Empty shells for CUC??

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Marinebeginner

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Aug 21, 2012
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Scotland
Does anyone have / keep empty shells in their tanks for their clean up crew? I have a hermit crab, conch and turbo snail. I believe hermit crabs quite like to change shells. Does it restrict their growth / harm them by not having a bigger shell to move into?!
 
Marinebeginner said:
Does anyone have / keep empty shells in their tanks for their clean up crew? I have a hermit crab, conch and turbo snail. I believe hermit crabs quite like to change shells. Does it restrict their growth / harm them by not having a bigger shell to move into?!

I leave them all in my tank. It makes for a much more natural look and if my hermits wanna change they have many to choose from.
 
Ok, my tank is just a baby- so no CUC have vacated their shells yet. I'll maybe go back to LFS and see if they have any empty shells to sell me I guess?
 
Hobby stores are a great place to locate shells you can add to the tank for future homes for the hermits. If a hermit reaches a size were it needs to change shells and an empty one is not available, it will attempt to aquire one by killing and eating a snail or trying to pull another hermit out of its shell.
 
I had some shells from couple years ago when we went it he beach, so I boiled them and then added them. One of my LFS also sells hermit shells of various size/colors for 8 for $5. You'll need various sizes though. I have a hermit who went into a shell that I thought was waaayyy too big for him, but he grew into it quickly. Now he's at least twice as big as he was just a month ago.
 
Yikes- hermit has just molted and is in that lethargic post-molting self preserving phase. I've read that this is the time he may "acquire" a new shell. Hopefully not before the weekend when I can get to LFS or I suspect one of my snails will be a goner! :-(
 
If he molted and doesn't fit his shell any longer, he's probably not gonna wait till the weekend for a shell. He's too vulnerable without a shell, and I don't think he knows you'll buy him a new one this weekend. JK. Lol :)
 
Arrghh! He is in his usual shell but is currently sitting on top of a conch snail- who is in a slightly bigger shell..... Am going to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he is just cleaning his shell and not sizing it up as his new home. :-(
 
Marinebeginner said:
Arrghh! He is in his usual shell but is currently sitting on top of a conch snail- who is in a slightly bigger shell..... Am going to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he is just cleaning his shell and not sizing it up as his new home. :-(

Hopefully that's the case. :)
 
Marinebeginner said:
Arrghh! He is in his usual shell but is currently sitting on top of a conch snail- who is in a slightly bigger shell..... Am going to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he is just cleaning his shell and not sizing it up as his new home. :-(

So hows the conch and the hermit? Any murder goin on? Lol
 
Last night hermit crab was on top of conch all evening and you could tell he was trying to flip the shell over. Poor conch has now jammed himself in behind some live rock and half buried himself in the sand! Literally just leaving house now to go buy some empty shells- hopefully conch will get over the trauma soon!!
 
Yeah, my conch will b half buried in sand too sometimes, mostly during day. But comes back out at night. I'm glad he didn't kill anyone yet. I'm sure the conch will b ok. And hermit should leave conch alone once he has his bigger shell. If you put the shells near front, you'll see him change shells. It's kinda cool. They just pull up next to new shell, crawl out, crawl into new shell and off they go!! They are weird looking without a shell, though. Lol
 
Once the hermit gets a bigger shell he should leave conch alone. If you put shells near front, you can watch them change shells. Sometimes they seem to just "try on" different shells and sometimes go back to their previous shell. They look weird without shells! Lol good luck!
 
Three new shells lined up at front of tank (also new sea star and clown fish.... Oops! Can't ever go shopping for just one thing) Crab is now of course completely ignoring the new shells but also ignoring conch thankfully. ?
 
Yeah, every time I go to the fish store, I leave with at least 5 things!! Lol
Glad to hear your conch is still with us!! :) the hermit will change shells eventually, and he'll be happy to find the new ones when he's ready.
 
Ta da!! In his new home. (couldn't have been that good though as he then switched back into his old shell) That is poor tortured conch in the photos also.

image-3218451540.jpg
 
Yeah, hermits are fugly without their shells. Lol. Did he kill the conch? Hermits will change shells and try on other shells sometimes. Maybe he decide that it was a tad too big, but sometimes they'll go back into the shell again anyways.
 
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