Missing hermits

[Paul B]

Hello there Leslie, I was there when you spoke at the LIRA a few weeks ago and I was the guy who spoke to you afterwards. We share common interests. Anyway,
I can't find my hermit crabs. I saw them a couple of weeks ago and I re aquascaped a couple of days ago but am not sure if I burried them or if they died of old age. I really don't know how long hermit crabs live but I got this pair as babies almost 13 years ago.

 

[LeslieH]

Hey Paul - We sure do

I've been looking through my books & checking references on the web for an answer. At nearly 13 years you've got the record for longest-living captive Calcinus. In general, life spans aren't known. There are a lot of guesses but not much hard evidence as to how long different species live naturally in the wild let alone in a tank. There's more information on the land hermits like Coenobita that are sold as pets. They can get up to 30 years or so under the right conditions.

I hope they do re-appear. Good luck --

 

[Paul B]

Thanks, I will keep looking if for nothing else, to try to determine their lifespan in captivity.

 

[LeslieH]

I suspect that all your little friends have a longer life span than anyone else's because of your set-up. Mature tank, stable parameters, a wide variety of live food, and probably most important, you've been throwing in all sorts of stuff fresh from the ocean. It's got to have all kinds of micro life providing nutrients other tanks just don't have.

 

[Paul B]

Leslie I have been saying that for years, most of these tanks are much too sterile. Many people equate life with dirt. Our northern waters are not dirty, but they are full of life. The water in the tropics is cleared because it is basically dead.
All of the worlds fisheries are in northern waters for that reason.
That stuff is growing in my tank and it feeds everything. I have the entire food chain in there.
If you are missing a part of that, it stops producing food.
I once had a cusk eel in there for 18 years until I killed it by accident. It was about 5" long and I never fed that fish. It never came out of hiding and I would only see it at night with a flashlight. It had to be finding food on it's own.

Here the male is pushing the female into the bubble coral. She always liked to play hard to get.