hermit crab needs ride to coast

[v2k]

I have a hermit crab (fist sized) which needs to be dropped off in the water at the coast...I am unable to drive there in the near future and wondered if anyone would mind releasing this creature (originally collected from Corpus) back to its home.

Maybe it will delight in its childhood memories of eating hotdogs and old picnic food rather than my beautiful yellow starfish.

PleasebLMK

[caferacermike]

It is an absolutely bad idea to release any captives back to the wild if not an expert. Your hermit may have come in contact with various items in your captive care that may not be in the wilds of Corpus. It is better to see that it is a native hermit from the area but once a captive, it should remain a captive. Might wish to check if another member wants it first. I know that Aquadome in Austin routienly stocks that size hermit and may give you some store credit for it. You certianly wouldn't want to release if it was now carrying different virus or bacteria that could cause damage to the wild populations.

[GaryP]

Victoria,

We have a group going down there next weekend. I'm sure someone can take it down. If you want to drop it off here, I can put it in my fuge until we go down. Its good to see you back on MAAST.

[brewercm]

Or give it a free swirly ride to the sea. :lol

JK, folks. Don't start stoning a guy for kidding about a crab.

[GaryP]

Remember Tim's "baby" nurse shark? The one he kept in his back yard lagoon? Guess where it ended up?

[Darth-Tater]

Clff you got crabs :o JK

D

[v2k]

I don't know, I think this hermit crab would one: make a lot of noise going on the swirly ride, and two, clog the pipes.

What if it showed up in somebody elses bathroom??? OH NO Mr. BIll!!! JK

[Darth-Tater]

Oh gosh yes. I remember what prompted me giving the crab to Victoria. It was one of two that were terrorizing my tank. We put one in her sump and the other acted like a BA in Carl's tank. He did not last very long :lol It was like bringing a knife to a gun fight. :w00t He lost.

DT

So this isn't the crab with the funny claw. Oh well my mistake

[v2k]

Actually, this particular hermit crab, then thimble sized, we acquired at the coast when my husband gave my son permission to bring it home, and I said if that was so, then we were responsible for keeping it alive.

Well, one thing led to a nother and now we have a marine aquarium and here I am typing...So sorry Joshua, but we love this little fellow and he will be shark bait only by mistake... although your solution is good too. Herme is just huge and has a big appetite that's all, until recently he was fine in a 30 gallon fuge with two stars. Now he is in a time out tank.

Hopefully he is getting a ride later today. We will miss his clanking about in the tank at night, like a flamenco dancer.

[SGTDirk]

Hopefully on the end of one of my smaller shark rods this summer.


I have a question for you. Why would everyone complain about some one flushing a hermit down the toilet, but no one cares about people fishing for sharks?? I'm getting sick of people talking about it. Sharks are invaluable to your glorious reefs. You complain about people doing things that destroy reefs, yet don't stop to think about the influance shark fishing has on reefs. Oh and don't give me that line about the fishing laws in Texas. It's not my fault people don't think of sharks as they think of cute dophins. If people talked about fishing for dolphins you would be in an uproar.


***edited for profanity***

[cpreefguy]

Sharks are invaluable to your glorious reefs.
Port A has a glorious reef?

[GaryP]

Nurse sharks live on sand flats, not reefs, and are not really considered a sport fish like black tips, makos, bulls, tigers, etc.

[SGTDirk]

GaryP the almighty, actually I've seen Nurse Sharks while diving the reefs of the Bahamas. And thank you on another point as well. Why fish a nurse shark then? Other than to see what damage you can cause. You guys and your values when it comes to reefs suck. I know many of you guys use cultured frags, but most of you have wild harvested corals in your tanks. Thats the way to save the reefs isn't it. And what you fail to realise is that almost everything that happens in the oceans affect the reefs. And every day thousands of acres of the coral reefs die off. 60% of the reefs are in danger from humans.

GaryP, you are a guy that likes statistics and facts right? Here are some facts for your highness, and the the rest. Large sharks don't reach sexual maturity until they are around 20 years old. They have a gestation period of 1-2 years. And only give birth to an average of 1.5 sharks at a time. You do the frigging math and tell me how long does it take to replace a shark caught and killed from fishing? A "large shark" is a shark that reaches over 10 feet in length. Oh wait that includes the nurse shark.

Sharks are the keepers of the reefs. They ensure that diseases don't spread and help keep fish and invert numbers in check. They help to keep the reefs clean. Take sharks away from the reefs ensures that reefs will fail around the world.

