Calcinus elegans
| Common Names: | Electric Leg Hermit Crab Electric Blue Hermit Crab Blue Knuckle Hermit Crab Halloween Hermit Crab |
| Salinity: | Marine |
| Distribution: | Found in intertidal areas throughout the Indo-Pacific. They are most commonly imported from the Marshall and the Hawaiian Islands. |
| Care: | These crabs are quite hardy. As long as they are not subjected to copper or fluctuating water conditions, electric leg hermits are quite easy to care for. One important consideration is that as with all hermits, this species needs extra shells available. These should be slightly to moderately larger than the shells being occupied at any given time. They will enable the hermits to move into larger homes as they grow. If suitable shells are not present, these hermits will often kill snails or other hermits and steal the newly vacated homes. Electric leg hermits need somewhat large shells, to a maximum size of over two inches in diameter. |
| Feeding: | Though they are scavengers by nature, electric leg hermits prefer to pick algae from rocky areas. Many types of green algae will be consumed, along with easily-eaten types of brown algae. In the aquarium, these hermits will graze on algae and also feed on most types of fish foods. Seaweed sheets make a good supplement, especially because these hermits are large enough to consume appreciable amounts of food, unlike their smaller relatives. |
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| Potential Size: | Male: 5cm (2") Female: 5cm (2") |
| Comments: | This species is highly desirable because of its unique and attractive looks, as well as its excellent suitability for reef aquariums. High demand combined with few collection areas means that this crab costs significantly more than the other frequently-kept hermits. A color variant of this species can be found in the Hawaiian Islands. It sports black and orange legs instead of the normal black and blue legs. This variation is commonly known as the "Halloween hermit". |
| Image Credit: | sirbooks |
| Submitted By: | sirbooks |
| Contributors: | sirbooks |
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