Recently we purchased a Hermit Crab, Sebas Jr. to add to our saltwater tank. Hermit crabs are known to be excellent cleaners of the bottom of tanks. Well, I have to share that Sebas is doing a superb job so far. Here is a previous post about Sebas.
Unfortunately we lost a fish in the saltwater tank the other day – a Foxface which we had just purchased. It was so sad to see what happened to him. My husband found him this morning 3/24/22 stuck to the filter. Evidently he wasn’t strong enough to get away from the pull of the filter pressure and it sucked him in. John shut off the filter and he got away but it was too late. He succumbed to the stress and floated to the bottom of the tank.
Tonight we noticed that Sebas had discovered the Foxface and was feasting on his dead body. Yuck! I told you he is a good cleaner. This is what he does. He clears out all the dead debris including other fish. John was planning on moving some rocks around to get at Foxface but Sebas beat him to it.
Here are photos of Sebas in action. He works at night to clean the tank and sleeps during the day. That is why the tank is so dark. I didn’t want to disturn him by putting on the tank light. I just used the light from my photo on my iPhone. Foxface is known to be poisonous but hopefully the crab will not get sick by eating it. Foxface has spines on the top of its body that spring up to protect himself from other fish if they get too close. These spines will sting and shock a fish and kill it. We have seen this in action. It isn’t a pretty sight when a fish gets stung and flies up and then sinks to the bottom of the tank. It is shocking to see!
Occasionally, Sebas does stay awake during the day long enough to grab a clam that John drops into the tank for a treat. He has to fight the other fish for it though. They all love clams especially the Picasso Trigger fish. In this photo is Picasso Trigger poking at the clam shell as Sebas pulls it into his shell to try and eat it.
The above photos you will see Sebas feasting on the clam undisturbed and the next two photos he is fighting with Trigger to claim his prize. Trigger will not give up though! He has teeth and will keep poking at the clam shell until he gets his share. He can crack it open with constant pressure with his teeth.
It is amazing watching them in action. It is a constant struggle to fight for their food. We had Trigger before Sebas and he always got the clams without a fight from any other fish. But now with the crab Trigger has to fight to get some.
I have written a couple of books about my water world pets – Clarence Henry the Hermit Crab and a freshwater crayfish – Jerry the Crabby Crayfish. Check them out to delight your children with these real life pets and stories I created around them. Have fun learning about crayfish and hermit crabs. They are educational and entertaining for both you and your children.
Clarence Henry is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Happy reading!
Jerry the Crabby Crayfish is also available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Have fun learning more about these facinating crustaceans.
I hope you enjoyed my photos about the adventures of Sebas and the Clam. Please come back again for more sea adventures. Thank you for stopping by!
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Pretty interesting Hermit Crab ..Never saw one like that . Thanks for sharing Anita
This is smaller than two others we had. They are amazing creatures! Thank you for stopping by, Anita!