Hermit crabs? Pro or Con?

[snorvich]

I am interested in viewpoints. I am starting to think I don't want them in my reef tanks.

[davocean]

I don't like them, they pick at too many good things like snails IME.
My CUC is all snails w/ the exception of a couple emerald crabs.

[lordofthereef]

There are some that will eat nuisance algae that snails refuse to touch. For that reason, I like them.

[ludiNano]

I got so tired of them swarming my Lps during feeding I took them out. And never saw any ill effects. From my understanding ( and I've never gone diving inns reef to know) but these small hermits arnt even on reefs.

[UnoZeus]

They don't bother me much. Occasionally one will nab a snail but I consider it natural. They are also entertaining to watch. Any other negatives other than picking on snails?

[snorvich]

Mine knock stuff off (corals). I am also unsure they really add value. I am now thinking snails and fighting conchs.

[aquaph8]

I took mine out during an interceptor treatment over a year ago and never put them back. I found regardless of having empty shells in the tank they always took out my snails over time. Im much happier with a couple conchs and a bunch of tonga nassarius.

[cloak]

I think hermits crabs do have a place in a reef aquarium, but not at the ratios most people keep them at. One scarlet hermit to every 25 gallons has worked well for me. There's plenty of time and space between snail & hermit crab encounters this way.

[Faye]

I live to add diversity to my tank, so Ilike them. But they can really be a pita, especially when you watch them crawl on acros and pic around zoanthids. I do like watching them eat through the sand though. As long as you make sure your turbo snails are upright, they really wont bother snails IME.

[RJT]

Crabs; whether its red, blue or emerald are opportunistic. It is natural for this to occur but why would you want this in your tank? I use ceriths, neriths and nass snails which keeps my tank cleaner then when I had crabs.

[Lynnmw1208]

I don't really mind them. They do a good job at cleaning the food that falls to the bottom. Of course I only have 6 in my 125, but it's enough I think. any more than that and they'd be all over the corals. So far mine have only taken the empty cerith snail shells I left for them.

[NYCBOB]

i like the red scarlett hermits. they r much more peaceful and useful. the blue and red legged ones are annoying.

[Seahorse NJRC]

I don't like them. They kill snails for sport.:headwally:

[btsd]

I like hermits, but don't really care what they eat and if they eat my snails although as far as I know they haven't killed any snails so far.

[rancoo]

The ones I hate are the zebra ones, they are crazy and are always attacking something or another. I have 6 different kinds and the rest are fine except the zebra ones.
http://tapatalk.com/mu/aefcf029-0b54-e136.jpg

[b0bab0ey]

I was determined to make due without hermits this time around. Snails only. But I got tired of constantly siphoning the detritus off the sand. So I got a few blue & some red. They put a dent in the problem but I'm still not 100% convinced I really need them. Especially since I've now discovered the sand cleaning master, a Fighting Conch. I'm pretty sure my hermits have killed at least a few of my snails as well. My game plan is to get rid of them as they get bigger and try to maintain things without them once they're all gone.

[12BRAVO]

I like to see and watch the hermits in my tank. They do fight but I have not seen them killing my snails. I keep extra shells of various sizes so they will not have to kill for a larger shell. They seem to be doing an excellent job of cleaning all the nooks and crannies in the rocks that the snails can't get to. I do have a sand sifting star and a few tonga nassarius snails to keep the sand stirred.
I have Scarlet, Blue Leg and a few unknowns that are tan to dark green in color.
My favorite is the Electric Blue. It is rather large. It has been in my tank going on three weeks now. It changed shells on the first day. I wonder about his habits. He does pick and clean quite a bit but lays still and sometimes hides for days. Does anyone have one of these and can you tell me if this is normal for this kind ? Don't mean to highjack the thread.

Here is a pic.

[shifty51008]

I don't like them, they pick at too many good things like snails IME.
My CUC is all snails w/ the exception of a couple emerald crabs.

+1

besides the diff. variety of snails, tiger tail cuke, and 2 emerald crabs I leave all other crabs out of the mix.

[shifty51008]

I keep extra shells of various sizes so they will not have to kill for a larger shell.

IME they will kill regardless of extra shells in the tank or not.

[tgray3]

I got rid of all my hermits when I added a large rainbow wellso. As soon as it was fully inflated the hermits would climb on top of it. I was worried they would damage the wellso so one of them had to go......The hermits lost and are now in friends 'fuge.

[Lynnmw1208]

The ones I hate are the zebra ones, they are crazy and are always attacking something or another. I have 6 different kinds and the rest are fine except the zebra ones.
http://tapatalk.com/mu/aefcf029-0b54-e136.jpg

+1 lol mine is very temperamental. I am going to stick him in my sump soon. he doesn't bother anyone unless food is involved, but man he gets aggressive if someone is near his food. I love his colors though.

