Halloween Hermit Crabs

[Samw]

These are being offered at a couple of local stores. They have very brightly colored legs. But they are $9-$10 each. Anyone have them? Are they as agressive as the blue-legged crabs when it comes to killing snails or are they less agressive like the scarlet hermits?

[Van down by the river]

Hello SamW,
If you are thinking of them for your reef I'd advise against it.
They will most likely eat your small inverts.

Striped Hermit, Halloween Hermit

Ciliopagurus strigatus
previously named: Trizopagurus strigatus
They say up to 6cm(Carapace) 8cm Total length. John Hoover disagrees - "The maximum carapace length is probably about 1in." but I've never seen one bigger than 2-3cm(Carapace). Although I have never kept one myself.I guess they may have all been juveniles,who knows .

Red Sea ,Indo Pacific
20ft or deeper

Baensch- "T.strigatus is a medium -sized hermit which should only be associated with robust invertabrates and fishes."

They have specialized to utilize Cone shells which are unusable by most other hermits. If you do purchase one, I suggest you buy a few slightly larger cone shell "homes" for them as they grow. I find them quite comical as they "struggle" to get around the aquarium. I don't think you will feel the same way as he happily munches your snails and smaller hermits.
Anywys good luck
Van

[Dresden]

think these could live with a niger trigger and a lunare wrasse?

[Samw]

Hi Van. Thanks for the info. I guess there are 2 different kinds that are called Halloween hermits.

I looked up Ciliopagurus strigatus on the web and got this:

http://www.octopusphoto.com/Underwater%20Gallery/0901%20Image02%20500.jpg

However, the halloween crab that I'm interested to find out about is this:

http://www.jlaquatics.com/store/images/custodian/hc-halloween.jpg

They are very colorful in person. The blue on them are bluer than the blue legged hermit crab. With the bright orange/red bands on the legs, it makes for a very good looking crab.

[Dorkel Marine 1]

8) I'd be interested to know if you find some Sam.

[Samw]

Dorkel, there are some around locally. They are $9-$10 each. You got PM.

[Van down by the river]

Sorry about the mis-ID
The picture helps Thank you
What you are talking about is :
Calcinus elegans
1.8cm Carapace
Indo Pacific
intertidal to 10m
I haven't personally kept this one so I can only give a general idea.
It seems to be omitted from Sprung's lists, but there are so many options I guess he can't list them all. There is a Hawaiian variety that has orange instead of blue, but I like the blue better.
The Calcinus family usually graze on short turf algae, possibly some macro as well. They are realatively short lived so I suggest to reduce possibly destructive "fights" over shells, add some extra shells of similiar size. As to aggresion don't forget ALL hermits are opportunists! besides who could turn down a helpless, juicy, overturned escargo?
As nice as they are you could get more blue legs for money.(and some snail replacements)
Good luck and let us know how they behave....

[Samw]

Thanks again for the latin name. Not much info on them on the web yet. Guess they aren't abundant or popular in the reef tank yet. I'm guessing they are just bigger and more colorful closely-related cousin of the bluelegged ones. If I buy them, it won't be strictly for custodian purposes since you can get 5 or 6 regular hermits for the price of 1 halloween hermit.

Found this pic. Slightly different coloration then the ones I saw but still very nice.

http://www.livingreefimages.com/LRI674.JPG

Also found a small description from Premium Aquatics (no picture though):

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Store_Code=PA&Screen=PROD&Category_Code=Crabs&Product_Code=L-ELECTRICH

"Calcinus elegans: The most intense colored reef hermit around. This hermit has jet black bands contrasted against electric blue. These neon bands run horizontally from heat to claw. The large coralline shell is usually larger then a quarter. This reef safe hermit comes from Tuvualuan Island. It's rarity, color and demand make it one of the most expensive sought after hermits around. "

I think I'll give a few a try.

[Van down by the river]

Dresden, yes they will go well with your niger trigger and Lunar wrasse.
They definitely will go well, as a $9-$10 dollar dinner!!
A little expensive forone meal, who knows maybe they have been good lately and deserve an expensive dinner. I wouldn't expect anything afterwards though, I heard Lunars just play hard to get and all nigers ever want to do is eat on a date.

The crabs don't appear to be rare, I just think they aren't commonly collected. Remember when Bangaii's first came on the market? They were "rare" now they are a third of the price and easy to get.
Who knows.

[Van down by the river]

I forgot to mention the top pic looks like the Hawaiin color form. The second pic is the Indo form.