I noticed that one of my blue knuckle hermits is carrying eggs. Just wondering if anyone has actually breed these? Cant find any decent information online about them but I assume that the larvae tend to get eaten in a regular tank before they develop?
A while back I had some Clibanarius vittatus that spawned. I didn't see any big dieoff in the larvae (they were pretty big, since it's a big hermit species), then I even had some little hermits since I got some itty bitty shells and saw some run off...and they they were quickly gobbled up by a population explosion of amazingly large isopods that I didn't even know were in the tank previously. The larvae have a lot to survive in order to become juvinile hermits:
- Larvae have to not get eaten or killed in powerheads (requires an air-driven tank for good survival rate).
- Larvae have to not starve (large larvae will need zooplankton, smaller ones might need phyto - not sure).
- Larvae have to transform (a number will die in this process)
- The new small hermits have to quickly find small enough shells.
- Small hermits have to find food to not starve.
- Surviving small hermits have to not get eaten like mine did.
The odds are pretty darn slim of of a baby hermit making it all the way through that in the average tank. I've also tried with Clibanarius erythropus multiple times and failed at the larval stage, am still trying with C. vittatus, and have got Pagurus longicarpus at the courtship stage. No success yet. Can't say I've heard of any other success stories either where it's been clear that new hermits were captive bred and not stowaways.
