What Hermit Crab is this?

[WurzelWoo]

Hi there,

Long time stalker, first time poster here. Got a couple of turbo snails for my 55g reef to help with a new but currently small algae outbreak and it turns out one of the snails from my LFS was in fact a sneaky crab. I can't ID it properly but can anyone help and confirm if he's a keeper or I take him back? I only noticed when I saw a random air bubble and seen he'd jumped from his turbo shell to one slight bigger that I had lying in the tank.

 

[Remos reefs]

That's a black legged hermit they are closely related to blue legged hermits they are reef safe but they can be very aggressive depending on tank size and the crab. They need a minimum of 25 gallons.

 

[Remos reefs]

its up to you if you want to keep him i would say if you have no bottom dwelling slow fish and its over 30 gallons i say go for it

 

[WurzelWoo]

Thank you so much for the quick reply, I had plans for maybe a scooter blenny in a few months, could that be classed as a slow swimmer?

My kid has named the crab, so now we have to keep it....

All hail "Big Chungus"........sigh.....

 

[Remos reefs]

Thank you so much for the quick reply, I had plans for maybe a scooter blenny in a few months, could that be classed as a slow swimmer?

My kid has named the crab, so now we have to keep it....

All hail "Big Chungus"........sigh.....

lol a scooter blenny should be fine and if the hermit shows aggression the blenny will dart off how big is the tank in gallons?

 

[TriggerFinger]

It won’t bother your scooter blenny. King Chungus can stay!

 

[Remos reefs]

It won’t bother your scooter blenny. King Chungus can stay!

yes you are very correct but black legged hermits can be aggressive so he should keep that in mind

 

[WurzelWoo]

Glad to know I can keep with my livestock plan!

We've been watching Mr Chungus all evening, seems content picking the algae and residual flakes from the PM feeding out of rock. Lights are off now so god knows what carnage we'll wake up to.....

lol a scooter blenny should be fine and if the hermit shows aggression the blenny will dart off how big is the tank in gallons?

55g so as long as I have no more surprise Chungus's (Chungi?) I should be ok