I recently set up a 55 gallon non-reef tank for a snowflake eel I got for free. I decided to go out and collect some wild specimens for this tank since I don't have to worry about reef compatibility issues. One of the animals I found was a huge red hermit crab about the size of a foot ball. I understand that most hermits are scavengers, but I am still a little worried about putting him in with the eel just because he is such a big crab. one thing I noticed is that he doesn't have serrated claws. My snowflake eel is about 12 inches long. here's a pic of the hermit in question:

I'd venture to say that they'd probably be just fine. I doubt the hermit would bother your eel and as long as the eel is well fed, I don't think it would be particularly interested in the hermit crab. Sweet crab though! What a monster!

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When in doubt, do a water change.

I had them together for about a week, and they did fine. But I ended up returning the monster back to the wild. He was way to destructive to the contents of my tank. kept knocking over all my live rock, and filters. had to put everything back together on a daily basis during his visit :( At least I got some nice photos

on a side note. one cool thing about his visit is some of the tenants that he left behind from his shell. It was almost like a living piece of live rock it's self. 5 small peppermint shrimp (the kind that eat aptasia,) several little crabs which have flattened claws rather then incisors, and some sort of small shrimp that is very heavily armored (almost looks more like a tiny lobster,) but lobsters are not native to the coast i'm on.

Wow, that's so cool! Glad you got some good stuff from his shell. I can't even imagine how much damage a huge crab like that could do; even my little ones make a giant mess of things! If you have more pics, please post them on here; would love to see him out and about in a tank

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When in doubt, do a water change.

That is awsome

Yeah, I was amazed with the peppermint shrimp because I have had an aiptasia problem and I've been buying them @ the local fish store @3 for 18 bucks!!!
I took a little time to research them on google and learned that they were the true Aiptasia eaters (Lysmata wurdemanni.) And that they are indigenous to a very small part of the Caribbeans, and the entire coast of Florida (I live on the west coast.) Here's some photos of him in the tank.
BTW, the walls are painted green in this room, not to be confused with algae.
A friend of mine thought that's what it was...

notice the tank is pretty badly scratched. I've added some cool blues since these photos were taken and the scratches are virtually invisible now...

That really is a wicked cool crab!

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When in doubt, do a water change.

I wonder what the age of that critter is?

I wish I could have kept him :( but as I mentioned he was to destructive to the tank I put him in, and I did not have the resources to set up a tank for his own... i think returning him ton the wild was the responsible thing to do, and I also wonder about the age of this Goliath...

That is one cool crab. I have a big Yellow hawiian hairy hermit,He is my favorite pet.He has his own tank. Pictured in the photo sect