hermits in clean up crew

[pauld3]

im going to get a cuc for my 100 gal reef and saw where someone said not to worry about getting hermit crabs, any other more thoughts

thanks Paul

[lchaleff]

Do a search and you will find tons of useful info.

[Canadian125]

we got hermits for our CUC, they are pretty awesome so far, ive heard it greatly depends on the type and ive also heard to not let them get to big

[Andrew]

I personally normall don't put hermits in the tanks and If I do I only get blue legged ones. Unless you have a bad algae issue or a lot of sand crud build up I'd skip on them. It's personal choice in the end.

[captjab]

I like them in my cuc, they can be entertaining. The only downside I see is they will kill a snail occasionally to steal a shell, I always keep a hand full of empties in my tank to try to provide the crabs with new shells to try and avoid the kills, but it still happens once in a while.

[jarrett]

When i set up my first tank everyone told me that blue leg hermits were reef safe. I bought 25 for my 180 gal. Everything was going ok had a couple kill eachother over shells and one kept harrasing my naso tang at night. Over the months i added lps corals and the hermits were fine but then i got some acros. As soon as i introduced the coral to my tank i had about 5 crabs that wouldnt stop eating the polyps. This went on and i lost 2 out of the 4 acros i bought. The last 2 acros barely made it but there still alive today nearly five years later. I pulled all the crabs from my tank and since that day never looked at a hermit crab the same way again. I lost $120 worth of coral in 2 days because $25 worth of crabs got a taste for it. And had to get rid of my naso tang due to the stress from the crabs. Imo their not worth it. Oh not to mention how many snails you may loose due to the crabs trying to find a new home. Just my oppinion and i hope it helps some

[cloak]

I haven't had any problems with the scarlet hermit crabs, but then again I only add one to every 25 gallons or so. A lot of hobbyists out there end up adding way too many hermits right off the bat and then wonder why their snail population is dwindling. It's not rocket science, they gotta eat. If you stock lightly, I don't think you'll have a problem.

[mess7777]

I personally like my hermit crabs, they have never bothered anything. As someone else said, it's personal choice at the end of the day. Sure don't need 1 per gallon or anything crazy though, then you will have them killing each other and your snails.

[bdr]

im not sure what kind they are but they have red legs. my lfs said they were reef friendly and i got them for a buck a piece. just today the wife and i watched one jump on a snail and pick it up looks like they may not be long term residents

[cloak]

Kind of sounds like bad traffic...;) FWIW, the hermit that I have has been in the same shell for years on end. It's covered in coralline algae.

[BlueFyre]

I love my hermits :)

I have a lot and I mean a lot of extra shells for them. I add a couple new shells every few months. I've had no issues with them killing snails.

I have 2 blue legs, 2 orange claws, 1 un IDed white one and a orange and black one. I try to make sure they are well fed.

[Typo R]

Maybe you can add just a few, not too manny. They are fun to watch but i think snails are more effective at cleaning up and sometime they kill snails.

[jerseygurl]

The question is...Do you find crabs killing and eating your snails entertaining? I don't, therefor I have banned crabs from all of my tanks. However, if watching a gang of crabs flip over a helpless snail and eat it alive is your kinda thing, go for it.

[Canadian125]

Is there something you can feed them to make sure they dont eat snails?

[jerseygurl]

Is there something you can feed them to make sure they dont eat snails?

No, it's their nature, they'll ambush fish while their sleeping too.

[Fishdisease]

Is there something you can feed them to make sure they dont eat snails?

They eat anything...

In my last tank I'd make sure to drop in an extra cube of my homemade frozen food once in a while...the shrimp and crabs loved it.

[WillM]

My crabs walk over my coral and pick around in it, but I don't see them nipping it. Also, as far as eating snails, I have snails that can't right themselves if they are flipped. It is a constant job to monitor the tank for upside down snails and flip them over. But sometimes it's just not possible to reach an upside down snail (under LR or whatever) and the crabs do get those, but I never see them picking on snails that are right-side-up.

[jeffesaurusrex]

Well this has been covered and covered again, but really what it boils down to is your preference.

Hermit crabs, when provided with shells to move into and plenty of food, are good citizens in a reef in the right numbers. I only had about 6 in my 75g and I never noticed a problem. Their antics are great fun to watch, and they will help clean up any food from the sandbed that your fish miss. It's really great to watch them crawling around and checking out different shells like they're in a dealership, "kicking the tires" on each one (they grab ahold of them and look inside).

HOWEVER - when they don't have a shell to move into, they will kill other animals in the search for a shell. They will kill snails and take the shells, and they will kill each other. I've also heard of them actually ripping food from the insides of corals, killing them in the process.

[cloak]

I think I have about 5 different types of snails in my 20 gallon tank. (turbo, margarita, astrea, trochus, nerite) One scarlet hermit crab. I have a sunset montipora that had a bad day and developed a couple bare spots in the middle of the colony awhile back. Sooner or later those bare spots developed algae. None of the snails I have would venture out onto the coral and graze, that hermit crab did. That montipora looks great now... FWIW.

I wouldn't like it if my hermit crab was taking down snails on a regular basis, but it's nothing that $1.99 can't fix sometimes. ;)

[pauld3]

thanks for the information gives me something to think about

[Waggs]

I found this web site to be interesting and you can get them to tell you what would work good for your tank as far as a clean up crew goes. www.reefcleaners.org

I notice so many posts saying not to get hermit crabs and I was wondering why. I gave the above web site and asked them to build me a CUC according to my answers to their questions and this is what was suggested I get.

60 Dwarf Ceriths
29 Nassarius
32 Florida Ceriths
25 Assorted Hermits
2 Chitons
2 Limpets
19 Large Nerite
10 Small to Medium Nerites
1 chaeto

Now I'd like to know why no one likes hermit crabs?

[kingevil]

Now I'd like to know why no one likes hermit crabs?

Ummmm......... Did you not read all of the comments above?????

I personally love hermits, especially the electric blue legged and the halloween. If they kill something..... Oh well. It's the circle of life.

[dave540]

I like my hermits. I've never seen them mess with my snails, corals or fish. I think if you only add a few and give them some extra shells, enough food and space there shouldn't be any problems.

[Waggs]

I'm going to add 3 or 6 Emeralds and maybe 10 or 20 Red Leg Hermits. I saw a crab named Blue Knuckle Hermit that looked cool too. I'll grab some extra shells so they'll be able to grow.