[Euclid]

Oh, sounds like my tank really needs some sharks to make sure that diseases dont spread... I'll take two.

[cpreefguy]

SGTDirk, everybody has their opinions, you dont need to shove yours down everybodys throat. We all know you like sharks. Please keep it civil.

[SGTDirk]

Oh, I see how it is here. I stated nothing but facts. No body ever says anything to other members when they state facts. It's okay to love and enjoy reefs here, but only certain parts of the reef. And as a hobbiest we beleive in conservation, but only the "cute" parts deserve our protection.


***edited for profanity***

[Instar]

The most difficult thing to do is tell what the tone is in a written post. Before slamming someone who has enthusiasm, it would pay to actually meet that person and get to know them. It's then very easy to tell their enthusiasm is simply that and not read in negative information when its all good.

Hey Joshua, you left at least one out: The Banded sharks that come from egg cases. No female actually "births" those, they hatch. :lol

A little testosterone never hurt anyone. It is kinda funny though, that one of the few guys who has a degree in this science reef related stuff and has worked in it professionally is getting a butt kicking for enthusiastic helpful or at least trying to be helpful posts. Let the good times roll.

If posts were positive, and constructive, and contained an educated grammar and real facts, my bet is they would not get locked or deleted. Makes sense to lock things to me as the "public" can get a little racy when their face doesn't have to stand up and own it. Joshua, feel free to delete me any time it needs done to make this truly educational and fun. Its supposed to be a hobby board here, not a boxing ring. Thanks!

[SGTDirk]

Joshua, first off you should go do some research before you respond. I will post some articles as soon as I can get them digitized then you can shut up. Oh and I never said that nurse sharks were sports fish.
My post was about conservation of the oceans. And then it was suddenly changed to you guys and your click. And it has been about that ever since.


***edited for profanity***

[caferacermike]

SGT I'm new around here. I liked your enthusiasm at first, it's kinda become redundant now. I've been keeping fish all my life and have a pleco collection to die for. I've been in salt for just about a year now. When I bought my setup over a year and a half ago, it remained empty for 3 months while I stockpiled all the best equipment I could buy. Feeling that the best equipment leads to the best success and less maintenance, and or easier maintenance. The less maintenance or the easier the maintenance the more likely I am to do it. So while I sat back for 6 months researching all of my equipment and trying to comprehend as much data as possible about SW setups I learned a few things. One point that came up often was that no hobbiest should actually own sharks as pets. Even a 300g (generally considered the largest hobbiest tank) is to small. Sure you can raise a banded shark but it will never be truely happy in it's confines. That's keeping a 3' or so shark in a tank less than 3' acrossed ( I feel the same about arrowanas). So unless someone has converted an old swimming pool into their tank I don't consider it good husbandry to attempt keeping them. While doing so much research the topic of releasing captives came up over and over again (including that cartoon ran in TFH and FAMA every single month from the US Wildlife service called www.habitattitude.net asking that we keepers not release our captives .) From what I had read most states have laws pertaining to the release of captives and it is illegal. I have been astonished at the lack of caring in this thread about that particular subject matter. This thread was started as a way to release a captive animal back into the sensitive envirnoments of the wild. I was shocked to see that a responsible keeper was attempting a release instead of trying to offer it to another member first. I am seriously dedicated to the plight of the blue eyed plecos and the zebra plecos and have begun a breeding program with the zebras. The fry come easilly enough to those that have raised F1 fry to an adult breeding size. Many members on a pleco only site petitioned Brazil to offer a certain number of fry from each batch to be released into the wild of brazil again to hopefully boost wild numbers. Daniel Merchado from the Brazil forestry division became a member and explained to us all that Brazil was not interested in our fry being released into the wilds as any parasites in or on the fish from our tanks could devestate the natural numbers of zebras and could then infect and wipe out all the other beautiful loricadaii fish. So in fact even a biologist was not interested in releasing the same fish into the same waters to try and get the numbers up again.

