White Clawed Hermit Crab…Threat To My Tiger Conch?

[WBryceC]

We recently added a white clawed hermit crab, now named Sheldon, to our reef tank to help battle a hair algae problem. It’s a similar size to Dug, our tiger conch.

However… not that I see them side by side, I’m concerned. Sheldon’s larger than Dug, but not by much. There’s not a lot out there about white clawed hermits in reef tanks, seemingly an unusual addition.

I included their names to highlight that we are, perhaps foolishly, attached to every member of the reef and are resisting the attitude of predation risk. See the attached picture to see the side-by-side.

Whats the risk look like here? Will Sheldon get larger & do we need to add shell options for him? (If so, where do we buy those?)

 

[vaguelyreeflike]

This species needs round openings in shells, and they seem to prefer murex shells specifically when given the option. It shouldn’t go after the conch, however the saying is “never trust a crab” haha. Conchs are surprisingly good at self defense though.

I would make sure you have at least 3 shells per crab in the tank, and multiple different sizes to allow good selection. Try to offer murex and turbo shells of different varieties to keep their interest away from other snails/conchs in the tank

 

[vaguelyreeflike]

You can find shell packs online, or local fish stores that sell saltwater snails/hermits should have a stock of shells. Whenever a snail dies in the tank, keep the shell in the tank for the hermits. I like to keep a big pile of shells in the back corner of the tank where they’re not super visible, but some like the scattered appearance