They like colored shells more?

[Gillie]

I was recently at my lfs to pick up a few more shells for my occies, and some brightly painted hermit crab shells caught the eye of my three year old daughter so naturally I ended up getting some. When we got home I cleaned them and placed them in the tank, after a an hour or so the dominant male had collected all of the colored shells and got rid of the regular shells. He now has every female in the tank in his territory, when before they had close to equal numbers of females. could it possibly mean that they like the brighter colors?

[Zagz]

It would certainly seems so in your tank. LOL, maybe they are nearsighted and the colors are easoer for them to see.

[zenkatydid]

that's adorable pics!

[Gillie]

I'll try, but they don't like to cooperate with the camera

[Gillie]

Well I've been trying awfully hard to get pics, but no luck yet. Anytime I even get near the tank with the camera they disappear(stubborn little buggers). I also lost my solo male, he was trying to get his girls back I believe.

[Stephen]

Did the other male die because of aggression? Is there a possibility of something toxic leeching from the paint on the shells?

[Gillie]

Definately agression he was pretty much in exile from the colony, and I have seen the dominant male leave his territory just to fight with him. The smaller male also has crossed into the dominant males turf quite a bit.