Ok SGT I have somehow gotten sidetracked in a long winded reply. My point here was to explain to you that even though I have a pretty good grip on why this hermit (and all the other fish and sharks that I now have read about being released by members of this forum) should not be released into the wild but be kept in captivity. However when it began to irritate me seeing other members offer to help with this in the upcoming weeks, I kept it to myself. I cannot for the life of me understand why this simple thread became a learning experience about sharks and their breeding habits. I knew in my heart that I had said the right thing but when I saw the others offer to help, I realized that I'd be beating a dead horse by bringing up the subject over and over again. I could smile each time I read a new post realizing that I had said what I felt was the right thing. That was enough for me. After that it is the members responsibilty to do whatever they feel is right. By becoming negative and going on and on about something that has absolutely nothing to do with this thread (well small sharks eat inverts, that's the closest we have to this thread) you lose your voice of authenticity. Sometimes it is better to give up upon those that have set their path and ways. Those minds may never change. It is much better to become affiliated with an organization that may actually help with the success of wild shark populations. Quit your high paying job, leave the A/C behind and donate your time and body to work with such marine research groups. I'm sure you could connect with a group that will sail you all around the world offering you a cot to sleep on, all the Ramen Noodle you can eat in exchange for you setting up the equipment and hauling it around for them. Then SGt you could come back to the forums and write loving threads about sharks and all the knowledge you can offer about them. You could be a guest speaker at MAAST functions. We could applaud you at MACNA. You could write articles for TFH, FAMA, and Coral. You could work for zoos and aquariums building proper displays and desigining feeding routines. Or you could continue floating around Jeaques Costeau style in the oceans trying to section off waters from fishing to help the breeding patterns of sharks.

But please do not clutter a simple hermit crab thread with spam. The point of the thread is now mute. We have no idea if the original author has obtained their goal, and I would not be surprised if they never typed another word in this thread about their hermit crab.

Reason for edit: Wasn't used to the edit feature of this particular forum. I missed a single period in the link to releasing animals. No content was changed.

[SGTDirk]

caferacermike, I agree with alot of what you said. I just get upset about the hipacritical people and their defensivenes. The conversation quickly turned ugly when people half heartedly try to defend actions which cause more damage to already threatened reefs and species. You see when people have a defensive wall up about them or are insecure about their actions they tend to take things in a negative manor. Even if they weren't intended to be meant that way.

Oh and the SGT thing in my name isn't just a name, its my rank. I'm in the Army and traveling the world doing as you asked isn't possible with a war going on and my pending deployment.

Instar, I also agree with what you said about not uderstanding the tone when some one posts. But when one person is constantly negative towards people hen they do post it tends to express their tone.

[mathias]

wow who put the stick up dirks ***....

[blueboy]

i see valuable points on both sides of this arguement. on one hand SGT has a point, it is illegal to release captive animals into the wild, and the bylaws of this organisation state that no post shall be made that promotes "illegal activities". But, with that said, i feel that SGT's attitude is unacceptable. you say that you agree that tone is difficult to understand in print, but not when you use the aggressive words, and curse in your posts. that makes the tone quite clear, and hostile. so i guess i'm saying i agree with your argument, but noone will bother to hear it if your throwing a little temper tantrum on the forums. if you really believe in your argument, then you must consider how to present it to have the biggest Positive impact

[caferacermike]

Blue boy it was me, Mike, that said it is illegal to dump critters into the wild and I never argued the point. Check back in the first page and you will see that Dirk got started on about how someone could mention to flush a hermit and how he has a vendetta against all shark fisherman and wild coral collections that had nothing to do with the thread or topic. Just wanted to clear up who was who and what was what.

[SGTDirk]

Joshua, I have the article in magazines hense the I have to get the digitized, I'm not googling anything. Sharks are the top of the food chain. They live for decades and don't suffer from diseases. hense the reasoning that they evolved the way they have. If they gave birth to up wards of 80 at a time, the oceans would be overwelmed and there would be very little sea life left as the sharks would have eaten them all. and then the population would die off as there would be no food.
And your sort of right about keeping them as pets. I have no problem if you can properly care for an animal of that size. It is when people go out and buy a nurse shark and keep it in a 125 gallon tank that I have a problem with it.
Oh and on the conservation methods, because you have $$$ or free time to help with any type of conservation and I'm just a soldier who makes squat and is busy all the time with work, if that makes you feel better than feel free. But at least I don't contribute to the problem and then try to make up for it with $$$.

[txyaloo]

I think you are mistaken on some of your facts. Sharks, are in fact at the top of the food chain, but they do have predators when young and as most fish, have large litters of pups to survive the predation. Some examples:

All numbers are per litter.

