CynthiaB

I ran out of wet food but Mango doesn’t care. I caught myself getting ready to ask him if he was ready for dinner but had to change the conversation.

Sometimes when Mango is in my lap, the world stops moving and I have my moment of Zen!

This little guy was stuck in a hole in the rock for a week. He got himself free and went right back in. It took me 15 minutes to get him back out and I put a shell in the hole to keep him out. Today, he decided to change into that shell, on the rock. Needless to say, I was a tad worried. He is now climbing the rock in the new bigger shell. Hope he stays out of the holes.

This hermit is eating the algae on the snail’s shell. The snail is not to happy about lugging around an unwanted passenger.

Here is a longer clip of Chloe trying to play with the snails and fish in the tank. She was really purring while sitting in my chair.

If your food was on every grain of sand in the tank and you had a mountain of rock to climb later, you would be eating on the run too.

When you use your feet to anchor yourself on rocks, in water, is there really and up or down?

This is the largest hermit in the tank. Just watched him eat a patch of mucus net on the rock, and my heart is singing.

Chloe the cat tries to make new friends with the fish in the tank. Check it out!

Here you go. Six weeks today. I am discovering the pitfalls of macro algae in the display tank. It keeps falling apart and scattering everywhere. I had one Pom Pom that is now 3 glued to rock Pom Poms. So far, the critters seem to be eating. Definitely pooping. I have tons of shells for the hermits.

The tank has 15 lbs of rock. It is a standard 10 gallon tank with a hang on the back filter. It is 6 weeks old this week.

When you think you are the one watching them, someone eats at you through the rocks.

I just love watching these guys in the tank.

Little hermit crab in new shell makes the same run through the macro algae again.

The snails are out and about eating. Lights out in 20 minutes.

When you are a small mysid shrimp, the bigger shrimp might see you as food. This little shrimp is trying to bury himself in the sand.

This little guy is fast. One minute he is on the sand, the next minute, he is at the top of the rock. His personality is growing.

Most people by a Cleaner Shrimp or other large ornamental shrimp for the display tank. I have a few large mysid shrimp holding their own with the fish and each other. They are busy all over the tank, cleaning it.

The itty bitty hermit pushes his tint shell around unto another hermit pushes back.

Hermit crab catch a ride on a Cerith snail going up the glass. Wasn’t too long before he wanted off.

He is the smallest critter in the tank. Even the smallest shrimp is bigger. He just sits on the edge of a rock. Quiet in his own space.

I have two fish, 8 hermits, 4 Cerith snails and 5 small Trochus snails. The tank is 5 weeks old, has been seeded with coralline algae, amphipods and copepods. I started with dry rock and live sand.

Still large and in charge, even when he is napping.

Sometimes you just enjoy watching them sleep.

I have a problem with mucus net in my tank. The moment I see some stringing itself out I stop everything to get it out of the tank. It is an eye sore.