie]

I want to upgrade the lighting, just dont have the $$$ right now. I am currently using 2x 24" NO flourescent light strips, so I have to set them on the glass hood. When I purchase the new lights I am going to get the ones that have the stands that attach to the side of the tank, and get rid of the tops.

Just have to save some $$$, which hopefully with the cooler weather coming in, the electric bill wont be so high and I can save a few bucks.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I have been looking a LiveAquaria for shrimp and hermits. Anyone had good/bad luck with them for hermits and shrimp?

I just got a batch of snails & hermits from LiveAquaria yesterday. I was in the "I would NEVER buy livestock mail order" camp before I placed the order. BUT... I couldn't find what I wanted locally, so I bit the bullet. I couldn't be happier with the order! Packaging was excellent and delivery was as promised. PLUS, the snails/hermits arrived in great condition and ready to go to work.

I'm soooooo glad I got the Banded Trochus snails... they are laying waste to the thick diatom coating on my rock from my just cycled tank! Woohoo!

 

[scrmom]

I have two peppermint shrimp and don't really see much of them. However, this morning I was looking in tank and one came out of rock and was looking at me. I decide to fix marine cuisine and put my hand in there and he fed off my hand. Pretty neat. I am planning on getting 2 skunk cleaners and have heard they get along with peppermints.

 

[roka64]

You can get empty shells at a craft store like Ben Franklin's. I would suggest snails, I have a few hermits, but they are not my preference. I like cerith and nassis for snails.
I think, CBS seem to be the most aggressive shrimp. I had a cleaner and fire shrimp in mine, they got along great. The fires tend to be shy but can act as cleaners.

 

[Sparkie]

I see alot of people recommending snails. I dont mind them, I just dont want 50 million of them, like I see in some peoples tanks. What else can I use for a clean up crew? I dont really want stars or cucumbers.

 

[roka64]

I see alot of people recommending snails. I dont mind them, I just dont want 50 million of them, like I see in some peoples tanks. What else can I use for a clean up crew? I dont really want stars or cucumbers.

Hmmm, that kind of limits you. I only have about 20 snails, I just have to scrape the glass a little more. I like urchins, watch the pencils if you are going reef, they will move rocks, sometimes. I also have a pincushion, he is neat and ends up carrying around a few snails/old hydrometer/cyano/sand/shells/algae and any other thing he wants.
My next urchin will be one of these:
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=595
You could go with a bristle star, most of them generally feed at night and you won't see much f them. You could go with a sand sifting goby like these from liveaquaria:
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/categ.cfm?pCatId=31
I would still have some snails, I was a little reluctant at first, but you get used to them and the start looking kinda neat.

 

[sir_dudeguy]

ya the hermits just didnt do anything for me besides kill snails which actually work. If the hermits would actually clean, then i wouldnt be so mad about em'...but they dont.

But the snails...to be honest, you dont really notice them that much. There will usually be a few on the glass yes, but once they start going on the rocks, you could be looking right at one and not know it. Specially if you've had them for a while, cuz they get coraline growing on them and just blend in with the rock. I've got about 60 of the small astrea snails in my 55 and seriously, they look like the rock untill they move. Oh, and i had this snail that was completely white (its shell)...dont know what kind it was, but the shell was a very bright white....looked horrible in the tank lol. But eventually it turned solid purple/green/and i think theres a bit of other coraline colors in there too...but a hermit crab ended up killing the snail for its shell...i've still got it, so if you want a pic of what it looks like now (after only 3 months) then i'd be more than happy to get a quick picture for you.

 

[Sparkie]

I am always up for a good pic.

I think I will be placing an order with liveaquaria in the next few days. Any suggestions for a good clean up crew (i.e. what combo of snail/shrimp/hermits/whatever else). I want to start small (my tank hasn't been running all that long). Also if it means anything I am running NO floreuscent lights.

 

[sir_dudeguy]

for your tank, i'd say go with 10 cerith snails, 10 astreas, 10 nassarius, and maybe 4 or 5 turbo snails. If you want, you could switch out the astreas for the trochus..i hear they're very similar..or you could just get both i spose lol. Just stay away from margarita snails, cuz they're a temperate species, meaning they live in cooler water, so they often die in our tanks...they are in warmer water for like 3 months out of the year tho.

I'll try to get that pic in a little bit here.

 

[sir_dudeguy]

here's the hermit crab that stole the shell from that snail...this shell is completely white...under all the layers of coraline that have grown in just the last 2 months lol.

oh, and heres a picture of a hermit crab trying to kill an astrea in that same nano tank.

 

[Sparkie]

Nice pictures, I will see what liveaquaria has. Thanks for the info.

 

[sir_dudeguy]

lol they would have been nicer if the camera would have stopped focusing on the stupid coraline lol. But even that astrea snail thats about to get killed...he was white when i got him.

oh, a good place to order inverts and snails from is reeftopia.com
We got a local reef group/club deally and we recently did a group buy and i ended up paying 24 dollars for 60 astreas, an extra large peppermint, and an emerald crab...if i was to buy that at the lfs i'd be paying more than double (the snails are like 89 cents local, and the peppermints are about 9 and the emerald was like 8 in stores here i think...snails were 24 cents each, crab was like 3 or 4 bucks and same with the peppermint.

buying in bulk is the way to go...so if you can find a bunch of locals by you, try to set something up.