Another Hermit Crab ID :)

[TinyReefObsession]

Hi All! I have now had these two goobers for nearly a year, and still have no idea what kind they are. They were more of a bright “alien green” when I got them, but seem to have gotten darker, BIGGER, and they wrestle like kids fighting over the same shells (the light brown shell in the pic lol), food, etc, even when there’s more than enough to go around - like siblings lol

I just noticed I got a SUPER CLEAR pic and see the one on the top in the first pic has tiny black tips… but I cannot seem to find anything that looks like these guys online…

They literally climb up my powerhead cord, up the magnetic cleaner, and eat the debris from the waterline, off the “jump guard” foam at the top of the tank, AND I have to rescue them from the intake behind my condy before the condy realizes they’re up there lol AND when they go missing I find they fell on the climb back down and have to unwedge them from between the live rock and tank wall. I have never had such adventurous guys in the tank! lol

hoping someone has an idea or can point me towards a guide - I have not been able to find them anywhere so far, reviewing image results from google & R2R. Hoping to ID them so I know how big they will get - they’re already getting into my larger shells! Thanks!!

 

[rogueshrimp88]

I'm not any sort of expert but I'm also curious. They kind of look like clibanarius vittatus (Thinstripe hermit crab) but only slightly.

 

[BristleWormHater]

@ISpeakForTheSeas

 

[TinyReefObsession]

I'm not any sort of expert but I'm also curious. They kind of look like clibanarius vittatus (Thinstripe hermit crab) but only slightly.

Thanks! i see a resemblance with that one and the “white leg” hermit crabs, but mine definitely are not as white… mine are clearly greenish lol

BUT they do have this same funny, extra long, side legs as the white leg… which makes them kinda clumsy sometimes haha but otherwise they are hard workers and voracious!

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

@ISpeakForTheSeas

I actually don't recognize this one; I can tell it's a Diogenid species (a Left-handed Hermit species of some variety), but the closest I know at the moment are Clibanarius virescens (which has notably white-tipped legs) and Clibanarius antennatus (which tends to have faint stripes down the legs) - C. virescens are known to have a large number of color variations, so it's possible it's a color variant of it, but I can't say for sure.

Regardless, I would guess they likely are a Clibanarius species.

 

[TinyReefObsession]

I actually don't recognize this one; I can tell it's a Diogenid species (a Left-handed Hermit species of some variety), but the closest I know at the moment are Clibanarius virescens (which has notably white-tipped legs) and Clibanarius antennatus (which tends to have faint stripes down the legs) - C. virescens are known to have a large number of color variations, so it's possible it's a color variant of it, but I can't say for sure.

Regardless, I would guess they likely are a Clibanarius species.

thank you so much for the leads!! I will focus on these and see what pics I can find! Honestly from what I’ve read online they sound very similar to the “white legged” hermit crab personality (highly active, effective cleaners, non stop motion, etc) but none of the pics lined up.

I have been scouring the internet with no luck and just realized how big they have gotten; they’re both significantly larger than my blue leg hermit who had previously been “the big one” in the tank lol

I’ll post back when I find the closest ID I can using your leads above! Thanks again!

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

they’re both significantly larger than my blue leg hermit who had previously been “the big one” in the tank lol

How big are they currently?

 

[TinyReefObsession]

I actually don't recognize this one; I can tell it's a Diogenid species (a Left-handed Hermit species of some variety), but the closest I know at the moment are Clibanarius virescens (which has notably white-tipped legs) and Clibanarius antennatus (which tends to have faint stripes down the legs) - C. virescens are known to have a large number of color variations, so it's possible it's a color variant of it, but I can't say for sure.

Regardless, I would guess they likely are a Clibanarius species

you nailed it on the second one! it looks like my poor guys were super bleached when I got them in late November, and I thought they were losing some of their glow, but turns out they’re just getting healthy again and getting their proper color back …that’s a relief to know!

I can now see that my guys are getting white spots higher on their legs - before they were so light green the dots were not visible.

Here’s two bright pics from the month I got them (climbing the wire ), a pic from April, showing the top of their legs notably darker, and the tips a richer yellow, and now you can see how dark they are in august.. the last 3 pics are from the internet how they should be looking soon! ..THANK YOU SO MUCH for helping ID them FINALLY!! I didn’t want to give up!

i’m glad they’re getting better and will give them more pellets to help them on their way

I’ll see if I can get a pic with them near a measuring tape lol…

 

[TinyReefObsession]

ummmm sanity check please; someone please tell me this is wrong LOLOLOL this says they can grow up to 200mm - that’s 7.87INCHES!! lololol tell me i converted this wrong please … haha

 

[TinyReefObsession]

How big are they currently?

not actually sure how to measure a hermit crap lol but here’s the ever so slightly larger one..

9 mos after they came home in shells that my tiny dwarf blue leg hermit (RIP ) was wearing 2 mos ago before he passed …

if the website i found is correct, they’re from two small Japanese islands, and can get up to 7.87 INCHES (mind blown emoji here!!! eek lol).

EDIT - and apologies for my melty mushroom in the background haha it looks like they walked right over it lol

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

The largest specimen of C. antennatus which I've heard of being collected for research is 7.6mm total length (they measure the cepahlothorax - the head and area by the head - and the abdomen, which is connected to the cephalothorax).

They (or very similar cryptic species) have been found in Indonesia and the Philippines as well.

Anyway, is that measuring tape in inches or cm? If you're measuring with inches rather than centimeters there, then your hermits are way bigger than 7.6mm (which is just barely under 0.3 inches).