Mercs are like the bigger guys, they all have their own personalities and sense of timing.
Tapper (original wc female) was only seen rarely in her 45 gallon tank until I put in a barnacle and she chose it for brooding. Then she was visible on a 24 hour basis if she did not have her door in place.
My wonderful Sisturus (captive raised) would come to the top of the tank every night at 11:00 and expect to be fed. It was so regular that Neal would check on him before going to bed and call me down from my office saying, "Someone is calling you". Medusa (his tank mate) learned from Sisty about feeding time but did not come out until I arrived with the goodies.
Wiley (captive bred) could not be relocated to the smaller tank (he was born in a large tank and continually escapted the net). He was assumed dead over and over again for weeks at a time. I eventually quit feeding octo food to the tank and found him in the front looking for food. I captured him and put him in the smaller tank but he never took an interest in humans and denned at the back of the tank. He did learn to take shrimp from my fingers but he would not leave his den in my presence. He lived to be over 13 months old.
Here is my "go by" for merc:
If it is eating its health can be considered acceptable. If it closes itself up and won't eat, it is likely a brooding female. If it stays out of a den during the day and is overly friendly, it is dying, likely of old age. Old age can also be detected by the richness of color and the ability to hold color on a regular basis (not just once), but color is hard to determine with the nocturnals. I could tell more from the flash photos than by looking at them under a red light (where they are almost always white and rarely show red).
It does seem to help to keep them in a well trafficed area, especially an eating room where people are regularly there but not running around (no help with this for Wiley though). You can encourage early night time appearances by turning off all ambient light around 9:00 PM. I think (subjective analysis) that leaving a red light on over the tank 24/7 is helpful for regulating their out and about time.
There are no hard and fast rules with anything related to behavior, that is part of their attraction and curiosity.
. My next try is going to be blue legs.
Should I remove this stuff immediately? I really hope he accepts the hermits or my krill. Mithrax crab is too expensive for Doc to have.