[kgross]

I don't like them much myself. a couple are not bad, so one per 20-50 gallons of water, but very many like many shops suggest is nothing but trouble, they will kill your snails still food from corals, and in general just be a pain in the behind.

Kim

[tmz]

I haven't used them in several years. Just too predatory for me and they pick at everything.

[Chris27]

Take a trip to a nice looking reef in the pacific and you'll surely find a million of them all over the coral and rock......the way I look at it is if mother nature put them on a reef, then I'm going to put them in my reef.....along with snails, crabs, shrimp and whatever else within reason.

[Palting]

I have a medium grain substrate. I find that snails like to stay on the glass, even my "burrowing " snails, given this substrate. Only hermits seem to patrol the substrate. So, I make it a point to have hermits, even bought another half a dozen of the small red and blue leg variety this weekend.

[tmz]

You wont find blued legged hermits (Clibanarius tricolor) or scarlet hermits ( Paguristes cardenati) or red leg hermits ( paruristes digueti) ,the 3 most commonly used in aquariums as the blue legs and scarlets are from the Carribean and the red leg is from the Gulf of Califorinia.

[Reef Job]

I personally like them but I don't keep nearly as many as recommended. I epoxy all of my frags so bulldozing isn't a problem and my nerite snails have hundreds of eggs all over my tank so losing a few snails isn't an issue either. They're funny to watch and do an awesome job grabbing any leftover piece of food. The only real issue I had was when they overran my LPS during target feeding but thats easily fixed by covering the coral with a plastic container. I'd try a handful and if you find them acceptable you can always add more.

[falconut]

I've always had BL hermits and the occational Scarlett. I like them better than snails, but I've got them too. I think I'll always have some BL's.

[TreyK]

I am wary of any crab. All crabs are opportunistic. Its just not worth the risk of them nipping at coral polyps and killing snails. I see no reason to have them other than people think they are neat lol.

My CUC is comprised entirely of snails. Nass, Cerith, astrea, trochus

[organism]

I love the tiny blue legs even if they knock out the occasional snail, for me they just look cooler and add an extra dimension to the tank :)

[Chris27]

You wont find blued legged hermits (Clibanarius tricolor) or scarlet hermits ( Paguristes cardenati) or red leg hermits ( paruristes digueti) ,the 3 most commonly used in aquariums as the blue legs and scarlets are from the Carribean and the red leg is from the Gulf of Califorinia.

Very true, but there are some species (zebra/electric blue) that inhabit the reefs around some of the Hawaiian islands that are especially good at mowing down all sorts of algae.

[zigzag1]

I haven't used them in several years. Just too predatory for me and they pick at everything.

+1 Same here. I wouldn't add hermits to my systems if they were free..
Every type, green, red, blue, stripped, purple.. I've tried more than a few kinds over the years with the same result.

I don't keep them as they kill snails, IME. The snails (Astrea and Trochus) do everthing I need and I don't want some maruading retarded hermit crab crab killing them for their shells or whatever. I have a few small emerald crabs but havent lost any snails to them in over 3 years. Just my two cents. GL!

[tmz]

The electic blue version of the zebra( calcinus elegans )is an indo pacific species not Hawaian.. The orange stiped version is Hawaian. Both grow to 2 inches and will kill other animals. The dwarf zebra hermit ( Calcinus laevimanus) has black and white legs and is smaller than the other two but still a threat to other animals.

[rambochu]

Hunh. Well, here's my take on things: If you're getting hermits for CUC, they don't belong there. Snails do better. You can get Nassas that'll stir up your sandbed, astreas and turbos that'll clean off algae, etc (ceriths are useless, IMO). In fact, unless you have a large predatory fish that drops chunks of flesh around, you don't really need a hermit crab.

BUT: I find them interesting and adorable. I've kept the "worst" species with no damage to corals or snails. Shrimp are more terrible than hermits at feeding time, IMO - the peppermints will stop at nothing to pull a piece of food out of a duncan head. But you do need to feed them, unlike snails, because if you expect them to just live off detritus and algae than you'd better be expecting aggression. Also, I take the whole "hermits killing everything" spiel with a grain of salt - I've found that mine are able to sense a freshly deceased fish (within the last few minutes) and absolutely demolish the body in about ten minutes.

As for species - Electric Blues are one of the gentlest hermits. They do have a habit of holing up in a crevice and staying there for ages - the first few times this happened, we removed the hermit from the crack and he crawled right back into it :/ They love grazing on chaetomorph, and would rather tuck into their shells than fight. They're also very slow growers, and won't get to two inches any time soon. Mine seems to have capped at about an inch, maybe an inch and a quarter.

"Dwarf" zebras will get about two inches. Left handed hermits get larger - the largest in my tank is at least two and a half inches. Both are food aggressive and will fight over scraps, but otherwise I've never seen them bother anything or pick at corals. If you're feeding something else, drop a good-sized pellet in for them to fight over first, and you shouldn't have any problems.

