Hermits, shrimp and starfish.

[mudskipper1]

Would 5 peppermint shrimp be okay in a 40 breeder with 50 lbs of LR. Any comments on blue legged hermits? Are serpent stars reef safe, any comment on them?

Thx

[mudskipper1]

any comments?

[shootist]

They should all be fine. Dont get a green serpent star they get huge and can get nasty,catching fish and such. Blue legged hermits are fine for some but others hate them because they knock over an occasional frag and are rumored to maul snails. Personally I think the red leg hermits are a lot worse on the snails. I think you can keep about as many peppermints as you want and will still hardly see them unless its feeding time.

[moo0o]

if you have snails, i wouldnt recomment hermit crabs. crabs kill snails for no reason. they are useless imo. snails do more work.

[Tpareefer]

The shrimp will add more do your bio-load than the others but you should be ok with one or two. 5 shrimp in a 40 gal would be a bit much unless you have no fish. If you have fish...I would limit it to 2. Serpent stars are very cool but have ravenous appetites, especially the green serpent. They will also eat your fauna, which is bad if you have a DSB.

IME, the blue leg hermits are much more friendly than the scarlets. Scarlets get bigger and are little murderers. With that said...do expect a few hermits, no matter what breed, to develop a taste for snails especially for snails with similar shells like ceriths. Just the way it is.

IMO, hermits and snails are an absolute for a diverse and healthy ecosystem.

Good luck and have fun. :smokin:

[lancer99]

Tpa,
Curious about your comments re: serpent stars and DSBs. I couldn't tell any difference between my tanks, some with and some without serpent stars, in terms of the DSB. Mostly they fed on leftovers that the fish missed.

-R

[Tpareefer]

The shrimp will add more do your bio-load than the others but you should be ok with one or two. 5 shrimp in a 40 gal would be a bit much unless you have no fish. If you have fish...I would limit it to 2. Serpent stars are very cool but have ravenous appetites, especially the green serpent. They will also eat your fauna, which is bad if you have a DSB.

IME, the blue leg hermits are much more friendly than the scarlets. Scarlets get bigger and are little murderers. With that said...do expect a few hermits, no matter what breed, to develop a taste for snails especially for snails with similar shells like ceriths. Just the way it is.

IMO, hermits and snails are an absolute for a diverse and healthy ecosystem.

Good luck and have fun. :smokin:

[dp reefer]

Depending on your filtration I wouldn't really worry about your bio-load from peppermint shrimp, I think that they help by eating left over fish food before it decomposes. They do need food though, so it might be hard to be sure that each of the five are getting enough to eat.