Tiger Sharks - typical litter size of 35 -55 pups up to 82.
Blue Sharks - 25-52 pups up to 135
White Sharks - 2-14 pups
Mako Sharks - up to 16
Tiger Sharks - average of 41 up to 80
Smooth Dogfish - 10-20
Hammerhead - 4-14 up to 80

Source: http://www.elasmo-research.org/education/shark_profiles/carcharhinidae.htm
Source: http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mrd/whiteshark.html
Source: https://www.sharks.us/Book/1-3-16-181.pdf
Source: http://www.sharkinfo.ch/SI4_99e/gcuvier.html
Source: http://www.gma.org/fogm/Mustelus_canis.htm
Source: http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/Fish/Gallery/Descript/Bonnethead/Bonnethead.html

I believe this covers most of the "sport" species.

You are correct - some sharks do only produce 2-4 pups per litter, but I'm not aware of any of those sharks actually being "game" sharks.

As for sharks not getting diseases, this is also untrue. Sharks are not immune do disease, but they do tend to be more resistance to disase than most other animals. The University of Florida has an interesting article on this.


http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Organizations/SSG/sharknews/sn2/shark2news5.htm

It may appear their are clicks on the site and that has been discussed in the past, but I don't think that's the case. Several months back a group split off and another local reefing website was formed. While that site can be entertaining, it does not have much discussion around the reefing related things MAAST does.

Many of the members on this site have been around a long time and they have become friends outside of the site. There may be jokes and comments make that make sense or are funny to older members of the site that may seem rude or condescending to the new members. This is part of being a member of an online community.


I think this discussion should be continued in the charter members forum.

I also think MAAST is the best local resource around for reefers in the Central Texas region.

[GaryP]

Could someone please do me a favor? Could you please show where I said anything that could remotely be seen as promoting the depletion of shark, or any other marine species, in the wild?

Yes, I am sure you did see nurse sharks around the reefs in the Bahamas. I have seen them near other reefs as well. My point was that they prefer sand flat areas that are common around reefs and in intertidal areas like coastal sand flats. Nurse sharks primarily eat small fish and crustaceans that they suck out of the sand. Its kind of hard to suck sanything out of a coral head.

Joshua does have a valid point. Millions of people in asia eating shark fin soup are a much greater threat to sharks then the 1 fish catch limit that we have in Texas. I would also ask how many sharks reach reproductive maturity in an aquarium? I would be willing to bet that number is very close to 0%. Even if they did, how many people are going to keep a breeding population in a tank? By removing these fish from the wild breeding pool, are you doing the species a favor?

Now, as far as me being a member of a "click." I think you may mean "clique," unless you are referring to somone that hangs out at a local billiard establishment. OK, I admit it, you got me there. I admit it, I am a member of a clique. Its the same clique that Chris, and Sherri, and NaCl_H2O and too many other folks to name here belong to. That's the clique that spends a large percentage of their valuable free time trying to keep this club and this website up and running. In addition, we try to help out people occaionally with a little information. OK, so there, you busted me. Spank me.

If you would like to join the clique, feel free. We have elections coming up in 5 months. I have nothing else to say and will not post again in this thread. Thank you for your time.

[brewercm]

I'm starting to think folks are a little upset about my crab taking a swirling ride to the coast comment. That was obviously meant as a joke, I think that should have been obvious by the wording.

I must say that I find it very hard for anyone who is keeping any specimen of shark or ray in a tank less than several thousand gallons with such a strong point of view about them.

Sorry if my comment was taken wrong but it was a joke and nothing less. Some of us just need to get a little thicker skin.

[Richard]

I would hate to think this hermit crab gets released and destroys the texas coast. Hopefully he'll get stuck in a tar ball, or trapped in a beer can before he can cause such destruction.

SgtDirk, can you post a full tank shot of your shark tank?

[Richard]

so perhaps my sense of humor is over-active.


I guess mine is too. Or maybe I'm the only one who thought my joke was funny. Oh well, at least I made myself laugh :roll .

CafeRacer - I wasn't belittling your point, just seemed that this thread needed some humor. Thought I would add that since humor hasn't been recieved well. And please post some pics of your pleco collection, a pleco tank has always been on my list but I have never done one.

[caferacermike]

Richard none taken. My point was not taken seriously from the start and that's why I, unlike our superhero friend, let it go.

The list.

