Hermit Holiday Food

[Howler]

I have a 30 gallon (120 litre) aquarium and delayed stocking it with fish as I'm going on 2 weeks' holiday (the tank has various corals). I have a blue legged hermit crab (his shell's about half the size of a computer mouse) and I'm worried about his wellbeing while I'm away. There used to be some long algae but the crab (assisted by 2 snails) sorted this out so I don't sense that there's enough to keep the hermit going. I currently feed him fish food every second day or so.

Any feeding tips that will sort him out for 2 weeks? Seems excessive to get a house sitter for a crab.

 

[crazyforcordoras]

If you have live rock in the tank he should be fine. You could also get a seaweed grazing block for him.

 

[Howler]

Thanks for the comment. I called round to fish shops and they didn't have grazing blocks. They recommend tying nori (seaweed wrapping used in sushi) to a rock and placing it in the lowest flow area in the tank.

Sounds like Mr. Crab will be okay in my absence.

 

[Donya]

They recommend tying nori (seaweed wrapping used in sushi) to a rock and placing it in the lowest flow area in the tank.

Give it a test run before you actually need to rely on it. Depending on what snails you have, they may make a B-line for it and eat it immediately.

If you don't have an auto feeder, it would really be best to see if you could have someone come round at the midpoint during the trip and toss some food in (and just check up on the tank in general, make sure no pumps have stopped, etc.).