Jump to content

Hermit Eating Seahorse Alive?!


Juiceman

Recommended Posts

I started with three horses, bought from Aquadome, via ORA. 1 Kuda and 2 Erectus. All were very active and eating well everyday. I came home to find the Kuda (which was the biggest one and the most active, and a pig!) on the substrate under a rock being eaten by the crab. I assumed something happened, and he was doing his job as a CUC.

A few days later, I came home to find the smaller erectus in the same situation, also assuming that it just died, and the crab was doing his job cleaning.

The last erectus I had was in there for about a month and a half.

I saw him in the morning discolored, pinned inbetween a rock, wagging his tail very fast, I got closer and realized he was being held down by the hermit crab, while the hermit was eating him alive! I got in immediately and pulled him out of the corner, and had to pull the hermit off of him. It had him right below his torso, and ate all the skin off from inbetween his head and tail. He was clearly still alive and was trying to get away from the hermit. He lasted about 30 mins, and then died of his wounds.

I immediatly moved the crab to my angel tank, he's been sitting upsidedown in there, I hope they eat him!!!

Anyone ever heard of this happening?!

I wasn't sure what happened to my other horses, but i'm pretty sure that was what was happening all along.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have never had sea horses, but I had a hermit crab that would eat anything that was within his reach or he could catch including all my snails, other crab and I think a fish (but I can't prove it). He had to go. It was a really big hermit though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

He was a standard .50 cent hermit, nothing big at all. He had stolen a snail shell, so you knew he had a taste for killing other inverts, but I never thought they would do this!

I have never had sea horses, but I had a hermit crab that would eat anything that was within his reach or he could catch including all my snails, other crab and I think a fish (but I can't prove it). He had to go. It was a really big hermit though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They will do this. i took ALL the crabs out of my hermit tank 1. because my horses will eat them and 2. they WILL attack the tails of the horses, the horses cant get them off. i got sick of seeing this so i took them all out. snails only for me (and shrimp)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i use this:

tiger conches for sifting

nassarius for leftover mysis

tons of dwarf ceriths for any cyano or anything.

turbo snails for glass (btw turbos are almost certaintly a coldwater species, which is why they die so quick in our reef tanks, ive had mine for months in the seahorse tanks and havent lost any)

and an assortment of other random snails for an assortment of things! (nerites etc)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

so a non hermit reefcleaners order essentially. Makes sense.

i use this:

tiger conches for sifting

nassarius for leftover mysis

tons of dwarf ceriths for any cyano or anything.

turbo snails for glass (btw turbos are almost certaintly a coldwater species, which is why they die so quick in our reef tanks, ive had mine for months in the seahorse tanks and havent lost any)

and an assortment of other random snails for an assortment of things! (nerites etc)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm sorry for your loss. Hermits are crabs and are either non-reef safe or reef safe with conditions. Let's face it they are opportunistic feeders, (as are most if not all the "reef safe" crabs). In most cases they will be fine but there will always be exceptions. Ponies, being less than nimble are susceptible to things that most reef fish would simply ignore.

Something to consider.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yikes, that's really awful, poor seahorses :( Sorry that happened! I've had regular cheapo CUC hermits for the 4 years I've kept erectus with no problems. I never would've thought this would happen. How would you go about getting them out? I guess I could probably just grab them...

Glad you figured out what the problem was.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My belief is that most ‘reef safe’ breeds of hermits provided with adequate food will keep to a fairly strict detrivore diet. To be fair I haven’t ‘tempted ‘ any of mine with such slow moving targets as ponys. On the other hand I have seen occasions where hermits have attacked and killed snails. I used to write this off as ‘shell jacking’ but after a while I started to realize that often hermits would attack snails in obviously smaller shells. That ruled out my ‘shell jacked’ theory, or at least minimized its relevance and after a while I noticed that this happened less often in my tanks with more fish. Eventually I made the connection between more fish and more feeding. I’m happy feeding a coral 2-5 times a week but fish demand daily (if not more) feeding. End result of observation was that the hermits in my more regularly fed tanks ‘tended’ to be more well behaved.

Anyway, my 2 cents.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

HorseRUs, what do you mean turbos are almost certainly coldwater? First of all, dozens of species get labeled as "turbos", so not sure if you mean mexican turbo, margarita, astrea, zebra turbo, trochus, etc.? Secondly, I can assure you none of these species are coldwater. As far as i can tell sometimes snails just croak. They can be way more sensitive to water chemistry changes and lack of specific algae species than you would think.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've got 2 mexican turbos that are doing well, both from aquadome. Took a long drip acclimation, 2+ hours. I lost at least 2 by putting them in too quickly.

A single turbo is probably worth 10 - 20 nerites and probably 200 - 500 ceriths. Can't really compare them to nassarius but turbo's are by far the best snail as far as algae eating goes. They obviously do have drawbacks though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

AquaDome, i did not mean literally cold water, but meant that between my reef setup (constant 78) and my seahorse tank (70-72ish) i have lost one turbo (crabs!) in the cooler of the two, and more than a handful in the reef. however, obviously i have more crabs, could have acclimated less, and obviously it could be water swings.

didn't mean to come off as stating a fact, though after i read it it totally sounds like i was. i was talking about mexican turbo's though, as to your reference for which.

thanks for correcting me sirs!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

exactly! that is what i believe i meant! :D

but, with the mexican turbos especially, i have noticed less "daytime" activity, with the majority being at night. also my cleaner shrimp seem to LOVE the cooler water, same with the peppermints. they spawn regularly. (3 cleaner 2 pep's). i have a halloween urchin in there that goes dorment the majority of the day but at night rips up my c. prolifera like its his job!

i think the cooler water may slow their metabolism, and increase their life span simply because in the normal reef setting they can eat all the time. maybe. idk. but everything i have put into the 69-72 water has thrived.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 11 months later...

I'm guessing the reduced metabolic rates of arthropods in lower water temps possibly makes them better suited for life in an artificial environment? I recently started an undergraduate research focused on aquatic insects and from that I know that temp. is a key piece of information used to determine life-span, growth rate, and so on of arthropods.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...