Presented below is a brief overview of the various ornamental shrimps belonging to the genus Periclimenes that hail from the Indo-Pacific.  Members of this genus are commonly referred to as “anemone shrimp”, although anemones are but one of a wide variety of other reef organisms that play host to these shrimp.  Some of these host animals are too difficult for the average hobbyists to maintain in aquaria (e.g. Spanish dancer nudibranch) while others are simple enough to maintain in a ‘pico’-sized reef aquarium.

Click “read more” to, well, read more about the individual species…

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Our good friend and electronic musician PG-13, has composed a new song entitled “Hermit Crabs Play Sitars,” inspired in part by an aquarium we recently helped him set up in his home. Enjoy!

To download mp3 file, right click “download” and left click “save link as”

Check out more of PG-13 here…

Pictured here is our pal Boxer Crab. He has lived in the BioCube 8 for almost a full year now. In that time he (she?) has molted about 6 times that we’ve noticed. We keep a collection of these molts on the kitchen window sill so we can track his growth (maybe 50% larger, but now probably full grown).

The boxer crab (Lybia tesselata) is aptly named because it carries around two tiny anemones (Bunodeopsis sp.) on it’s front claws. It wields these anemones in a boxer’s pose when threatened. It will also use the anemones to drag across the substrate, using the anemones as little “food magnets”. Any food item touched will adhere to the anemones’ stinging nematocysts. This association between boxer crab and the anemones is a classic case of symbiotic mutualism, where both animals benefit from their association.

Click here to read more about both the natural history and aquarium care of boxer crabs…

A blue leg hermit crab (Clibinarius tricolor) on a well-scavenged piece of aquacultured live rock in our BioCube 8.

Blue leg hermits are Floridian natives that live in shallow water and tide pools, often in great numbers.  They seem to congregate gregariously, especially at low tide, when many hundreds may pile up in the shade of loose rocks under the hot sun. They are perfectly suited as scavengers in reef aquariums large and small.  They are great at eating both nuisance algae and leftover food scraps, all while remaining small in size and peaceful in disposition.  However, be sure to provide them with empty, larger shells so that they are able to “upgrade” their hermit houses as they grow.  Otherwise, they may be forced to attack and kill snails in order to apprehend their shells.

Female Harlequin Shrimp w/ captured sea star MRE (Meal Ready to Eat).

Beginning today, we’ll start featuring snapshots of life from one of our many nano aquariums that we have developing here at the Coral Morphologic headquarters. Pictured here is a female harlequin shrimp (Hymenocera elegans) that lives in our BioCube 8 gallon aquarium.