[tmz]

I agree"reef safe shrimp" shrimp, particularly peppermints (lystmata bogessi/ wundermanni) can do damage to corals particularly to zoanthus and acanastrea lordhowensis and micromussa but that's another topic.

There is no reason not to keep various hermits in suitable biotypes if you like them or even in reefs in small numbers without animals that they are likely to harm.

They are not needed for cuc except perhaps to scavenge uneaten food if that's an issue.Snails are better herbivores,ime. Crabs or hermits are certainly not desireable in the large numbers commonly recommended for cuc. .For many specimens their predatory nature comes out sooner or later so observation and caution are prudent steps if you choose to keep them. Reading up on particular specimens you may wish to keep is also worth the effort.

[kgross]

Take a trip to a nice looking reef in the pacific and you'll surely find a million of them all over the coral and rock......the way I look at it is if mother nature put them on a reef, then I'm going to put them in my reef.....along with snails, crabs, shrimp and whatever else within reason.

So I hope you have coral eating butterflys, Parrotfish and large angels in your reef tank as well, since mother nature put all the coral preditors on natural reefs.

[Kerreefer]

i put all mine in my sump till i hit the LRS again. they pummel my war coral and all my other lps. they... must... GOOO! :uzi:

-- oppinion of self not to dsturb anyone elses

[frankpayne32]

I think hermits crabs do have a place in a reef aquarium, but not at the ratios most people keep them at. One scarlet hermit to every 25 gallons has worked well for me. There's plenty of time and space between snail & hermit crab encounters this way.

+1. I have five in my 125 and the main reason they are in there is just because I think they are cool little guys. I've also never had one bother a coral. If I caught one doing that they would quickly become octopus food.;)

[Herk]

I am not a big fan of the hemits as I have found them to pick food off of my LPS. I do have some hermits but do plan on taking some of the larger ones out. I don't mind the blue leg or the scarlet ones. All others are a PITA.

[psteeleb]

Steve

I think hermits are great detrivores.

I like the real small blue legs, as they get in and around the corals and do a great job picking on detritus build up and maybe even help in eating coral predators like AEFW eggs. Blue legs are self destructing tank fodder, only a couple in a hundred will reach maturity as they kill each other off for their shells. The few that do get larger will go after snails but as long as the snail is healthy and not a ("oh no I can't pull my self over", dumbest creature on earth) Astraea snail you should be okay in this department. Again I like the "lil" guys.

I also like the scarlet’s, they are very passive, never bother each other and I've not even seen them go after snails, they just cruse around picking at the rocks.

HTH

[Lorenz725]

I love mine in my reef and just deal with them knocking stuff over. I got many different kinds and like them all. Blue leg, red leg, scarlet, halloween, blue neon striped, and some i dont have an ID on. I just think it all depends on if you like them or not. I get way more enjoyment with them to get ride of them over knocking over corals or eating a snail every once in awhile. IMO when it comes to fish, corals, shrimp, and hermits it all just depends on what you like. Some people will like one thing and others will hate them that is why I love this hobby no reef is the same.

[rambochu]

I love mine in my reef and just deal with them knocking stuff over. I got many different kinds and like them all. Blue leg, red leg, scarlet, halloween, blue neon striped, and some i dont have an ID on. I just think it all depends on if you like them or not. I get way more enjoyment with them to get ride of them over knocking over corals or eating a snail every once in awhile. IMO when it comes to fish, corals, shrimp, and hermits it all just depends on what you like. Some people will like one thing and others will hate them that is why I love this hobby no reef is the same.

+1

I mean, we have a mantis shrimp forum - they deal with not keeping anything too valuable with the mantids all the time, and they love it.

[Chris27]

So I hope you have coral eating butterflys, Parrotfish and large angels in your reef tank as well, since mother nature put all the coral preditors on natural reefs.

I do have a large angel and a butterfly (Lamarck/Copperband), but the tank is a little small for a parrot, should I go for a juvenile black tip reef shark instead?

Sure there are predators around a reef, but a hermit crab is far from one. They can overtake snails and walk across corals causing mild irritation, but I feel their pro's far outweigh their cons.

Snails do a fine job aerating a sand bed, and they can clean the surface of a rock quite well, but there are a great deal of other nooks and crannies in a reef where snails just can't reach. Hermits move quickly and are voracious eaters which results in them mowing down hair and turf algea far better and faster then a snail. And let's not forget about their ability to seek out large pieces of meaty food that fish miss....which you don't get with snails given that most are herbivores.

[mess7777]

I have about 40 in my 110 gallon. I do like them, and they don't cause any problems. However, I am not sure they do all that much. They are constantly eating, but they don't touch algae, and my rocks still have a lot of crud when i blast them. They must be eating something off those rocks, but it's smaller than I can see.

[RJT]

I had eighty in my 110g because I had an algae bloom. Several months later I still had an algae problem. I got a group of snails and my algae problem went away. Until the hermits ate a lot of the snails.