Thinking about buying on ebay:

I think those are the kind of hermits thats mostly found along beaches and shorelines.If they are,they may not survive long in a reef tank.
But I dont know that for certian.So wait on somebody else to chime in.
 
I've never seen that particular type of hermit sold in the hobby either... Sorry I can't say for sure whether they'd be okay or not. :(
 
I'm assuming you've already searched the internet, but in case you were lazy, here's some reading:

Pagurus longicarpus

The seller's photo is a little rough, but if it is the same crab that's in the photo, there's two signs you need to be careful of (1) one pincer is larger than the other, which is typically a sign that it is used for ripping/tearing/shreading/eating and (2) the variation on the site I provided showed a hermit with little hairs, which is a charecteristic of typically aggressive hermits. Put those together and you've got a pain in the but for your coral. Any particular reason you wanted to get these crabs? 40 BLUE LEG HERMIT crab for live saltwater fish tank - eBay (item 270421346401 end time May-31-10 13:06:18 PDT) - these guys seem to be a good deal too.
 
I would not buy anything from that seller on Ebay. Took a look at the rest of their auctions, all of their critters are from more temperate waters. Their Nass snails are Ilyanassa Obsoleta snails, a temperate water species. Same with the Periwinkle snails they are selling. Most people find that those species live for about 3-6 months if you are lucky and then end up dying because they are not true tropical species and do not tolerate the constant high temperature well.

One of those things, seems to good to be true it probably is. I can not say for sure that the crabs hermit or otherwise are temperate species too but given everything else they are selling I would imagine so. If you look at the location of the items it says New England, they are more than likely live collecting all of these species as opposed to breeding them.
 
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