The rarest of the rare, my blue eyed. http://www.planetcatfish.com/scripts/clog_link.php?q=panaque+cochliodon

L25 Zingu Scarlet http://www.planetcatfish.com/scripts/clog_link.php?q=pseudacanthicus+sp(l025)

3x L200 (one xanthistic) green phantoms http://www.planetcatfish.com/scripts/clog_link.php?q=hemiancistrus+subviridis

2x L205 peru tigers http://www.planetcatfish.com/scripts/clog_link.php?q=peckoltia+sp(l205)

2x L077 Blue eyed violet bruno http://www.planetcatfish.com/scripts/clog_link.php?q=hypostomus+sp(l077)

L102 snowball http://www.planetcatfish.com/scripts/clog_link.php?q=hypancistrus+sp(l102)

L264 Sultan http://www.planetcatfish.com/scripts/clog_link.php?q=leporacanthicus+joselimai

L114 red leopard cactus http://www.planetcatfish.com/scripts/clog_link.php?q=pseudacanthicus+leopardus

L90 Papa Panaque http://www.planetcatfish.com/scripts/clog_link.php?q=panaque+sp(l090)

L027 red finned Xingu royal panaque http://www.planetcatfish.com/scripts/clog_link.php?q=panaque+sp_cf_nigrolineatus%60xing u%60

acanthicus adonnis http://www.planetcatfish.com/scripts/clog_link.php?q=acanthicus+adonis

And the other rarest of rare 4 L046 Zebras http://www.planetcatfish.com/scripts/clog_link.php?q=hypancistrus+zebra


Since this thread was hijacked along time I go I don't mind answering that. I would have some pics up but I had to dump my gallery on that forum to make room for uploading shots of my SW. Talk to admin about allowing any member here to have a gallery.

[caferacermike]

Hey I just learned how to post pics.

And I've overcome my fear of hijacking.

Pics at feeding time.
http://www.plecofanatics.com/gallery/data/500/10_.jpg

Blue eyes.
http://www.plecofanatics.com/gallery/data/500/100_1046.JPG

No pics of the L046 yet, Maybe in a few days.

[brewercm]

caferacermike,
I too did not intend to turn this into anything that it turned ot to be. It was more inteded that at least the person was really trying to do the right thing, just wasn't aware of the consequenses of doing so. Many people in the hobby unfortunately would have done just what I was joking about though so it was really more a tongue in cheek comment.

BTW, cool pleco pics. What do you do to keep that many fed well? Do they eat the algae style disc food that you can buy.

[alton]

Okay did the crab make to the coast? Neat pictures of the Pleco family. I seen one at Calaveras Lake, I guess somebody turned him loose? I posted this before but a friend caught a porcipine puffer down at SO Padre and I don't think they are native to that area. I think people release things back into the water all the time, even though it may be wrong. But it's real tough trying to kill something that you have raised up or have had for a long time.

[GaryP]

The San Antonio and San Marcos rivers are somewhat famous for the pleco population that has become established there. There is a native puffer that is common in the bays at the coast. I'm not sure what its called. I remember seeing one that someone brought into Wolf Reef a while back. Maybe Donnie will know.

[brewercm]

I know I've caught puffers before down there but the only timre I remember catching a porcipine puffer was when I was TDY to the Pesnacola area several years back.
I remember some of the huge plecos I've seen in the Guadalupe in New Braunfels area back when I had my boat and would troll around some fairly clear shallow areas.

[MattK]

I was over in Brackenridge Park the other day and saw 10-15 plecos. I also saw a Green Terror and a 2.5lb Large mouth bass. I had my reels and tackle with me but no rod :(

[Richard]

Very nice collection of plecos!

When we first opened the store and were fw only I wanted to carry alot of pleco species. It was a really bad idea though because for most people around here at least, a pleco is a pleco. Ended up selling them well below cost just to clear them out. I remember finally selling L066 for the price of a regular pleco just to get rid of them.



And I've overcome my fear of hijacking.


It's kinda of expected to hijack threads here on maast :) Just look at Joshua's post count for proof LOL

[GaryP]

It's kinda of expected to hijack threads here on maast :) Just look at Joshua's post count for proof LOL
The first few thousand of those don't count. Back in the early days of the website Joshua and Chris were the only one's in here and sat here all day playing marathon sessions of tic tac toe. :)

[Triggerman]

awesome pleco collection cafe...i don't know the correct species name L?, but i really like the gold nugget variety.

[caferacermike]

Trigger I agree with you that the GN's are beautiful, especially the yellow seams. I do advise not getting them as they have a horrible survival rate. think of them as a freshwater Moorish Idol.