Reef-safe Hermits

[sde219]

Ok, I'm looking for some advice here. I enjoy having hermits in a tank but those little son of a guns..... I just got a load of snails and ten red-tip crabs from the Kenyon coral order. Less than four minutes after introducing the snails and the crabs to the same tank, three of the hermits had flipped a margarita snail were tearing it apart.

 

Anyone know how to find a for sure reef safe hermit? Every hermit I've had has eventually decimated the snail population particularly the larger astrea, turbo, margaritas. I'm wondering if Cerith and Narc. snails are less prone to attack but at this point I'm not interested in experimenting anymore. Frankly, I've never had a great algae control program but I want to fix that in my new setup.

 

Any suggestions?

 

 

Steve

[GaryL]

IMO all hermits will go after snails, but my scarlets and burgandy hermits seem less aggressive towards snails. you can get burgandy at marine scene. that is just based on the experience i have with them. it may vary from others experience. HTH

[Guest reverai]

Ok, I'm looking for some advice here. I enjoy having hermits in a tank but those little son of a guns.....  I just got a load of snails and ten red-tip crabs from the Kenyon coral order.  Less than four minutes after introducing the snails and the crabs to the same tank, three of the hermits had flipped a margarita snail were tearing it apart.

 

Anyone know how to find a for sure reef safe hermit? Every hermit I've had has eventually decimated the snail population particularly the larger astrea, turbo, margaritas.  I'm wondering if Cerith and Narc. snails are less prone to attack but at this point I'm not interested in experimenting anymore.  Frankly, I've never had a great algae control program but I want to fix that in my new setup.

 

Any suggestions?

Steve

26664[/snapback]

 

 

Well, the expert at Reef Central says that hermit crabs really aren't generally reef safe as they will eat anything that stays still long enough. In the wild you might find one hemit crab per square yard in a area with a lot of plants. You tend not to find them in the coral or rocks. So putting several or more in our small tanks isn't a good idea as hemit crabs needs to eat several times a day. I have one small blue legged hermit crab in my tank and so far, he hasn't taken out any snails. I have more snails than I started with. I also bought a bag full of small shells of which i dumped half into my tank and it ook about a month before my hermit crab decided to change into one. That might help you a little too.

 

Steve

[Guest maestro774]

That's funny that the red tips you bought from Kenyon were killing snails, I remember him advertising that his red tips are reef safe, and red-leg hermits are not. I have red-legs, and they've never attacked any snails. I bought them about a year ago from Roozens.

[michaelg]

I think when it comes to snails, there are no "reef safe" hermit crabs. My feeling is this term is used in reference to corals.

[xeon]

I'm with Mike, "reef safe"... yes, "snail safe"... depends. IMO all hermit crabs can and will be opportunistic omnivores under the right circumstances. I don't care what color their legs are. I have a variety of snails in my tanks and zero hermits.

[HowardofNOVA]

Steve,

I'm surprised that they got a hold of the Margarita's with their size and all. NOW, the Nassarius are a different meal, I mean issue! Until they get under the sand, they seem to be like rabbits where everything eats them. My first order of these last year, was the same results, except they where Blue Legs and with in a month, all the Blue Legs where running around with NEW Nassarius Shells!

 

IMHO, Like mentioned, Reef Safe means for corals, not Snails Safe. Don't believe these exist when you come to crabs-SCAVENGERS OF THE DEEP!

 

To me the Nassarius are a must for tanks with sand BUT the down side is the low rung on the food chain they hold. These are items to be replenished and hopefully will keep ahead of the food chain, literally! The good side is they are cheapest thing in the tank, but as you where surprised on this, sorry if you felt mis-informed.

 

Howard