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Little Shop of Coral

African Hermit Crab (Clibanarius africanus)

African Hermit Crab (Clibanarius africanus)

$5.00 CAD
$5.00 CAD
Sale Sold out
Size

The African Hermit Crab is a hardy, active cleanup-crew crab that helps keep your tank tidy by scavenging leftover food and grazing on film algae. It is constantly on the move, climbing rockwork and working the sandbed, which makes it both useful and fun to watch. Like all hermits, it needs extra empty shells to upgrade into as it grows.

Why we love it

  • Great scavenger that helps clean up uneaten food

  • Active algae grazer that stays busy all day

  • Hardy and easy to keep in most reef systems

  • Adds movement and personality to the cleanup crew

Care and Compatibility

Care Level: Easy
Temperament: Peaceful to Semi-aggressive (typical hermit behaviour)
Reef Safe: Yes, with caution
Diet: Omnivore (scavenger and algae grazer)
Adult Size: Small to medium (varies by specimen)
Minimum Tank Size: 10 gallons recommended

Ideal Parameters

  • Temperature: 24 to 26 C (75 to 79 F)

  • Salinity: 1.024 to 1.026

  • Stable alkalinity and calcium help if you keep lots of inverts and corals

Feeding

African Hermit Crabs are not picky, but they should be fed so they do not start hunting tank mates.

  • Leftover fish food and frozen food scraps

  • Sinking pellets for inverts

  • Dried seaweed (nori) or algae wafers

  • Occasional meaty bits like mysis or chopped seafood

Tank and Setup Notes

  • Provide a mix of rockwork and open areas for climbing and grazing

  • Add several empty shells in different sizes so it can upgrade safely

  • Maintain stable salinity, since inverts are sensitive to swings

  • Iodine is usually handled by regular water changes in most reef systems

Compatibility Tips

  • Generally safe with corals, but it may knock over loose frags while climbing

  • Can bother snails if it wants a shell or if it is underfed

  • Best kept with a healthy mix of snails and other cleanup crew members

  • Avoid housing with aggressive fish that eat crustaceans

Acclimation and Health

Drip acclimation is recommended for best results. Hermits are hardy once settled, but sudden salinity changes can stress them. Provide extra shells right away and keep an eye on bullying if you already have other hermits in the tank.

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LIGHT

LOW: Place coral at the bottom of the tank. Depending on the type, coral may need to be placed off sand and therefore mounted on a ceramic disc of piece of rock.

MEDIUM: Place coral at mid-range of the tank. Best placed/glued on top of a rock scape at mid-range height. 

HIGH: Place coral from mid range to just below water level. SPS coral are shallow growing so they require and are able to tolerate intense light.

FLOW

LOW: Most soft coral do well with a small, gentle pulse. There are certain corals that can even be placed in areas of indirect flow, meaning places aside a rock structure or set into a entrance to a cave style space.

MEDIUM: Many LPS types of coral prefer medium pulse current. Most Euphyllia or corals that have more tissue structure connected to their skeleton, don’t like to be in a high flow area like the direct flow of the wave pump.

HIGH: Similar to high light, SPS enjoy being in some heavy current. Most LPS and SPS that branch encrust or plate prefer high flow that simulates the top water waves.

SKILL

ENTRY: While some may say beginner level, "Entry" is a good term to be used when starting out in the world of corals and marine life. Prior to adding livestock, you want to ensure that your reef has the proper parameters including zero levels of ammonia and nitrite. Seeing traces of nitrate in your waters is a good sign - just keep them at a lower level of 2ppm to 10ppm. Maintaining correct temperature and salinity are a huge factor to stable parameters. Starting to monitor your PH, alkalinity, calcium and magnesium is a great habit to get into to keep a successful reef.

While some soft coral don’t require too much light, having a proper reef light that puts out the proper pars is very important. You'll also want to have a good amount of flow and protected rock areas, as placing corals in their happy spot is ideal for success.

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