I have a tank that's used for reefs (and inverts) only, to QT them before going into the DT. The tank was set up about 3 months ago with dry rock, so no hitchhikers there. The corals were all dipped before going into the tank, some dipped one or two more times since then.
A few weeks ago I added a trochus snail and three red leg hermit crabs.
This morning, I noticed one of the crabs, without it's shell, blowing around on the glass bottom. My intention was to find it's shell, bring it over to it and hopefully he'd climb back in. However, all three shells still had crabs in them. Last I checked, he had scooted back under a rock and I'm guessing/hoping he'll be fine until I get to to an LFS or petco and get some shells later today. The snail is in no danger as it spends 99% of it's time cruising back and forth at the waterline.
I guess my question is, is it possible that one of those shells had two crabs in? From what I'm reading, they really don't reproduce in tanks, so I'm guessing it wasn't that. The only other thing I can think of is that it's a hitchhiker from a coral and possibly not a crab at all...though it does look like what I'd expect it to look like outside of it's shell.
A few weeks ago I added a trochus snail and three red leg hermit crabs.
This morning, I noticed one of the crabs, without it's shell, blowing around on the glass bottom. My intention was to find it's shell, bring it over to it and hopefully he'd climb back in. However, all three shells still had crabs in them. Last I checked, he had scooted back under a rock and I'm guessing/hoping he'll be fine until I get to to an LFS or petco and get some shells later today. The snail is in no danger as it spends 99% of it's time cruising back and forth at the waterline.
I guess my question is, is it possible that one of those shells had two crabs in? From what I'm reading, they really don't reproduce in tanks, so I'm guessing it wasn't that. The only other thing I can think of is that it's a hitchhiker from a coral and possibly not a crab at all...though it does look like what I'd expect it to look like outside of it's shell.